Improved Usability of Pedestrian Environments After Dark for People with Vision Impairment: an Intervention Study

Abstract

Walking is an important transport mode for sustainable cities, but the usability of pedestrian environments for people with impaired vision is very limited after dark. This study compares the usability of a walkway, operationalized in terms of (i) the pedestrian's ability to orient themselves and detect infrastructure elements, and (ii) the perceived quality of lighting in the environment (evaluated in terms of the perceived strength quality and perceived comfort quality). The study was performed in a city in southern Sweden, along a pedestrian route where observations and structured interviews had previously been conducted and after an intervention involving installing new lighting systems with LED lights. A mixed method analysis involving participants with impaired vision (N=14) showed that the intervention generally improved the walkway's usability: observations indicated that the participants' ability to orientate themselves and detect infrastructure elements increased, and the interviews showed that the intervention increased the perceived strength quality of the lighting along the walkway. However, the effects on the perceived comfort quality were unclear. It is therefore important to carefully evaluate new lighting systems to reduce the risk of creating an inappropriate lighting design that will limit walking after dark by people with impaired vision.

Keywords

urban walking; vision impairment; usability; walkway; outdoor lighting

Published in

Sustainability
2020, Volume: 12, number: 3, article number: 1096

SLU Authors

• Marcheschi, Elizabeth

  • Department of People and Society, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG9 Industry, innovation and infrastructure
SDG11 Sustainable cities and communities


UKÄ Subject classification

Applied Psychology


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su12031096

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/104414