Assessment of the Factor Influencing on Desirability of the Urban Pedestrian Axes (Case Study: Qazvin Health Road)

The emergence of the mechanized phenomenon increased the human’s need for nature and using it in a peaceful environment so that the natural environments can be established to link nature to the city and create public and popular spaces to link the human to nature. Therefore, some measures must be taken to improve the quality of the roads besides creating them to increase the walkability (Sharghi et al., 2017; Najafpour et al., 2014). Qazvin Health Road, located in the northern part of the city, was created to have a healthy society. However, it did not reach its highest level in terms of facilities and quality.  The current research aims to evaluate the factors affecting the desirability of the urban pedestrian zones with an emphasis on the Qazvin Health Pedestrian Road through which the more presences of the people to improve the health level of the society in the urban and natural spaces is provided by recognizing the factors affecting their quality and improvement in this road. This plan is a dynamic process that was implemented to provide the mental and physical health of the people and increase their happiness and pleasure from the opposite of Islamic Azad University, Qazvin Branch, to Barajin Park.

The current method used a questionnaire to collect the data as one of the most common tools in field studies. Cronbach’s alpha method was also used in confirming reliability, which is considered as the most practical and significant method to measure the reliability. If this value is higher than 0.7, it can be said that the tool has higher reliability (Siamak & Davarpanah, 2009). 30 primary questionnaires were distributed among the members of the statistical population to evaluate the validity, and as a result, the criteria with Cronbach’s alpha less than 0.7 were eliminated, and the criteria with a coefficient higher than 0.7 were obtained as the final questionnaire. Then, given determining the sample size obtained from Cochran’s formula, 400 questionnaires were filled. The data and the items of the questionnaire were first coded using SPSS software to analyze the data obtained from the questionnaire, and then, the related values were typed in their specific order. In the following, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to study the normality or abnormality of the data distribution, and the results indicated that the distribution of the data was abnormal. Therefore, the Binomial test was selected as the analysis method, which is a non-parametric test, in proportion to the research purpose.

The research results indicate that the following criteria gained the maximum satisfaction of the residents: in physical factors, connectivity and the width of the axis, in environmental factor, the cleanness and hygiene; in comfort and convenience factor, the lack of noise pollution and the status of the flooring; in the physical and activity factor, the criterion of various usability of the path. In contrast, the following factors obtained the least satisfaction: landscaping in the physical factor, protecting the pedestrian against climate changes in the environmental factors, the facilitation in the comfort and convenience factor, and functional diversity in the physical and activity factor. As presented, paying attention to the four mentioned criteria has the maximum effect on the desirability while Siadati and Karimifard (2018) considered vitality the most effective criterion in increasing the desirability of the pedestrian axes. Similar to Hajrezaei (2019), the land use and activity along with the mixed land uses, functional diversity, and various usability of the path are among the factors that have the most effect on the desirability of the pedestrian axis in the current study. Furthermore, in a paper conducted by Punter and Carmona (1997), the environmental factor and the quality of the public area were considered significant. In a study by Habibi and Sheikhahmadi (2019), increasing the legibility using urban landmarks, land use diversity, and physical diversity, safety, and security, using natural elements, and the connectivity of the path are the factors that lead to increasing the desirability. Seyfallahi Fakhr et al. (2013) believe that the function has the most effect on creating a safe pedestrian path, resulting in increasing the desirability of the axis, which was also mentioned in the current study.

The current research aimed to evaluate the factors affecting the desirability of the urban pedestrian axes in Qazvin Health Road as a case study. After reviewing theoretical foundations and surveying the experts, the factors were selected as the main factors in the desirability of the urban pedestrian axes that are as follows: physical factors, environmental factors, comfort and convenience, physical and activity status of the Health Road. Then, through observation and field studies, a questionnaire was developed and distributed among them to investigate the desirability of the pedestrian axis. In the following, after collecting the questionnaires, citizens’ satisfaction with each one of the criteria were evaluated using the Binomial test. The research results indicate that the following criteria gained the maximum satisfaction of the residents: in physical factors, connectivity and the width of the axis, in environmental factor, the cleanness, and hygiene; in comfort and convenience factor, the lack of noise pollution and the status of the flooring; in the physical and activity factor, the criterion of various usability of the path. In contrast, the following factors obtained the least satisfaction: landscaping in the physical factor, protecting the pedestrian against climate changes in the environmental factors, the facilitation in the comfort and convenience factor, and functional diversity in the physical and activity factor. In the end, it is noteworthy that the research results and the recommendations that were determined based thereon can be considered by all the executive organizations, and finally, result in improving the quality of this road and the similar examples in Iran.