Identifying individual priorities for walking infrastructure investments: A Best-Worst Scaling approach

The built environment significantly influences individuals' propensity to walk, prompting local authorities to allocate financial resources for its improvement. Organisations overseeing the built environment have developed audit tools as standards to evaluate pathways and highlight developments to facilitate active travel. Using these audit tools as a foundation, this study developed 21 walking investment-relevant factors that were embedded into a preference-based elicitation approach known as Best-Worst Scaling (BWS). We report findings from a UK-wide sample of 364 adults aged 18 years or older. Data were analysed using aggregate (counting) and disaggregated (regression) approaches. Both approaches confirmed that footpath provision, footpath condition, lighting, footpath width, and buffer zone were the top-five priority areas for investment. The instrument is transferable across diverse cultural and country contexts, enabling international comparisons and further refinements by academics as well as policy makers. • Identify relevant qualitative attributes related to walking infrastructure • An advanced preference elicitation instrument based on Best-Worst Scaling • Individual-based importance priority of different aspects of walking infrastructure