Changes in Walkable Streets during the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Suburban City in the Osaka Metropolitan Area

Haruka Kato and Daisuke Matsushita
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Haruka Kato: Department of Housing and Environmental Design, Graduate School of Human Life Science, Osaka City University, Osaka 5588585, Japan
Daisuke Matsushita: Department of Housing and Environmental Design, Graduate School of Human Life Science, Osaka City University, Osaka 5588585, Japan

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 13, 1-20

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to identify the walkable streets where traffic behavior changed according to each residential cluster during the COVID-19 pandemic. By elucidating the changes, it is possible to identify streets that should be redesigned following the changes in traffic behavior in relation to human mobility. This study analyzed Ibaraki City, a suburban city located in the Osaka Metropolitan Area. The analysis compared the panel data of the GPS Location History for April 2020 and April 2019. The analysis method used was Empirical Bayesian kriging. The results show that the speed significantly increased in the dense, sprawl, mountain, and old NT clusters. It was also found that the number of cyclists increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results suggest a need to design walkable streets according to each residential cluster for the post-COVID-19 pandemic era. For example, some car lanes need to be converted to bike lanes in the main neighborhood to create walkable streets in the clusters.

Keywords: walkability; COVID-19 pandemic; traffic behavior; human mobility; GPS location history data; Empirical Bayesian kriging; Osaka metropolitan area; SARS-CoV-2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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