The Study of the Relationships among Psychological Factors, Acceptable Walking Distance, and Reported Walking Distance for Shopping Trips

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between psychological factors and walking behavior in order to provide evidence supporting the implementation of measures for behavioral change for the success of urban planning initiatives. The acceptable walking distance is selected as an intermediate variable between psychological factors and actual walking distance. The results indicate that increasing the acceptable walking distance has the potential to stimulate pedestrians to increase the amount of walking. Also, an ordered probit model has indicated that psychological factors have a significant influence on the acceptable walking distance. It is able to identify a sequence of cause and effect where psychological factors would first influence acceptable walking distance and then the acceptable walking distance would influence pedestrian walking distance. A policy of applying soft measures such as psychological strategies to increase the pedestrian output is supported by the findings of this project work.