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This study investigated how the benefits of a walkable neighborhood were reflected in the American real estate market by examining the economic values of urban environmental factors supporting walking activities. Property values were used as a proxy measure for economic value and analyzed in relation to land use characteristics that have been known...
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... all parcels in the King County UGB 2289 samples of single-family residential, 837 samples of rental multi-family residential, 738 samples of retail service and 586 samples of office parcels were randomly selected by the sampling process. The distribution of the sampled parcels for the four land uses is illustrated in Figure 1. ...
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Citations
... In the literature, it is widely acknowledged that well-designed pedestrian streets or walkable neighborhoods generally increase the value of real estate (Pivo, Fisher 2011;Sohn, Moudon, Lee 2012;Pham 2023). However, the main drivers influencing property value were identified differently depending on the study. ...
Foot traffic data allow business operators and government officials to assess the degree of pedestrian activity on a street and thus play an important role in optimizing retail strategies and enhancing urban planning. This study uses foot traffic data from Seoul and its surrounding regions to examine the relationship between foot traffic and land prices. Three study areas were selected and investigated using spatial regression models. The results showed that the interplay between foot traffic and land prices was influenced by geographical location. While a linear association between the two variables was found in one study area, diminishing returns to scale of land prices to foot traffic were identified in the other two. This nonlinear relationship can be attributed to the mismatch between land-use intensity and zoning. These findings are expected to provide insights for stakeholders in various industries, including property valuation, urban planning, and real estate development.
... In addition to the public health, societal, and environmental benefits, walkable environments substantially provide economic benefits because the multidimensional benefits of walkable environments may be capitalized as increased real estate values in the surrounding neighborhoods (Bae et al., 2003;Li et al., 2015;Sohn et al., 2012). Hence, there is a growing interest in economic effects of neighborhood walkability as a way to generate more or less revenue from various property taxes. ...
... This study builds on previous studies that have explored various factors that influence commercial property values, which are determined not only by environmental attributes, but also by fundamentally diverse structural and locational characteristics. In terms of the structural characteristics of commercial properties, the total floor area is an indicator that can measure the size and development density of buildings; high-density development can accommodate more consumers, which increases commercial property value (Han et al., 2019;Lee, 2005;Sohn et al., 2012). The age of the building, and the availability of parking lots and elevators, provide comfortability and convenience to visitors who use the commercial facilities, and these amenity factors can increase commercial property values (Kim & Shin, 2014;Kwon & Kim, 2019). ...
... This study included variables of macro-scale, meso-scale, and microscale walkable environment characteristics to identify the walkability. The various walkable environment characteristics that may affect commercial property values were estimated by applying the 400 m Euclidean distance buffer, which is the walking distance (e.g., a 10-minute walk) from a commercial property (Sohn et al., 2012;Woo et al., 2019). In terms of macro-scale walkable environments, this study included land use status, crosswalk density, intersection density, subway station density, bus stop density, and LUM, and utilized data from the 2018 KTDB and 2018 Seoul Open Data Plaza. ...
Interest in the economic effects of walkable environments is growing as the multidimensional benefits of walkability can be capitalized into surrounding property values. Commercial properties may be more sensitive to the economic effects of walkability compared to other types of properties due to their distinct attributes, but not many studies have investigated the relationships between walkable environments and commercial property values. Additionally, previous studies identified walkable environments on a neighborhood-scale, not at a meso and micro-scale. This study fills these gaps by examining the effects of multifaceted walkable environments on commercial property values in Seoul, Korea. Based on sales transaction data between 2017 and 2019, we employed the hedonic price model to clarify the relationships between walkable environments and commercial property values. This study estimated walkable environments using semantic segmentation based on Google Street View images. Furthermore, we accounted for commercial submarkets to identify how the impacts of walkability vary across areas stratified by living population density. The results show that various walkable environments positively affect nearby commercial property values. Additionally, these effects vary across commercial submarkets' heterogeneity. Our findings provide a variety of suggestions for encouraging the creation of walkable environments and increasing the economic benefits of commercial properties.
... Existing studies of walkability effects on real estate prices use a variety of walkability measures. Sohn et al. (2012) find that walkability increases the value of single-family houses as well as multi-family rental properties. Yin (2013) find similar effects in Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Detroit. ...
