Influence of physical conditions on the outdoor activities at the street level: a case study of Wong Ah Fook Street in Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Abstract

One of the important effects of sustainable urban environments is motivating people for outdoor activities. The phenomena of street simultaneously come from the west into urban spaces with automobile and designers doesn’t have much of a role to set and design of this space in relation to physical activities. Consequently, these spaces are not adjusted to the walking behavior of people. In order to encourage walking among people it is important to know how pedestrian travel pattern can be affected by the physical environment. The aim of this paper is to show the influences of physical characteristics, spaces and land use of neighborhood Commercial Street in the Johor Bahru City Centre of Malaysia to the behavioral responses and attitudes of people. In this research, the inquiry employed a multiple-method survey involving a variety of techniques including direct observation, walk-by observation and pedestrian counts to collect data on the behavior of people on the street. The result shows that a commercial street with high population should have various Spaces with impressive physical characteristics that each user with different attitude is able to recognize their required spaces and use it with satisfaction.