As the importance of pedestrian activity continues to increase with urban planning paradigm shift, many cities are trying to enhance the pedestrian activities of people for their vital urban life. Commercial street in the city is meaningful space that...
As the importance of pedestrian activity continues to increase with urban planning paradigm shift, many cities are trying to enhance the pedestrian activities of people for their vital urban life. Commercial street in the city is meaningful space that has functions both as commercial area where people make contact actively and as spatial nature of street. Especially, the function of commercial street in central business districts is highly mixed with social, economic, cultural activities as well as business activity. Therefore the pedestrian-friendly streets are important for street vitalization and qualitative satisfaction of pedestrian in commercial streets.
This study empirically analyzes the influence factors on street vitalization based on the block organization and street system as physical environment factors of street focused on commercial street in Seoul. For the analysis, commercial street divide into central commercial street and general commercial street of three central business districts in Seoul according to the characteristics of commercial street hierarchy. Especially the central commercial street classifies into the main road and the rear-side road, and the influence factors on pedestrian volume were respectively analyzed by day and by time zone.
The analysis results are as follows. First, with regard to the land-use which is one element of the physical environment factors of street influencing pedestrian volume, the higher degree of mixed land-use and the higher building coverage ratio have the large pedestrian volumes. In case of population concentrating facilities, the central and the general commercial street shows the opposite result. Second, with regard to the block organization and street system which are parts of the urban fabric characteristics influencing pedestrian volume, the more regular-type block, the higher road ratio, the longer road length, the wider road width, the more number of road intersection, and the main road rather than the rear-side road have the large pedestrian volumes. Third, with regard to the pedestrian amenities, the nearer distance to public transportation facilities and the exclusive pedestrian road rather than shared pedestrian road have the large pedestrian volumes. These results represent that the careful consideration on the land-use, the urban fabric elements such as block organization and street system, and the pedestrian amenities should be given together to promote the pedestrian activities.
Also commercial street can divide into two types by the urban hierarchy; one is central commercial street which has strong function of central business district, and the other is general commercial street. They are different in terms of development characteristics, land-use behavior, etc., and therefore the physical environment factors of street which influence street vitalization can be different. The influence factors on pedestrian volume by the characteristics of commercial street hierarchy are analyzed, and the result is as follows; the factors are city connection variables such as main street, road width related to development density, public transportation facilities, population concentrating facilities, etc. in the central commercial street, whereas the factors are urban fabric variables such as road width, block type, the number of road intersection, public transportation facilities, exclusive pedestrian road, sidewalk width, street facilities, etc. in the general commercial street. It represents that regional and local factors such as the block organization and street system are more important to general commercial street rather than central commercial street, and also more technical study is needed for the pedestrian-friendly street by commercial street type in the future.