An investigation of the attributes of walkable environments from the perspective of seniors in Montreal

The objective of this paper is to investigate the attributes of walkable environments from the perspective of seniors in the Island of Montreal in Quebec, Canada. The research is based on a combination of statistical analysis of travel diary data and field work to conduct walkability audits. The approach follows a sequence of logical steps. The first step involves the estimation of a travel behavior model walking by seniors (people 65 years or older). The results of this model, in combination with cluster analysis, are used to identify sites where the model systematically under- or over-predicts walking. Subsequently, sites are targeted for walkability audits. It then becomes possible to assess the presence or absence of attributes of built environments where walking is more or less common than other factors would predict. A walkability audit of 403 street segments was used to proof the concept in this paper. The audited items were summarized in contingency tables and tested with the chi-squared test of independence to identify streetscape elements that correlate with walking for transportation.