| Title |
Walking Destinations and Boundaries of Everyday Lives in Residential Areas - Community Design Implications based on Residents’ Actual Walking Patterns Drawn from GPS and Travel Log Data in Bukchon, Seoul - |
| Authors |
Choi Yee-Myung ; Seo Han-Lim ; Park So-Hyun |
| Keywords |
Neighborhood Design ; Walking Pattern ; GPS ; Travel Log ; Destination ; Distance |
| Abstract |
This research draws the characteristics of walking destinations and walking boundaries in and around the Bukchon residential neighborhood in Seoul. It is based on the qualitative analyses of GPS and Travel Log data, generated by the Bukchon housewives in their 30s and 40s. The goals include 1) to understand certain factors that contribute to define the physical boundaries of neighborhood lives, through analyzing the frequency of the house wives' walking destinations; 2) to identify catalyst places that drove the house wives to walk farther, through analyzing how far they walk to reach certain walking destinations. Observing the ethical codes of the Institutional Review Board (IRB), twenty nine participants were selected, evenly representing the sub-areas in Bukchonl, and their out-door walking data were collected for 24 hours and 7 days. The findings of this reserach point that 1) most frequently-used walking destinations are public transit stations (bus and metro), restaurants (full meals, snacks, coffee shops), small-scale market, elementary school and nersury schools, parks, and banks. The daily necessities were mostly purchased in small-scale markets in Bukchon, while those were purchased in a whole-sale, large marts in newly developed towns. As the participants were in their 30s and 40s, schools still remain as significant walking destinations and activity centers. Contrary to conventional design assumptions, however, restaurants, snack bars, and coffee shops were more visited than dry cleanings, hair shops, and public bath rooms were visited. Compared to the results of the existing researches, conducted in the North American neighborhoods, house wives in Bukchon neighborhood walk farther in daily lives, especially when their walking destinations are restaurants and coffee shops. Instead of relying on residents' surveys, this research actually collected empirical walking data from GPS, along with Travel Logs, which provided stronger research foundations for further empirical studies, which serves as contributions of this research. Increasing the data samples and applying the quantitative methods, this research is to be improved in future follow-up studies. |