Perceived complexity and perceived legibility on choice of pathway by urban pedestrians

Abstract

The effects of environmental factors on walking behavior are explored based on the purpose of the walking trip. Since everybody walks for daily transportation, studying the walking behavior of those who walk for transport would contribute to maintain the minimum rate of physical activity. Commuters are the major group of pedestrians who walk for their daily transportation along the pathways of central business district (CBD). In Kuala Lumpur’s CBD, an average of 120,000 commuters passes through it daily. It provides the commuters several alternative pathways between metro stations and workplaces. Despite the significance of shorter time and distance as path choice criteria of commuters, while presence of multiple pathways with almost the same length, perceived time and perceived distance as well as certain environmental factors would play the key role in path choice of commuters. In this regard, this study investigates on perceived complexity (PC) and perceived legibility (PL) as path choice criteria of commuters. This study was conducted in nine zones of CBD of Kuala Lumpur. These nine zones were the results of zone selection process which was designed to select the appropriate zones of study. Two survey questionnaires and an observational analysis were used to elicit data on the PC and PL. During the survey questionnaire, the commuters were followed and their traversed walkways were recorded. Fifty four commuters were determined for the first survey and 324 commuters were selected for the second survey questionnaire. Data was analyzed using SPSS Version 16 and the tests including multiple regression, Pearson correlation, and t-Test were run. The lowest PC and the highest PL showed moderate importance regarding the path choice of commuters as compared with the other examined path choice criteria. It was also found that these two perceptual factors via a significant correlation with perceived time, rate of pleasant and rate of comfort contribute to the path choice of the commuters. Furthermore, the physical factors that are presence of people, conflict with motor vehicles and presence of buildings specified by their height and facade are taken into account as related to PC and PL of the commuters. This research concludes that the urban design factors that are improving the safety of commuters from the motor vehicles, increasing the number of buildings, specified by their height and facade, and heightening the buildings located near the metro stations contribute to improve the path choice and the walking rate of commuters in the pathways of the CBD of Kuala Lumpur.