Analyzing the physical environmental factors on walking behavior via virtual environments

Walking behavior is the most basic and most used type of physical activity for healthy living. Because there is more interaction with the venue during walking than other activities, the effect of the venue on walking behavior cannot be ignored. However, there has not yet been a study in Turkey examining the relationship between the spatial characteristics that are being interfered with with zoning planning tools and the suitability of a space for different walking purposes. In this thesis, it is aimed to investigate how differences in floor height, front garden, road width and land use conditions, which can be controlled through zoning plan, affect people's walking choice. 24 street models which differ in terms of these spatial features, were designed using 3D modeling programs and by 70 planning department students, have been evaluated both for their spatial characteristics such as imageability, enclosure, human scale, diversity, coherence and to what extent they promote walkability. The results indicate that differences in the number of floors, distance to the front garden, road width and land use types, have partly influenced the assessment of the degree to which a space is walkable. Furthermore, when the relationship between the characteristics of urban design quality, is examined, an effect has been determined in the expected direction for coherence and partly human scale criteria; but, for other characteristics an effect in the expected direction could not be determined.This thesis is important for discussing the impact of urban place making tools used in Turkish cities on walkability. Additionally, the method proposed in this study (which, despite its widespread use in spatial perception literature, has not been used in walkability studies) will be able to inspire studies.