International Methods and Local Factors of Walkability: A Bibliometric Analysis and Review

Improving walkability is critical for sustainable and livable urban development. Although numerous measures for walkability have been developed by researchers from different fields, systematic classification and comparisons are lacking. Few studies have discussed the inconsistency in the factors that influence walkability in different social contexts. To address these gaps, this study identified the significant researchers, keywords, and citations from papers that were collected between 2014 and 2021 through a bibliometric analysis to provide a basic understanding of walkability research. Then, subjective and objective, and neighborhood and street level measurement methods were distinguished for targeted use. Finally, the built environment factors and social factors that were found in the existing studies that influenced walkability were discussed separately. The findings of this study could help researchers from different fields to select the appropriate methods and factors and remind them that the sociocultural and socioeconomic causes of local differences should be fully considered in walkability assessments. In addition, due to the advantages of low cost and high efficiency, the automatic virtual audit should be recommended for future walkability studies.