This paper examines possible clientele effects underlying the value of walkability in the housing market. Sales transaction data during 2010–2019 in the Atlanta metro area show that houses in more walkable neighborhoods sell at a discount. At the same time, however, we find previously overlooked clientele effects. Focusing on the relationship between buyer ethnic origin and walkability value using a simultaneous equations approach to sort out separate effects on both prices and liquidity, it is clear that more than just walkability matters, as the value ethnic buyers place on walkability also depends on the neighborhood ethnic mix. When compared with non-ethnic buyers, Hispanic buyers discount walkability in both price and liquidity while Indian subcontinent buyer clientele effects appear in terms of liquidity more so than price. The price segments analysis shows the strong clientele effects observed in the lower priced neighborhoods diminish in the medium and higher price neighborhoods.
... Unfortunately, mixed uses, often based on small blocks where land suitable for development, are excessively complex and diverse in rural communities. This phenomenon not only leads to the fragmentation of landscape and functions, but also increases the difficulty of land use planning and regulation, thereby resulting in low-density development patterns with an excessive mix of residential, industrial, and commercial land uses a lack of adequate infrastructure, and increased vacant and abandoned lots (Keenan, et al., 1999;Sohn et al., 2012). 2) Different types of MLU will eventually produce different effects. ...
Residential vacancy is a visible symptom of community decline in peri-urban villages of China. Mixed-use development has emerged as a possible approach for land use planning to help mitigate community decline and residential vacancy. By applying an integrated framework, this study explores whether mixed land use (MLU) can help counter residential vacancy based on the classification of four types of peri-urban villages. Results show that the degree of MLU and residential vacancy rate both present increasing tendencies. Also, impacts of MLU on residential vacancy differ across villages: the disorderly and excessive mixed uses in some villages exacerbated residential vacancy, even threatening the neighborhood safety and livability; whereas for some villages with compatible mixed uses, the land use pattern could assist in reducing the residential vacancy, as well as promoting the compact and high-density development. Undeniably, planning for the increased mixed-use environment like urban communities is unsuitable for rural communities. Sustainable planning to counter residential vacancy should combine the compatible mixed-use development together with the rational functional zoning, which is also considered a constructive tool in mitigating community decline, and bringing human settlements development, vitality, and diversity. This research contributes to reconcile residential vacancy in the depopulating and declining communities.
... As an important environmental characteristic affecting the built environment, walkability, a measure of the friendliness of a built environment related to physical activity and active mobility [1,2], has been extensively utilized in the fields of public health, transportation, and urban design [3][4][5]. Particularly, walkability is the quality of a neighborhood that supports and encourages people to walk to their destinations in a safe, convenient, and timely fashion [1,6,7]. Walkability thus is often assessed with environmental criteria such as street design, destination accessibility, and safety [8][9][10][11]. ...
The walkability of a neighborhood is important for alleviating transport problems and improving the social and physical wellbeing of residents. However, it is unclear to what extent high walkability contributes to positive attitudes about walking and walking experiences on university campuses. In addition, little is known about the extent and mechanism by which walking attitude influences the affective walking experiences of students. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the relationship between campus walkability and students’ affective walking experience, as well as to explain the role of walking attitude as a mediator of this relationship. To address these issues, data were collected via questionnaires at a Chinese university and analyzed by using the structural equation model. After controlling for personal characteristics, the results indicated that campus walkability had a positive direct and indirect (through walking attitude) association with affective walking experiences. Our findings have proved that walkable campuses are important because they promote positive walking attitudes and walking emotions, which are beneficial to students’ mental health and subjective wellbeing.
... Research has indicated that residents of more walkable neighbourhoods exercise more and have a lower incidence of sedentary and cardio-metabolic diseases (Howell et al., 2019;Van Dyck et al., 2011), have higher social capital and are more engaged in their community (Leyden, 2003;van Den Berg et al., 2017), as well as having better access to cost-saving public transit options (Cerin et al., 2007;Renne et al., 2016). Given these benefits, it is perhaps not surprising that neighbourhood walkability often correlates positively with home value, all other factors equal (Kim and Kim, 2020;Sohn et al., 2012). As walkable and transitaccessible neighbourhoods become increasingly desirable, there is a growing concern that disadvantaged groups -particularly lower-income and minority householdsmay be displaced or excluded from these spaces (Bereitschaft, 2017a;Delmelle and Nilsson, 2020;Knight et al., 2018;Riggs, 2016;Turner, 2017). ...
