In this paper a method is proposed to assess the safety and security perceived by travelers in the railway stations and an application to the case study of the (medium size) station of Frosinone, Italy, is presented. The methodology is based on Probit and Logit ordered choice models, estimated using data collected through a RP/SP survey. Main findings confirm that security issues are perceived as more threatening than safety ones. Models estimates show that thefts, harassments, aggressions are the most relevant variable affecting the perception of safety and security in the station. Railways underpasses to reach platforms and the presence of commercial activities resulted to be significant factors as well. Moreover, the levels of perception vary also with the socio-economic characteristics and the personal attitudes, meaning that not all the measures for effective safety and security are equally perceived.

Assessing travelers’ safety and security perception in railway stations

Current mobility strategies tend to pursue sustainable solutions with low environmental and economic impact, such as the disincentive to the use of private vehicles. Mobility on foot is among the most advantageous forms for short distances, especially if different technological and infrastructural solutions are inserted in the urban context such as underpasses that limit the likely conflicts with motor vehicles. These solutions, however, are not easily perceived as positive because people often do not like to change their usual routes or because they feel psychological discomfort when they pass through closed places. This research work focuses on the evaluation of the benefits of including a small underpass in the city of Rijeka, Croatia and through an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), a multi-criteria analysis, it was possible to prioritize a number of decision-making alternatives, related to qualitative and quantitative evaluations, otherwise not directly comparable, and combining multidimensional measurement scales into a single priority scale. This analysis allows to provide cues for local and non-local urban planning, encouraging through the participatory form an active comparison between the population and local authorities and at the same time allows to assess which multidisciplinary processes (psychological/engineering) are possible to put in place to encourage the research on pedestrian behavior.

How to Create Walking Friendly Cities. A Multi-Criteria Analysis of the Central Open Market Area of Rijeka

This study employed applied thematic analysis (ATA) and importance-performance analysis (IPA) to measure visitor satisfaction in city streets. Forty-two elements that significantly influence visitors’ responses to streets and environments were included in five groups characterised by circumstances, characteristics, and indicators. Ibrahim Al-Lakani Street’s atmosphere satisfaction was measured by using coherent research methods. This investigation can assist designers in developing the morphological and social composition necessary to restore a street’s atmosphere and visitor satisfaction. This study contributes to the literature in two ways. First, it examines the relationships between street characteristics and visitor satisfaction in city streets regarding situations, atmospheres and social characteristics that shape these streets. Second, this study integrates ATA and IPA to create a tool for evaluating the significance, performance, and satisfaction of street situations, socio-morphological characteristics and street and visitor responses.

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Improving visitor satisfaction in Egypt’s Heliopolis historical district

How Do People Feel While Walking? A Multivariate Analysis of Emotional Well-Being for Utilitarian and Recreational Walking Episodes

Planning interventions have been applied to improve the well‐being, hereafter happiness, of residents. The happiness in shrinking cities, in particular, becomes more critical since urban decline tends to induce an unequal and uneven distribution of care under a limited budget and human resources. Using geo‐tagged Twitter, census, and geospatial data on Detroit, Michigan, which is one of the well‐known shrinking cities in the U.S., the spatial distribution of sentiments, topics of tweets appeared, and the association between neighborhood conditions and the level of happiness were examined. The outcomes indicate that people in Detroit are posting happy tweets more than negative tweets. The downtown area holds both positive and negative hotspots, which are clustered around sports arenas and bars, respectively. Neighborhoods with young and well‐educated residents, situated close to amenities (i.e., recreation facilities, colleges, and commercial areas), and less crime tend to be happier. The use of SNS data could serve as a meaningful social listening tool to reconcile the declining urban vitality of neighborhoods since people interact with those spaces. Negative sentiments are attached to specific neighborhoods with certain conditions so that regeneration efforts should take place in neighborhoods with a higher priority.

Max Garcia

Papers

Pedestrian safety perception and urban street settings