Journal of Transport and Land Use

Compulsory convenience? How large arterials and land use affect midblock crossing in Fushun, China

Wendy Tao

Shomik Mehndiratta

Elizabeth Deakin

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5198/jtlu.v3i3.110

Keywords: Transport, Land Use

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Abstract

This study focuses on how street design and land uses influence pedestrian behavior in a medium-sized Chinese city, Fushun. In cities throughout China, the change from workplace-managed and assigned housing to market housing has had profound effects on pedestrians. Coupled with motorization, pedestrian trips are increasingly external, pushed out of the protected space of the gated block and onto massive arterials that now carry automobiles, trucks, and buses in growing numbers. Long blocks, unenforced zebra crossings, and inadequate green time at traffic signals do not equitably accommodate those on foot; thus, pedestrians violate the system by crossing midblock. In Fushun, the long block lengths and large arterials, lack of enforcement, and unfavorable pedestrian policies creates an environment which incentivizes midblock crossing behavior.

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Author Biographies

Wendy Tao

Wendy Tao graduated from University of California, Berkeley with a Master of City and Regional Planning and Transportation Engineering.

Shomik Mehndiratta

Shomik Mehndiatta is a Senior Transport Specialist in the East Asia & the Pacific Region of the World Bank. He currently resides in Beijing, China.

Elizabeth Deakin

Elizabeth Deakin is Director of the University of California Transportation Center and Co-Director of the Global Metropolitan Studies Program at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a professor in the university’s Department of City and Regional Planning and teaches courses in transportation, land use, and environmental law.