The Role of Personal Values, Urban Form, and Auto Availability in the Analysis of Walking for Transportation

Purpose: To examine the association of personal values, the built environment, and auto availability with walking for transportation. Setting: Participants were drawn from 11 U.S. metropolitan areas with good transit services. Subjects: 865 adults who had recently made or were contemplating making a residential move. Measures: Respondents reported if walking was their primary mode for nine trip purposes. "Personal values" reflected ratings of 15 variables assessing attitudes about urban and environmental attributes, with high reliability (a = 0.85). Neighborhood form was indicated by a three-item scale. Three binary variables were created to reflect (1) personal values, (2) neighborhood form, and (3) auto availability. Design: The association with walking was reported for each of the three variables, each combination of two variables, and the combination of three variables. An analysis of covariance was applied, and a hierarchic linear regression model was developed. Results: All three variables were associated with walking, and all three variables interacted. The standardized coefficients were 0.23 for neighborhood form, 0.21 for autos per person, and 0.18 for personal values. Conclusion: Positive attitudes about urban attributes, living in a supportive neighborhood, and low automobile availability significantly predicted more walking for transportation. A framework for further research is proposed in which a factor representing the role of the automobile is examined explicitly in addition to personal values and urban form. Adapted from the source document.