Exploring thresholds of built environment characteristics for walkable communities: Empirical evidence from the Seoul Metropolitan area

摘要

Numerous studies have shown that dense, well-connected, and diverse environments are key features that promote walking. Accepting these finding as true, we hypothesized that decreasing marginal effects may occur in the associations between the built environments and walking. The purpose of this study was as follows: (1) to empirically test whether a non-linear relationship between the two exists, and (2) to identify the threshold of the built environment characteristics that promote walking. Using the 2012 Seoul Metropolitan Household Travel Survey, this study analyzed 411,899 individuals' travel behaviors and their neighborhood environments. We calculated the population and street densities, and the Herfindahl-Hirschman Indexes (HHI) of 1107 administrative units located within the study area.