Neighbourhood walkability has increasingly been viewed as an amenity that may confer substantial health, social and economic benefits. As walkable neighbourhoods become increasingly desirable, there is concern that disadvantaged groups – particularly lower-income and minority households – may be displaced or excluded from these spaces. This investigation assesses whether minorities, and Black residents in particular, are increasingly under-represented in urban neighbourhoods with high walkability by examining demographic changes between 2010 and 2020 across approximately 43,000 urban census tracts. The results suggest a negative association between Black and ‘other’ non-White residents and neighbourhood walkability when controlling for confounding factors. Blacks were also the only major ethno-racial group to decline in absolute number within the nation’s most walkable (i.e. Walk Score ® ≥90) urban neighbourhoods between 2010 and 2020. Implications for social equity and justice are discussed.
... Studies have found this metric to hold across the United States with the exception of areas located near sizable unpassable features such as lakes or mountains, of which Baltimore has none ( Boscoe et al., 2012 ). Straight-line distances have been used as a proxy for drive time in Baltimore City ( Troy & Grove, 2008 ) and also been found to reflect pedestrian accessibility more effectively tha network distance, as pedestrians often will take shorter routes not reflected in network analyses, such as along streets without sidewalks ( Sohn et al., 2012 ). We evaluated the range of distance indexes across census tracts in Baltimore City. ...
Background
The opioid epidemic in the United States continues to surge, reaching record deaths from opioid and fentanyl overdoses in 2020. This study analyzes spatial and neighborhood correlates of free naloxone distribution sites as well as overdose and naloxone reversal events in Baltimore, Maryland, which has one of the highest overdose rates in the country.
Methods
Using data from a randomized clinical trial on HIV prevention among people using substances in Baltimore, Maryland, as well as demographic data from the US Census Bureau, we conducted: (1) exploratory spatial visualizations of census tracts’ minimum distance to naloxone distribution sites, (2) univariable Wilcoxon rank-sum tests to compare census tracts on demographic metrics, and (3) bivariable and multivariable negative binomial regression models to assess associations between census tract characteristics and naloxone reversal events.
Results
Valid geographic data were provided for 518 overdose events involving either fentanyl or heroin in this study. Of these, 190 (37%) attempted naloxone reversal events were reported. Exploratory spatial visualization techniques suggest that most distribution sites are appropriately located near populations at high risk of overdose, but study findings also identify areas where drug use and overdoses occur that are located farther from distribution sites. In multivariable analyses, naloxone administration was significantly and inversely associated with distance to the nearest distribution site (incidence rate ratio (IRR)=0.72 per 1000m increase, 95% CI 0.59-0.89, p=0.002).
Conclusion
Study findings emphasize the correlation between proximity to naloxone sites and utilization of resources, highlighting that physical proximity to harm reduction resources may contribute to uptake. Results further underscore that research on service accessibility and utilization must consider the spatial distribution of health services.
... Hedonic pricing models have been used extensively to value aspects of urban form that create walkable, liveable, and sustainable communities. Studies have included: walkability using walk score (Pivo and Fisher 2011, Rauterkus and Miller 2011, Li et al. 2015; urban design features using space syntax (Matthews andTurnbull 2007, Xiao et al. 2016); new urbanism principles (Tu and Eppli 1999, Plaut and Boarnet 2003, Song and Knaap 2003, 2004, Krause and Bitter 2012, Sohn et al. 2012; transit accessibility and transit orientated design (McDonald and Osuji 1995, Ryan 1999, Cervero and Duncan 2002, McMillen and McDonald 2004, Hess and Almeida 2007, Duncan 2011, Chatman et al. 2012, Kay et al. 2014, Bohman and Nilsson 2016, Higgins and Kanaroglou 2016, Forouhar and Hasankhani 2018, Filippova and Sheng 2020, Bohman 2021 and parks, open spaces and trees (Luttik 2000, Payton et al. 2008, Sander et al. 2010, McCord et al. 2014, Pandit et al. 2014, Tapsuwan and Polyakov 2016, Donovan et al. 2019. Hedonic modelling has also been used to value broad urban planning issues including relationships with landfills and toxic waste sites (Michaels and Smith 1990, Kohlhase 1991, Thayer et al. 1992, Arimah and Adinnu 1995; road and aircraft noise (Nelson 1982, Cohen and Coughlin 2008, Wen et al. 2020) and the urban growth boundary (Knaap 1985, Phillips and Goodstein 2000, Jun 2006, Cho et al. 2008, Grout et al. 2011, Mathur 2019. ...
