How do urban design elements shape residential neighborhood walkability? Emerging evidence and implications from metropolitan Lagos

Abstract

Scholars and professionals in the built environment have long realized that the urban built environment’s designs impact significantly on urban residents’ wellbeing. The assumption is that urban physical designs shape neighborhood walkability which in turn influences physical activity, housing values and general wellbeing of urban residents. In spite of this, little is known about how urban design elements at street and community levels shape neighborhood walkability in the Global south cities. Using Walk Score (WS) and urban neighborhood design element rating scale (UNDERS) this study therefore assessed the impacts of urban design features at street and community levels on walkability of 40 residential neighborhoods in metropolitan Lagos Nigeria. Results showed that Lagos residential neighborhoods displayed averagely low levels of walkability. Majority of the city residential neighborhoods are unwalkable. The highly walkable neighborhoods are in the high residential density (HRD) areas while the poorly walkable neighborhoods are in the medium and low residential density (MRD and LRD) areas. Analysis also showed that while many micro-scale and macro-scale urban design elements differentially impacted walkability in Lagos, neighborhood walkability was majorly shaped by seven urban design elements. The most influential urban design element that shaped walkability in metropolitan Lagos was connectivity and the least influential was barrier. Consequently, the study recommended that in order to increase neighborhood walkability in Lagos the urban elements at street and community levels should be improved. The implications of the study for urban planning, physical activity and urban housing were well enunciated.