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Spatial Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach in Evaluating Walkability Indices: A Case Study of New York City
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Sara Jokar   , Mohammad Taleai * , Ehsan Sadooghi |
| K. N. Toosi University of Technology |
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Abstract: (35 Views) |
Given the importance of walking and its impact on the physical and mental health of citizens, various criteria for evaluating walkability in urban areas have been developed in recent years. Walkscore is one of the most recognized and widely used tools in this field. However, this index focuses primarily on access to specific types of destinations and does not encompass the broader dimensions of walkability. Accordingly, this study aims to develop a more comprehensive walkability index by incorporating a wider range of indicators representing different dimensions of walkability, using spatial multi-criteria decision-making methods for weighting and integration. To this end, a set of 24 indicators related to various aspects of walkability was selected. In subsequent steps, three weighting scenarios and two indicator integration methods—TOPSIS and Weighted Linear Combination (WLC)—were applied to perform sensitivity analysis and identify the optimal weighting strategy. The proposed method was then compared with walkability indices developed in previous studies using statistical measures.
The results indicate that factors such as access to parking lots and public services, land-use mix, street connectivity, residential density, and maximum permissible street speed are among the most influential variables affecting walkability in the study area. Comparison of different scenarios showed that Scenario 2 (which reduces the number of indicators to 16 using Principal Component Analysis) adopts a more optimistic approach compared to Scenario 1 (based on a pessimistic perspective), while Scenario 3 (reducing indicators to five main dimensions) was identified as a balanced option. Further comparison with the Walkscore map revealed that the WLC method in Scenario 3 showed higher alignment with Walkscore results than the TOPSIS method. Overall, The outcomes of this research underscore the critical role of weighting and integration strategies in multi-criteria analysis processes for developing walkability indices.
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| Keywords: Walkability Index, Spatial Multi-Criteria Decision-Making, Sensivity Analysis, Walkscore |
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Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
GIS
Received: 2024/07/31 | Accepted: 2025/06/3 | ePublished ahead of print: 2026/01/31
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