Anthropocentric Design of Sidewalks with the Use of Conjoint Analysis

Abstract

Sidewalks are an integral part of everyday human mobility habits. Although more interest is growing in the design of more eco-friendly and human-friendly sidewalks, the infrastructure in Greece is still problematic as far as environmental and accessibility factors are concerned. This paper attempts to determine the most important factors for the inhabitants regarding the sidewalks’ characteristics. This is achieved through Choice-Based Conjoint (CBC) analysis, a commonly used preferential analytics marketing research technique. Five (5) attributes were included in the analysis. The most important attribute was found to be accessibility (38.79%), followed by shading (20.31%), width (20.19%), air temperature reduction (11.36%), and aesthetics (9.35%). The results emphasized the accessibility issue along with the width problem in Greece that affects both People with Disability (PwD) and all the pedestrians. Additionally, the importance of factors such as shading and air temperature reduction that affect the experience of pedestrians in a country with high temperatures, like Greece, are examined. Finally, aesthetics was chosen less; thus, it’s the least influencing factor for pedestrians’ experience. Apparently, further research regarding the accessibility, width, and shading of sidewalks in Greece is required, together with respective action to optimize them toward an anthropocentric design of sidewalks, especially today, after the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of active mobility became clear.