Systematic Literature Review of Walkability and the Built Environment

Walking is the most sustainable form of transportation. It is the socially equitable, economically viable and environmentally friendly mode of transportation. However, transportation technology has caused the desertion of the pedestrian space due to excessively motorized transport. Consequently, the pedestrian environment has degraded. In many cities, the abandonment of the pedestrian space has created a socially unfriendly environment. Walkability is a measure of how friendly an area is to walk. In measuring walkability, several criteria are considered, which include inter alia, the quality of pedestrian facilities, roadway conditions, land use patterns, community support, security and comfort for walking. Findings from studies are mixed; some stated that improving the built environment does not encourage people to walk more; however, there are other studies that indicated otherwise. The aim of this paper is to review the built environment characteristics that promote walking. A literature review of studies that focused on walking, walkability, the built environment, pedestrian and urban design was conducted. This study has searched the electronic databases that intertwined with the Web of Science database. The choice was made due to the comprehensiveness of quality academic studies indexed in the database, thus providing reliable sources of body of work. The database integrates numerous sub-databases such as Web of Science Core Collection, Derwent Innovations Index, KCI Korean Journal Database, Russian Science Citation Index and SciELO Citation Index. The data are then thematically coded. The fields of urban planning, urban design, geography, transportation, sociology, and other related areas were included in the research. The result of this review offers evidence to the criteria that promote walking. The review found that three criteria are somewhat constant in promoting walking, namely, population and building density, land use and land use mixes, and safety. In short, by making an area perceived as safe with the presence of land use mixes and density are the best combination to create a walkable environment.