| چکیده انگلیسی مقاله |
The growing trend of urbanization has led to an unsustainable environment that become one of the main concerns of today’s city managers. Nowadays, the role of transportation in sustainable urban development is very clear and undeniable. On the other hand, the need for sustainable transportation reinforces the idea of using non-motorized transportation. Non-motorized transport is a form of entertainment and recreation, and can provide the possibility of cheaper trips. The walkability index is one of the important issues in the non-motorized transportation. The determination of walkability index leads to the recognition of environment as a factor affecting the extent of encouragement of individuals to walk and ride bicycle. As a result, one can improve the existing conditions so as to enhance the physical activity level of individuals in a society. The existing methods of determining the walkability can be summarized into three types: 1- objective 2-subjective, and 3-experts’ field studies. The objective methods determine the extent of walkability index through GIS data. The subjective methods measure the walkability index with the help of public opinions (i.e. survey). The field-study methods collect the experts’ viewpoints and comments so as to measure walkability index. The objective methods usually use certain parameters such as population density, dwelling density, land-use diversity, access to stores and urban services, connectivity, intersection density and network density. All across the urban planning community, much effort is currently being put into providing safe and friendly environments that encourage walking in cities. The main goal of this study is to develop a simple yet efficient measure that captures properties of pedestrian friendliness, which is region-specific, and that can be particularly useful to urban planners and metropolitan planning organizations. In this research, the development of the walkability index in the city of Qom has been introduced. Parameters affecting the walkability index were identified and assessed. These parameters include: Land-use diversity, population density, intersection density, network density, access to public transportation, access to religious sites, access to primary schools and kindergartens, access to secondary to pre-university schools and parking sites. A noteworthy point considered in all of the parameters is the normalization of results (i.e., keeping its values between 0 and 1). Then, the ranking of the alternatives was produced using AHP-TOPSIS method in five age/sex classes. The target population of this research is people who are willing to walk for daily tasks and recreation. The result of this study showed that the districts of Sarehoz, Razaviye, Labechal, Nobahar, Pamenar, Chehel Akhtaran, Sarbakhsh, Niroghah, Zad, Zandian, Emam hosein town, Vadiassalam, Darvaze Rei and Ali Abad Sadegan have the best condition among other districts. Also, the districts such as karbaschi garden, Berasun, Yazdanshahr, Shah seiied ali, Fatemiye town, Noghatar, Kasegarha, Panzdah khordad and Bajak two have the worst condition. Generally, the central districts have better conditions than the others. Final evaluation of results by five Likert questionnaire (strong, good, moderate, weak, and poor) were done. Finally, the result showed that the access to parking has the weakest point and the land-use diversity has the highest effect on the proposed walkability index. |