The impact of perceived walking accessibility on willingness to walk: evaluating different assessment methods

• Perceived walking time is best indicator of perceived walking accessibility. • Elderly and those unfamiliar with city centre are less likely to walk in centre area. • People arriving in the city centre by car or bicycle are less likely to walk there. • Perceived walking time primarily influences enthusiastic and reluctant walkers. • Actual walking time primarily influences conditional walkers. Accurately assessing perceived walking accessibility is essential for analysing its impact on people’s willingness to walk and walking behaviour. However, limited research has analysed and compared different assessments of perceived walking accessibility. This paper uses survey data from Nanjing’s central area to build binary logit models and analyse the impact of perceived walking accessibility on willingness to walk. Four different assessment methods are employed: the perceived accessibility scale, perceived walkability, overall perceived walking accessibility, and perceived impedance. The results show that perceived walking time is the most effective method for assessing perceived walking accessibility to specific locations, with the highest degree of explanatory power for willingness to walk. Older people, those unfamiliar with the city centre and those who arrive there by car or bicycle are less likely to walk in the central area. Perceived walking time is the primary factor influencing both enthusiastic walkers and reluctant walkers, while actual walking time primarily influences conditional walkers. Land use type at survey point has no significant effect on willingness to walk. These findings are valuable for designing an appropriate walking environment in the city centre and for encouraging walking by improving people’s perceived walking accessibility.