Identifying Active Pedestrian Crossings for Improving Active Walking Pathways using Urban Network Analysis Tool (UNA) in Mashhad Metropolis

Sidewalks are related to social health, urban lifestyle, urban economy and environmental quality. In recent decades, these urban spaces have attracted the attention of urban planning experts for such goals as increasing dynamism, social interactions, environmental issues, and personal and social health. In the last decade in Mashhad, due to issues such as population growth, tourism, the rapid growth of the number of cars, the increase in environmental pollutants caused by transportation, and the increase in the number of sedentary citizens, it is necessary to support clean transportation that is human-centered environment-friendly. The metropolis has grown drastically in recent decades, but little attention has been paid to pedestrians’ needs. This research tried to study the areas that attract travelers from the perspective of citizens and to introduce active pedestrian-oriented paths to improve the quality of sidewalks. For this purpose, a questionnaire was used to get the opinions of people. Moreover, through the analysis and weighting methods of SAW and AHP and the urban network analysis model (UNA), the key issues of active walking and travel attraction were identified. The results show that about 15% of the pedestrian paths of the main streets can attract pedestrian trips and have a favorable function. If a desirable pedestrian path is made, an effective step can be taken for improving the physical, semantic, and human-centered image of this city. The way UNA model was used in this study can be used for future studies for valuating and weighting buildings and urban areas.