Alfonzo, M.A., 2005, To walk or not to walk? The hierarchy of walking needs, in: Environment and Behavior, 37, 6
- Author : Alfonzo, M.A.
- Year : 2005
- Journal/Series : Environment and Behavior
- Volume Number (ANNUAL: Counting Volumes of the Year shown above) : 6
- Volume Number (CONSECUTIVE: Counting all Volumes of this Journal ever published) : 37
- Pages : 808-836
- Abstract in English : In the past 20 years, walking in the United States has been decreasing steadily, both as means of transportation and as a form of recreation. Concurrently, there has been a considerable increase in sedentary lifestyles and, as such, higher rates of obesity among US residents. The dramatic decrease in walking has alarmed many health professionals, as multiple studies have linked low physical activity levels to an increased risk of heart disease, strokes and other health problems. The drop in walking rates has also troubled social scientists, architects, and planners, as many believe that this decrease may affect quality of life and sense of community. Adopting a narrow approach to a multilevel problem such as the decrease in walking has led to a piecemeal understanding of the factors affecting walking. Researches have identified many variables that that affect walking but few have tested hypotheses for how these variables may interacting affecting a person’s decision to walk. This body of research is in need of a transdisciplinary, multilevel, theoretical model that help to explain, group, regional, and physical-environmental factors affect physical activity behaviours. To address this gap, this article-offers a social ecological conceptual model for how both urban and nonurban form factors may interact to affect walking. This model can serve as a framework by which to understand the relative significance of cornucopia of variables identified by existing research, offer hypotheses for how theses factors affect peoples’ decision to walk, and help to guide future research and practice. This article will provide an overview of a new theory of how to conceptually organize the various urban form (and nonurban form) variables that may affect walking. This theory will than be placed into a social ecological framework that conceptualizes the walking decision, making process as a dynamic one, with antecedents, mediators, interprocesses (moderators), and multiple outcomes. According to Maslow (1954) the article proposed a hierarchy of walking needs. Maslow’s hierarchical structure can by applied to the needs that people considers when deciding to walk. The hierarchy of walking needs model posits that there are five levels of needs that are considered within the walking decision-making process. These needs progress from the most basic needed, feasibility (related to personal limits) to higher-order needs (related to urban form) that includes accessibility, safety, comfort, and pleasurability, respectively. The realization of these needs is neither nor sufficient to induce walking. The choice to walk can occur anywhere on the hierarchy. What the hierarchy does ultimately imply is that the absence of higher-order needs does not restrict the choice to walk if lower-order needs have not been fulfilled. This point is key for design guidance and planning decision making, as discussed later.
- Comments/Notes : KEYWORDS: walking, urban form, feasibility, accessibility, safety, comfort, pleasurability, affordance.