Measurement and Analysis of Walkability in Hong Kong By: Michael Audi, Kathryn Byorkman, Alison Couture, Suzanne Najem ZRH006 Measurement and Analysis of Walkability in Hong Kong An Interactive Qualifying Project Report Submitted to the faculty of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute In partial fulfillment of the requirements for Degree of Bachelor of Science In cooperation with Designing Kong Hong, Ltd. and The Harbour Business Forum On March 4, 2010 Submitted by: Submitted to: Michael Audi Paul Zimmerman Kathryn Byorkman Margaret Brooke Alison Couture Dr. Sujata Govada Suzanne Najem Roger Nissim Professor Robert Kinicki Professor Zhikun Hou ii | P a g e Abstract Though Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour is world-renowned, the harbor front districts are far from walkable. The WPI team surveyed 16 waterfront districts, four in-depth, assessing their walkability using a tool created by the research team and conducted preference surveys to understand the perceptions of Hong Kong pedestrians. Because pedestrians value the shortest, safest, least-crowded, and easiest to navigate routes, this study found that confusing routes, unsafe or indirect connections, and a lack of amenities detract from the walkability in Hong Kong. This report provides new data concerning the walkability in harbor front districts and a tool to measure it, along with recommendations for potential improvements. iii | P a g e Acknowledgements Our team would like to thank the many people that helped us over the course of this project. First, we would like to thank our sponsors Paul Zimmerman, Dr. Sujata Govada, Margaret Brooke, and Roger Nissim for their help and dedication throughout our project and for providing all of the resources and contacts that we required. We would like to thank the staff at Designing Hong Kong and The Harbour Business Forum for their support, insight, and assistance with the project. We would also like to thank Brenda Fung for her time and effort spent organizing meetings, finding extra office space and collecting information. In addition, the team would like to thank Eva Tam for her translation skills for our survey and Rita Fu, and Stone Zheng for volunteering their time to help administer the survey. Finally, we would like to thank our Worcester Polytechnic Institute advisors, Zhikun Hou and Professors Robert Kinicki, for their generous advice and continuous support throughout this project. iv | P a g e Table of Authorship Abstract ............................................................................................................................... Byorkman Acknowledgements............................................................................................................................. Table of Authorship ............................................................................................................................ Executive Summary .............................................................................................................. Byorkman 1.0 Introduction ..................................................................................................... Najem,Couture 2.0 Background .............................................................................................................. Byorkman 2.1. URBAN PLANNING ........................................................................................................................................AUDI 2.1.1. Government Policy on Urban Planning of the Harbor Front .......................................................... Audi 2.1.2. Vehicular Transportation ............................................................................................................... Audi 2.1.3. Public Transit ................................................................................................................................. Audi 2.1.4. Foot Travel ..................................................................................................................................... Audi 2.2. WALKABILITY...............................................................................................................................................AUDI 2.2.1. Definition of Walkability ............................................................................................... Audi,Byokrman 2.2.2. Importance of Walking ......................................................................................................... Byorkman 2.2.3. Walkability Studies .................................................................................................... Byorkman,Najem 2.2.4. How to Measure Walkability ............................................................................ Audi,Najem,Byorkman 2.3. WALKABILITY IN HISTORIC CITIES ...............................................................................................................COUTURE 2.3.1. Boston, Massachusetts ............................................................................................................. Couture 2.3.2. Shanghai, China ........................................................................................................................ Couture 2.3.3. New York City, New York .......................................................................................................... Couture 2.3.4. Singapore .................................................................................................................................. Couture 2.3.5. Similarities to Walkability in Hong Kong ....................................................................................... Audi 2.3.6. Uniqueness of Walkability in Hong Kong ....................................................................................... Audi 2.4. HONG KONG .........................................................................................................................................COUTURE 2.4.1. History and City Development .................................................................................................. Couture 2.4.2. Land Reclamation ..................................................................................................................... Couture 2.4.3. Geography ................................................................................................................ Najem, Byorkman 2.4.4. Attractions ................................................................................................................ Najem, Byokrman 2.4.5. Studies on Walkability in Hong Kong .......................................................................................... Najem 2.4.6. Walkability in Hong Kong ..................................................................................................... Byorkamn 3.0 Methodology .................................................................................................................... Audi 3.1. PRELIMINARY WALKABILITY ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................... NAJEM 3.1.1. Preliminary Evaluation Rubric .................................................................................................... Najem 3.1.2. Definitions of Preliminary Evaluation Rubric Metrics ................................................................. Najem 3.1.3. Execution of Preliminary Evaluation ........................................................................................... Najem 3.1.4. Data Analysis of Preliminary Walkability Observations ................................................................ Audi 3.2. SURVEY ................................................................................................................................................COUTURE 3.2.1. Pedestrian Route Selection at the Tsim Sha Tsui Harbor Front Survey ..................................... Couture v | P a g e 3.2.2. Pedestrian Perception of Walkability Survey ............................................................................ Couture 3.2.3. Survey Data Processing ................................................................................................................. Audi 3.3. IN-DEPTH WALKABILITY METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................................COUTURE 3.3.1. Final Walkability Criteria .......................................................................................................... Couture 3.3.2. In-depth Data Processing .............................................................................................................. Audi 3.3.3. Walking Map .............................................................................................................................. Najem 3.3.4. Recommendations ......................................................................................................................... Audi 4.0 Results ......................................................................................................................... Couture 4.1. PRELIMINARY WALKING RUBRICS ........................................................................................................... BYORKMAN 4.2. PEDESTRIAN ROUTE SELECTION AT THE TSIM SHA TSUI HARBOR FRONT SURVEY ................................................COUTURE 4.3. PEDESTRIAN PERCEPTION OF WALKABILITY SURVEY ............................................................................................AUDI 4.4. IN-DEPTH DISTRICT ANALYSIS