Researchers are probing motivational factors influencing individuals’ choice to walk. A review of the literature reveals a great deal of variability in the motivators considered. This study identified 15 motivators commonly associated with walkability for use in a pedestrian-intercept survey to measure their influence on pedestrian mode choice to walk in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of Vancouver, Canada. The results were analyzed using analytical factor analysis and indicated a hierarchical needs model with four significant factors including lower order (urban planning and policy) and higher order (physical geographic; attractiveness and sociability; and personal) needs considered in their decision. The study suggests that lower order factors, which correspond to the 4 Es of pedestrian planning, provide a foundation for encouraging walking, but in order to achieve high levels of walking, it is necessary to adequately address factors related to higher order needs that are often beyond the attention of pedestrian planning.
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Buckley et al. (2016) studied this question.