Improvement of Walk Score from the Perspective of Public Health: Jing’an District of Shanghai as a Case Study

Abstract

Walkability presents the level of pedestrian-friendliness in a city, which is a significant aspect in healthy city planning. Walk score is one of the most popular indicators to measure walkability nowadays. With a consideration of human health, this paper explores a method to improve the measurement of walk score from both environmental and social aspects. It is proposed that the impact of air pollution and population configuration on walkability should be considered. This paper proposes adding traffic pollution, population density and population age structure as key variables in the calculation of walk score. Based on this revision of methodology, Jing’an District of Shanghai is chosen as the study site to measure walk score for its road system. The paper compares the results of the original and proposed calculation methods. Through discovering the necessity and significance of the new method, this paper analyzes walkability of streets in order to promote physical activity and public health. 关键词: 可步行性;步行指数;交通污染;人口结构;公共健康