Background of the Study
In recent years, new urbanism design for walkability has been a major focus of city planning.
Walkability contributes to the health, well-being, and quality of life of citizens in cities. The link
between walkability in cities and the health of citizens’ need more in depth research and a
comprehensive appraisal of the international research methods for walkability will a good start to
build foundation to define research focus and to provide some references for Baguio City which
is going through a fast urbanization process.
Within South East Asia in particular, heavy traffic and accompanying air pollution have made
some streets unwelcoming to walkers and adverse conditions are exacerbated by poor city
governance and inadequate planning (ADB, 2008). There are additional problems due to streets
having long been viewed as a public space suitable for commerce (Kim, 2015; Oranratmanee and
Sachakul, 2014) which is commonly unregulated and illegal (Kusakabe, 2006). Street trading is
favoured by warmer climates and its extent, especially in food (Winarno,2017), leads to
pavement congestion in certain spots and may force walkers onto roads. There is agreement that
vendors are often a vital food supplier and representatives of cultural heritage who animate
cities, but many authorities are taking action against them. Campaigns in the Vietnamese cities of
Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (Eldse et al., 2016) and Bangkok (Batreau and Bonnet, 2016), for
example, seek to reclaim the streets for pedestrians and confine hawkers to designated venues.
Stated motives are health and safety imperatives and environmental upgrading, but roadside
trade may have connotations of backwardness and be inconsistent with government
conceptualizations of a prosperous and progressive city (Yatmo,2008).
Urban mobility as a whole is a gauge in the UN Habitat City Prosperity Index (UNHabitat,2015)
and transportation and urban planning are factors in the Global City Indicators for sustainability
(ISO, 2014). Walking could also be interpreted as a dimension of happiness and wellbeing which
are increasingly featured as metrics in such comparative exercises (OECD, 2013). The largest
and most powerful metropolises are not necessarily deemed the most liveable or happiest, the top
scorers in these categories being smaller cities with lower populations (Henderson, 2017) which,
by implication, are more walkable.
Studies of how people, both residents and visitors, regard and navigate urban settings are also
relevant and suggest useful investigative instruments. These include cognitive mapping (Downs
and Stea, 1973), time-space diaries (Fennell, 1996; Thornton et al., 1997) and commented walks
(Thibaud, 2013) whereby participants are asked to verbalise their experiences. Modern
technologies are creating new mobile positioning opportunities (Ahasetal., 2008) which permit
more accurate monitoring of tourists through time and space (Shoval and Isaacson, 2010).
Promotion of walking is perhaps more evident in North American and European cities where it is
commonly combined with cycling initiatives, yet the idea of walkability and its merits is
influencing thinking in Asia. However, the hazards confronting pedestrians in India (Bharucha,
2017) reveal a lack of progress in some countries. Dissatisfaction amongst pedestrians is
revealed in a study of 13 cities across Asia which calculates that the median walkability rating is
58.43 out of 100 with 41 per cent of respondents judging facilities to be bad or very bad.
Parameters are “walking path modal conflict, availability of walking paths, availability of
crossings, grade crossing safety, motorist behaviour, amenities, disability infrastructure,
obstructions, and security from crime” (Fabian et al., 2010, p. 14). The authors comment on
official recognition of the desirability of improving the pedestrian experience, but also on the
want of political will and proper structures and processes to effect the necessary changes.
Another review of urban mobility is more optimistic and identifies examples of good practice in
ten cities, eight of which are in the Asia Pacific region (Centre for Liveable Cities and Urban
Land Institute,2017). Endeavours to curb the dominance of the car, extend public transport usage
and increase pedestrian friendliness are noted in Seoul and Suwon (South Korea), Shanghai,
Taipei, Tokyo and Bandung (Indonesia) as well as Singapore. Plans to do so in Ho Chi Minh
City, Sydney and Yangon are also outlined. Steps include tighter controls over road traffic flows,
widened pavements, more aesthetically appealing social spaces, better connections and street
pedestrianization. Some illustrations are the dismantling of the Cheonggye Elevated Highway in
Seoul and its replacement by the restored Cheonggyecheon Stream which forms an 11 kilometre
long recreation waterside corridor and the diagonal crosswalk known as Scramble walk in
Tokyo’s Shibuya district. While laudable, several of the schemes are restricted in scale and the
obstacles to realization of more ambitious programmes should not be underestimated.
An earlier report by the same authors explores the benefits of both walking and cycling as types
of active mobility and cites prerequisites of “high density, compact and fine grained urban forms;
mixed-use environment; strong civic and sharing culture; and good public transit” (Centre for
Liveable Cities and Urban Land Institute, 2014, p.50). Ten ideas to stimulate participation in
tropical cities such as those of Asia are “make it convenient and efficient; provide dedicated
space for all; ensure visibility at junctions; maintain continuity of movement; keep it slow;
prioritise at-grade crossings; ensure consistency in design standards; make it comfortable and
attractive; mix up the uses; and close the loop with end-of-trip amenities” (Centre for Liveable
Cities and Urban Land Institute, 2014, p. 90). Again, execution of worthy proposals is a
formidable long-term undertaking and calls for fundamental changes in official approaches and
personal behaviours.
With the greater dispersion of knowledge through publication and the media, the increased
availability of information on different subjects, can make it difficult to read all literatures about
the positive effects of walkability. An effective way to solve this problem is to use modern
literature analysis software as a supplementary tool to objectively assess the development trend.
This paper uses the software Histcite and visualization software platform Citespace to grasp
development trend and hotspots related to the research through all related literatures in recent
years from the “web of science” database.
