The urban built environment and the mobility of people with visual impairments: analysing the travel behaviours based on mobile phone data

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between urban built environment factors and the travel behaviours of visually impaired people. Using mobile phone data containing information on the movements of people with visual impairment, the association between their traffic volume and the built environment factors of land uses, public transit, and pedestrian facilities for visually impaired people were analysed. The results indicated that some of the urban built environment factors were significantly associated with the travel of people with visual impairments. The model results showed that the associations between their traffic volume and the factors of pedestrian infrastructure for visually impaired people were much higher than the association with all other factors considered in the analysis. Commercial, civic, and cultural uses were also significantly related to their traffic volume. Proximity to the subway was positively associated with an increase in the traffic volume of people with visual impairments. The current study contributes to the ongoing discussion on the mobility of people with disabilities by taking afirst step towards constructing amethod whereby mobile phone data can be utilised to examine the relationship between the built environment and the travel patterns of visually impaired people.

Keywords

• visual impairments
• mobile phone data
• mixed land use
• pedestrian infrastructure