Browsing by Author "Alberto Ortiz-Ramirez, Hernan"

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    Level of Pedestrian Stress in Urban Streetscapes
    (2022) Rodriguez-Valencia, Alvaro; Alberto Ortiz-Ramirez, Hernan; Simancas, Willis; Agustin Vallejo-Borda, Jose
    Several service and performance indicators (SPIs) have recently been developed to evaluate pedestrian infrastructures, such as different walkability indexes and pedestrian level of service (P-LOS). Given that stress has become a popular SPI for bicyclists (level of traffic stress [LTS]), this study addressed stress for pedestrians as an SPI by relating measurable attributes of different urban street segment environments with pedestrian perceived stress. A stress-based pedestrian SPI was proposed to classify street segments into four levels of pedestrian stress. A total of 1,043 pedestrians across 30 segments in Bogota were surveyed about their perceived stress. Multimodal traffic counts, location audits, and layout dimensions were collected in each segment to estimate an ordered probit model that explained four stress categories. Physical infrastructure attributes and traffic operational conditions were found to affect perceived stress at given locations. The similarities between the proposed stress index with the LTS and P-LOS are discussed, and the proposed SPI is applied to pedestrian infrastructure planning and design in light of sustainable transportation goals.
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    Staying on or getting off the sidewalk? Testing the Mehrabian-Russell Model on pedestrian behavior
    (2021) Alberto Ortiz-Ramirez, Hernan; Agustin Vallejo-Borda, Jose; Rodriguez-Valencia, Alvaro
    Social and environmental psychology provide a variety of models based on which to understand how built environments can elicit people?s behavioral responses. The MehrabianRussell model (MRM), initially presented in 1974, provides a framework that explains avoid?approach behavior towards a place based on a primary emotional response (PER) and affective states elicited by the perceived stimuli from the environment. However, despite the potential applications of the MRM in travel behavior studies, traditional models (e.g., discrete choice models and integrated choice latent variable) do not incorporate this specific psychological process that converts environmental stimuli into behavioral responses. Hence, this paper aims to test the applicability of MRM to urban sidewalks. To fulfill this objective, we developed a two-level structural equation model using latent variables (LV) identified from a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) based on 1056 in person surveys on 30 different sidewalks in Bogot?, Colombia. We then evaluated the effect of the PER on declared avoidance as a proxy of behavioral intention. The CFA uncovered three LV equivalent to the three affective dimensions of the MRM?arousal, pleasure, and dominance?followed by a fourth LV, representing the PER, which explains the three previous LVs. This confirms the applicability of these kinds of psychological and environmental models in pedestrian behavior evaluation. We found that PER can explain the declared intention of avoidance towards the sidewalk in an urban setting. Proving that this kind of model can explain the way in which the built environment can elicit pedestrians? emotional responses and subsequent behaviors, provides information that can be used as input in travel behavior studies focusing on the promotion of active traveling and mode change. ? 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.