Urban layout, landscape features and pedestrian usage

The analysis of the factors which condition walking in the urban environment is an important issue in urban planning. The present work is based on the hypothesis that the landscape, in its entirety, plays a role in encouraging pedestrian movements. The frequency of pedestrian traffic in the streets is analyzed as a function of accessibility and landscape preferences with the help of a conceptual framework. By defining accessibility as the measurement of the integration of the space syntax, preferences are researched using multiple stepwise regression of visual variables. This method has been applied to an area in the city of Lille (France) where the pedestrian frequency has been recorded and the landscape elements inventoried. Initially, the local integration explains 25% of the variance of pedestrian frequency. The landscape variables present rather low correlations with this frequency, but the models of multiple regression reach 56% of explained variance. The view of squares, buildings with a commercial function and trees prove to be favourable for pedestrian movement, while residential buildings and small monuments act in a negative way. These results partly confirm previous studies, but they also add elements to the discussion on the relation between pedestrians and landscape in the urban environment.