Street design preference: an on-line survey

ABSTRACT

This paper is a methodological and empirical contribution that reports on the results of an innovative on-line survey of streetscape preference. The ratings of experts and non-experts were compared to gauge the reliability of preference for views about streetscape quality. The goal was to evaluate the degree to which a set of streetscape design characteristics were similar among experts and non-experts and what dimensions of streetscape quality had the most agreement. Results show relatively high correlation between measures of streetscape quality and respondent preference, although there were some differences as well. Interestingly, among the six streetscape qualities studied, the quality of ‘walkability’ showed the least agreement among respondents.

KEYWORDS:

• Streetscape
• design preferennces
• walkability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. A working demo of the survey is available at: https://users.rcc.uchicago.edu/~kywch/FIREst_201908_pilot/rating_preference.html.

2. More information on TrueSkill is available here: https://www.moserware.com/2010/03/computing-your-skill.html.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Chicago [Social Sciences Research Center Faculty Seed Grant].