A multiscale walkability assessment approach creating walkable streets: A case study of high-density city, Macau

Walkability contributes to public health and urban livability. However, the development of walkability evaluation methods and tools is generally still in the exploratory stage. Therefore, this study explores a new multiscale evaluation method to evaluate the walkability of urban streets. Urban functional facilities and streetscapes were analyzed using geographic information system (GIS) and fully convolutional network (FCN) models. The street-scale walkability framework was categorized into three dimensions, accessibility, comfort, and safety, to discuss the walkability results of different urban locations. The results show that urban functional facilities make Macau spatially different in terms of regional walkability, and demographic and social indicators result in significant social inequalities. By analyzing the streetscape elements, the levels of accessibility, comfort, and safety in the historic urban area of Macau are lower than those of the typical walking circles in the cross-border port residential area and the Old Town.