Walking experience: Exploring the trilateral interrelation of walkability, temporal perception, and urban ambiance

Abstract

Walking experience through urban spaces is a frequent daily activity. Thus, planning and designing for walkability become crucial for building up quality of life. Our daily walks around the city are affected by fulfilling the needed psychological contentment that is in turn measured unconsciously by our temporal perception. This contentment is inherent in what we experience in accordance with urban ambiance that goes beyond the spatial attributes of spaces to include their social and sensorial dimensions. Thus, the question here is how walkability of urban routes is affected by urban ambiance and therefore perceived in terms of time. Therefore, this study aims to understate the trilateral interrelation of walkability, temporal perception, and urban ambiance in walkable routes for daily routine use. This work depends on an experimental study where participants are asked to walk along two selected routes. Data-gathering tools rely on documenting the lived experience of the target group via reporting their trips and answering a questionnaire. Pattern analysis demonstrates this trilateral interrelation to clarify the interplay. This study concludes specific qualities of walkable routes for routine use that reduce sense of time, which is highly crucial to be realized in such daily walk journeys.

Key words： Walkability; Urban ambiance; Temporal perception; People’s needs in open spaces