Speaker
Description
Walking is the primary mode of school travel for 11–12-year-old children in Hong Kong, accounting for 46% of trips, significantly surpassing other methods such as school buses (Leung & Loo, 2020). Hong Kong’s secondary school placement system, consisting of Discretionary Places Allocation and Central Allocation phases, primarily assigns school placements based on proximity within 18 school nets (Education Bureau, 2025). Consequently, children are more likely to attend schools near their neighborhoods, reinforcing walking as a dominant travel mode (Leung & Loo, 2020). Despite these policies, the quality of walking environments remains uneven, creating challenges in ensuring safe and enjoyable school commutes.
Existing walkability studies often rely on aggregate metrics, such as Walk Score which fail to account for variations in age, gender, physical abilities, and socioeconomic factors (Brown et al., 2023; Golan et al., 2019). Furthermore, Hong Kong’s dense urban landscape, hilly topography, and spatial constraints require a localized approach to evaluate and improve walkability (Zhao et al., 2021).
This study introduces a student-centered, route-based methodology to assess and enhance the walkability of school routes in Hong Kong. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining focus group interviews for qualitative insights with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to assign rational weightings to key walkability dimensions: connectivity, convenience, safety, and comfort.
The primary objectives of this study are:
1. To identify elements constituting pedestrian-friendly pathways for students.
2. To detect inequalities in walkability along school routes.
3. To propose targeted strategies for improving walkability and student mobility.
Unlike conventional neighborhood-focused metrics, this study employs a route-based approach to evaluate walkability by simulating students’ home-to-school commutes. Instead of assessing generalized walkability scores at the district level, this method generates multiple potential routes for each home-to-school pair, akin to navigation systems that assign unique scores to different paths. Each route is evaluated based on its specific walkability dimensions. Route-level summary statistics provide a holistic view of school commutes, enabling the identification of patterns across districts. Additionally, segment-level analysis pinpoints specific road sections with deficiencies, such as insufficient pedestrian infrastructure or traffic safety concerns, which disproportionately impact walking experiences.
Preliminary findings reveal significant disparities in routes’ walkability performance, influenced by factors such as infrastructure, traffic safety, and gradient. Routes in areas with higher school densities generally scored better due to shorter walking distances and better connectivity. In contrast, routes closer to hilly areas exhibited lower scores, likely due to steep gradients and limited infrastructure. The qualitative data from focus groups revealed concerns such as high vehicular traffic near schools, insufficient pedestrian crossings, and a lack of shaded pathways. These insights highlighted the lived experiences of students and parents, enriching the quantitative analysis.
This study contributes a novel framework for assessing walkability tailored to the needs of students, offering actionable insights for urban planners and policymakers. By integrating segment-level analysis and route-level summaries, this approach allows for:
1. Precise identification of problematic road segments for targeted interventions.
2. Comparative assessments of school commutes between school-dense central areas and peripheral regions with fewer schools to address localized inequalities.
Addressing walkability disparities is critical for promoting physical activity, reducing obesity risks (Buck et al., 2015), and fostering sustainable urban mobility. Urban planning efforts must prioritize improvements in pedestrian infrastructure, safety measures, and environmental quality to create inclusive and walkable school routes.
This research establishes a robust, student-centered framework for evaluating and enhancing walkability in Hong Kong. By focusing on specific segments of school routes and employing a mixed-methods approach, it provides a targeted strategy to improve the quality of walking environments for students.
References
Brown, J. A., Curtin, K. D., Thomson, M., Kung, J. Y., & Nykiforuk, C. I. J. (2023). Contributions and Limitations Walk Score® in the Context of Walkability: A Scoping Review. Environment and Behavior, 55(6–7), 468–519. https://doi.org/10.1177/00139165231201611
Buck, C., Tkaczick, T., Pitsiladis, Y., De Bourdehaudhuij, I., Reisch, L., Ahrens, W., & Pigeot, I. (2015). Objective Measures of the Built Environment and Physical Activity in Children: From Walkability to Moveability. Journal of Urban Health, 92(1), 24–38. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-014-9915-2
Education Bureau. (2025). General Information on Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) System—Education Bureau. https://www.edb.gov.hk/en/edu-system/primary-secondary/spa-systems/secondary-spa/general-info/index.html
Golan, Y., Wilkinson, N., Henderson, J. M., & Weverka, A. (2019). Gendered walkability: Building a daytime walkability index for women. Journal of Transport and Land Use, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.5198/jtlu.2019.1472
Leung, K. Y. K., & Loo, B. P. Y. (2020). Determinants of children’s active travel to school: A case study in Hong Kong. Travel Behaviour and Society, 21, 79–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tbs.2020.05.009
Zhao, J., Sun, G., & Webster, C. (2021). Walkability scoring: Why and how does a three-dimensional pedestrian network matter? Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 48(8), 2418–2435. https://doi.org/10.1177/2399808320977871
| Keywords | Walkability; Urban Mobility; Active School Transport (AST); Inequalities in Walkability |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
