Researcher(s):
Ajna Weaver Drew Williamson Julia Benford Katrina Von Burg
ENVS course(s): 220 Initiated: November 2014 Completed: December 2014 Go to project site
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What factors impact sidewalks in Portland, and how do they influence pedestrian usage? How do these aspects affect urban pedestrian mobility in general, and how can it be improved? Obstructions can be interpreted as physical blockages, like pedestrian traffic, fixed objects like trash cans or general litter and debris. Adjacent surroundings may cause other significant impacts on the usage of sidewalks. Sidewalks are assumed by some groups to be a highly important contributor to livability for a variety of reasons, primarily to create more mobile, equitable, and walkable neighborhoods. How have these goals been exemplified or impeded by the presence of sidewalks (or lack thereof)? Our goals were to investigate issues of and relating to equity in terms of sidewalk availability, effectiveness and usage. Our inquisition was primarily conducted via Fulcrum surveys in eight randomly chosen but geographically spread out Portland neighborhoods. We looked for the presence of obstacles and other direct physical impacts, as well as considering relative nearby residential or business presence as a general indicator of how they are used. Also, interviews were conducted to determine individual usages and opinions on Portland's version of the hybrid object that is a sidewalk, and determine how they compare to usage and opinions elsewhere in the country. Our results show the types of surroundings (i.e. commercial/residential) and sidewalk width have the most significant correlations with sidewalk activity.