Investigation of the Association between Type of Walking and Sense of Community (Case Study: ALAM AL-HUDA Pedestrian Zone)

Abstract

Today, the main concern of human beings is living in a healthy community with the highest quality of life. The sense of community is a factor affecting the quality of life and enhancing the sense of happiness. Walking spaces are one of the factors that can enhance this feeling in urban environments, encouraging people to walk. It has been proved by the previous studies that the purpose and frequency of walking, in different dimensions, can affect the sense of community. Based on the previous research the present study is an attempt to evaluate the association between type of walking and sense of community in ALAM AL-HUDA pedestrian zone located in Rasht, Iran, about both physical & environmental aspects. Therefore, four different types of walking activities are classified according to the goals of users including transport walking, recreation walking, exercise walking, and compulsory (forced) walking. The study, thus, aims at clarifying whether individuals who pursue walking for different objectives, display varying levels of sense of community (SOFC). Rather, physical factors and sidewalks infrastructure can give rise to a sense of community and the increase of this feeling in the people present in the pedestrian zones. The second goal, hence, is to specify the potential influence of these variables and properties on the levels of SOFC. To do so, a total of 251 participants were selected randomly in the pedestrian zone of ALAM AL-HUDA to respond to the items asserted in a questionnaire asking them about walking activities, walking environment, and social interactions. Data analysis revealed a linear positive correlation between walking types and a sense of community. Multivariate analysis of variance was then used to investigate the effect of several factors simultaneously on the SOFC variable. The study of the impact of different types of walking and physical and environmental factors on SOFC showed that the sense of community was different, depending on the 4 different walking goals presented in this study. So, compulsory (forced) walking exhibited the most sense of community, while recreation walking, exercise walking and transport walking had the least sense of community, respectively and among the physical and environmental factors involved, safety led to the highest level of SOFC while urban form, reportedly gave users the lowest level of SOFC.