Equity issues and the PeCUS index: an indirect analysis of community severance

Urban barriers are often a consequence of the unplanned expansion of transport infrastructures, housing growth nearby existing transport infrastructures, and the vehicular traffic itself. This process, also known as "community severance", is a problem that affects the travel patterns of the population and causes negative impacts to adjacent communities, but it is not easy to assess. As an alternative to the costly technologies and restricted-access data sometimes used to analyze urban barriers, we propose an analytical approach that assesses community severance levels by classifying the quality of Pedestrian Crossings on Urban Streets (the PeCUS index). Additionally, the approach is used to identify possible inequities nearby the different classification groups regarding demographic data. We used the chi-square (χ2) test of independence and the standardized Pearson residuals to indicate deficits and excesses of residents regarding the demographic characteristics studied surrounding the urban streets. We found the following evidences of associations: residents with low-income or those aged up to 19 tend to live close to the worst crossings, whereas residents with permanent mobility constraints or the elderly tend to live near the crossings with the best classifications. Therefore, the study shows that the assessment of community severance by the analysis of the PeCUS index is feasible. Moreover, it reveals that the distribution of residents surrounding the distinct classes of quality of crossings is equitable for vulnerable social groups, except for low-income or young residents.