This study explores the perceived walkability of one-way commercial streets by utilizing immersive 360-degree virtual reality (VR) videos. While one-way roads are often introduced to facilitate smooth traffic flow on narrow roads, providing safe and walkable environments for pedestrians on the one-way roads is crucial, especially in commercial areas with heavy pedestrian traffic. We recruited 40 students to assess the perceived walkability of one-way roads based on ten VR scenarios. For each scenario, variables such as road width, one-way traffic status, vehicle approach direction, and the presence of sidewalks were configured differently. This study found that while there is awareness of one-way road types, the presence of sidewalks is considered critical factor contributing to enhanced perceived walkability on narrow commercial street. In the condition of narrow road width, one-way roads are the only applicable road layout to have a sidewalk, implying the potential of one-way roads for better walkability. Besides, the study also revealed the high correlation between five dimensions of perceived walkability, emphasizing their role to enhance perceived walkability in a setting of one-way roads. This study's findings could be utilized for more systematic walkability assessments and urban design improvements, especially in constrained road spaces.
Copyright: © 2024 Vo, Kim. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.