... In New Urbanist neighbourhoods there are higher densities, a greater mix of land uses, more public open space, well-connected streets and walkable street networks with access to local employment (Tu and Eppli 1999). Studies seeking to value New Urbanism have typically hypothesised that communities built on New Urbanism principles will have higher property values (Kim and Bae 2020) with several publications supporting this contention (Tu and Eppli 1999, 2001, Plaut and Boarnet 2003, Sohn et al. 2012. Briefly, several analyses have used binary indicators to differentiate New Urbanist neighbourhoods from other types of conventional developments in the US and Israel (Tu and Eppli 1999, 2001, Plaut and Boarnet 2003. ...
Cities are socio-spatially patterned, yet few researchers have explored the association between walkability and house prices by neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage, highlighting issues about housing affordability, equity, and liveability. We aimed to determine whether walkability and house prices differed by neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage. To test this, we used linear regression models of house prices stratified by quintiles of neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage at the suburb level in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia on walkability and its components (street connectivity, dwelling density, and destination access), and public transit access. Walkability was positively associated with house prices. In the stratified regressions, destination accessibility was associated with higher house prices whilst having poor access to transit was negatively associated with house prices. The association between walkability and house prices was weakest for the most disadvantaged areas, suggesting that houses in these areas were more affordable due, in part, to a lack of amenity. Future planning could redress the relationship between walkability and house prices by making new areas walkable. Increasing densities in outer suburban areas would improve destination and transit access, and in established areas, inclusionary zoning policies could help ensure accessibility to social and affordable housing in amenity-rich areas redressing built environment inequities.
... Unfortunately, mixed uses, often based on small blocks where land suitable for development, are excessively complex and diverse in rural communities. This phenomenon not only leads to the fragmentation of landscape and functions, but also increases the difficulty of land use planning and regulation, thereby resulting in low-density development patterns with an excessive mix of residential, industrial, and commercial land uses a lack of adequate infrastructure, and increased vacant and abandoned lots (Keenan, et al., 1999;Sohn et al., 2012). 2) Different types of MLU will eventually produce different effects. ...
Residential vacancy is a visible symptom of community decline in peri-urban villages of China. Mixed-use development has emerged as a possible approach for land use planning to help mitigate community decline and residential vacancy. By applying an integrated framework, this study explores whether mixed land use (MLU) can help counter residential vacancy based on the classification of four types of peri-urban villages. Results show that the degree of MLU and residential vacancy rate both present increasing tendencies. Also, impacts of MLU on residential vacancy differ across villages: the disorderly and excessive mixed uses in some villages exacerbated residential vacancy, even threatening the neighborhood safety and livability; whereas for some villages with compatible mixed uses, the land use pattern could assist in reducing the residential vacancy, as well as promoting the compact and high-density development. Undeniably, planning for the increased mixed-use environment like urban communities is unsuitable for rural communities. Sustainable planning to counter residential vacancy should combine the compatible mixed-use development together with the rational functional zoning, which is also considered a constructive tool in mitigating community decline, and bringing human settlements development, vitality, and diversity. This research contributes to reconcile residential vacancy in the depopulating and declining communities.
... Drawing from the main scientific literature concerning the economic benefits linked to the increase in physical activity and particularly in walking (e.g., Litman [25], Litman and Doherty [26], Saelensminde [37], Sohn et al. [40]), high heterogeneity in the estimation methods can be pointed out. However, putting together the most important recent studies at a European level [17], it looks like the average benefits given by the reduction in costs of medical treatments and fewer days of sick leave could approximately be quantified in as much as 0.37 euros per person per km travelled (average European costs extrapolated to 2017 levels). ...
This article presents an evaluation of the “Friuli Venezia Giulia in Movimento” project, aimed at promoting the culture of movement and well-being in a region which is particularly affected by population ageing. The goals of the project reside in promoting appropriate lifestyles through the endorsement of healthy behaviours (physical activity, healthy nutrition, well-being); increasing the number of physically active people in the various municipal territories, by enhancing or creating new pedestrian paths that reflect the 10,000-step goal; enhancing the local territory by promoting the existing paths and the initiatives already in place; promoting new paths and environments conducive to physical activity for people of all ages; encouraging the creation of new “walking groups” and the adhesion of people to them to promote physical activity and socialisation, with the consequent improvement of psychophysical well-being. Although the evaluation is still on-going, the preliminary results—obtained by means of two surveys and a multilevel model—show that the initial steps of the project have been carried out satisfactorily and that Municipalities still need to be supported in order to achieve good participation on part of the citizens.
