Walk Score® versus residents’ perceptions of walkability in Omaha, NE

ABSTRACT

With an easily accessible online interface, Walk Score® has emerged as one of the most popular metrics to assess walkability, both within and outside academia. Based primarily on accessibility to common daily amenities, this quantitative measure is limited to a macro-scale view of urban form that does not consider micro-scale design elements that can significantly impact walking behavior such as building setbacks, sidewalk characteristics, lighting, or traffic volume. This study employed a survey and cognitive mapping exercise to identify neighborhood typologies in which Walk Score and residents’ perceptions of walkability are most likely to align, and, more crucially, where they are most likely to be at odds. Relative to residents’ perceptions, Walk Score tended to overestimate the walkability of suburban strip-mall corridors and underestimate the walkability of recreational areas and small entertainment districts. Potential differences in residents’ perceptions of walkability, and their associations with Walk Score, were also explored.

KEYWORDS:

• Walkability
• Walk Score
• built environment
• perceptions
• cognitive map
• mental map

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Rex Cammack and Paul Hunt at the University of Nebraska at Omaha for their generous assistance in processing and analyzing the data for this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bradley Bereitschaft

Bradley Bereitschaft is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography/Geology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. He teaches a variety of courses including urban geography and urban sustainability. His research primarily concerns issues of urban livability.