Open AccessMeasuring Accessibility in low density Housing: The Role of neighbourhood design
Author(s) -
Zainab Ibrahim Abass,
Richard Tucker
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
iop conference series. materials science and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1757-899X
pISSN - 1757-8981
DOI - 10.1088/1757-899x/737/1/012182
Subject(s) - neighbourhood (mathematics) , residence , built environment , walkability , perception , multilevel model , geography , space (punctuation) , psychology , sociology , computer science , demography , mathematics , engineering , mathematical analysis , civil engineering , neuroscience , machine learning , operating system
Accessibility is a key contributor to the quality of life experienced by residents and others. This paper asks how might accessibility be measured in different contexts? Quantitative analyses were undertaken, and 247 residents were surveyed in three suburbs. Pearson correlations was used to investigate the relationship between perceived accessibility and a number of independent social and physical neighbourhood design variables. The findings suggest that a quantitative method can be usefully conducted to measure the perception of residents toward their social-spatial environment. The results presented that accessibility is strongly associated with physical design features, even with interaction of socio-demographic variables. Hierarchical multiple regression was also showed that some of the physical characteristics significantly predicted accessibility particularly street type, open space provision and trees coverage after socio-economic factors controlling such as income and length of residence. This indicates that well designed neighbourhoods can be more accessible for residents. The findings also suggest that accessibility associated with the social and physical needs of residents can be critical influences that planners and decision maker need to consider when designing for sustainable environment in contemporary suburban contexts.