USER PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS STREET CHARACTERISTICS AND QUALITIES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO USER FRIENDLY...

Arte-Polis 3 International Conference on Creative Collaboration and the Making of Place 1

User Perceptions Towards Street Characteristics and Qualities that Contribute to User Friendly Street: An Examination Based on Survey Data: Norhafizah ABDUL RAHMAN

USER PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS STREET

CHARACTERISTICS AND QUALITIES THAT

CONTRIBUTE TO USER FRIENDLY STREET: AN

EXAMINATION BASED ON SURVEY DATA

Norhafizah ABDUL RAHMAN School of Built Environment, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom.

[email protected]

Asscociates Professor Shuhana SHAMSUDDIN Department of Civil Engineering (Urban and Regional Planning) Universiti

Teknologi Malaysia.

[email protected]

ABSTRACT Streets are one of the vital components of an urban form that support public and

private activities of the city dwellers. Streets are most public of all city spaces and

been utilizes by all the users. Therefore the street characteristics and qualities

must fulfil the need of all the users. This paper presents findings from a user’s

survey which sought user perceptions towards various street characteristics and

qualities in Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman Kuala Lumpur Malaysia that contribute

to user friendly street. Such characteristics and qualities included physical,

functional and socio cultural. User perceptions information was obtained through

a survey of daily users (those who are constantly engage with the street) and

occasional users (those who are not dependent on the study are such as shoppers

and visitors). It is expected that the findings from this study will help designers,

urban planners and policy makers understand the needs and attitudes of users

towards user friendly street in Malaysia.

Keywords: user friendly street, street characteristics, street qualities and user

perceptions

INTRODUCTION This research examines the idea of “user friendly street” in Malaysian town centre.

The primary concern is to study the physical design features and characteristics of

the street that contribute to the usage of streets and liveability in urban areas in our

towns in Malaysia. As according to Tibbalds (1992) pp.14 “ we have actually got

to address the re-structuring of our urban areas, over possibly quite long time

scales, to reflect anew set of priorities in which the needs of people-as pedestrians,

cyclists, the young, the old and the infirm, as well as the able-bodied –take

precedence over the various demands of traffic and developers‟‟.

Streets are one of the vital components of an urban form that support public and

private activities of the city dwellers. Streets are most public of all city spaces and

been utilizes by all the users. Therefore the street characteristics and qualities must

fulfil the need of all the users.

mailto:laxna2@

mailto:shuhana@



This paper presents findings from a user‟s survey which sought user perceptions

towards various street characteristics and qualities in Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman,

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia that contribute to user friendly street. Such

characteristics and qualities included physical, functional and socio cultural. User

perceptions information was obtained through a survey of daily user (those who

are constantly engage with the street) and occasional (those who are not dependent

on the study are such as shoppers and visitors and non user).

It is expected that the findings from this study will help designers, urban planners

and policy makers understand the needs and attitudes of users towards user

friendly street in Malaysia.

LITERATURE REVIEW Similar urban design issues that are viewed at from both global and local

perspectives are used as the framework for this research. The issues that are

looked into the urban streets study are; they are non users friendly and don‟t fulfil

users‟ need and the relationship with the quality of the built environment (physical

quality and social quality), which is one of the vital aspects that contributes to the

people friendly built environment.

Most urban areas all over the world suffer from the domination of private vehicles.

Many drivers often ignore pedestrians and especially vulnerable users (children,

people with baby carriage, elderly and handicapped) by claiming in practice

exclusive use of the road networks. The absence of adequate or well designed for

pedestrians makes the walking environment more and more unfriendly for them.

Research results have shown that people are ready to walk more than today in case

of the improvement of public space (Tsourlakis, 2005). Therefore, the rapidly

increasing concentration of people in urban areas along with the focus to improve

quality of life, and revitalize city centre, has led to increased attention to the

quality of open urban spaces (Forsyth, 2003).

In Malaysia, skyscrapers are being built almost everywhere in the city centre

without any response to the local context, which occasionally alienates the city

from its users. The dominant building types consists of a free standing building

and public open spaces around it fail to produce an environment which is

conducive and cohesive to the overall development of the city centres.(Dolbani

2000).The rapid growth of the cities in Malaysia has created frightening trends

towards the urban public places. The existing street network was destroyed in the

name of progress where the streets are dominated by fast traffic (Bashri and

Shuhana, 2001). All this factors influence the qualities of cities in Malaysia.

(Dolbani, 2000) argued that Malaysian planners and urban designers failed to

provide a broader range of activities and a user friendly environment that is fit to

the climatic, physical social and economic circumstances of Malaysian cities. The

street becomes places of interest if the quality can be improved to the need of the

users. Street that exhibit a certain characteristics are used accordingly. The

improvement in the space not only with hardscape and softscape that integrate the

internal and external spaces but also improvement in the activities of the street so

that the linkage can be understood (Wahid, 2008). The existence of an activity that



helps to generate the economy is not caused by the physical element instead it is

reflected by the integration and experiences of individuals.

Discussion on friendly street in this paper revolves around the definitions given

by few literatures, street that easy to use (usability)(oxford , 1993), fulfil the

needs of all users (Tibbalds, 1990) and environment needs (Shuhana,,2000). It‟s

something to do with usability, accessibility and safety (Yaakub et al, 2009). User

friendly facilitates a functional balance between human needs, environmental

factors and financial constrains (Shuhana et al, 2007). Allan Jacobs (1996) noted

that the essential quality in urban public is they meet the needs of the users. The

distinct qualities that the public space should have are safety ( Whyte (1980),

Jacobs (1961) and Carmona et al (2003)), Comfort and convenience (Jacobs

(1996) and Lynch (1981)) and accessibility ( Whyte (1980), Carrs et al (1992)

and Jacobs (1996).

METHODOLOGY User perceptions information was obtained through a survey of daily user (those

who are constantly engage with the street) and occasional (those who are not

dependent on the study are such as shoppers and visitors and non user). It is

expected that the findings from this study will help designers, urban planners and

policy makers understand the needs and attitudes of users towards user friendly

street in Malaysia.

The research is conducted based on literature review on the friendly street in Jalan

Tunku Abdul Rahman . This study focused on the attributes and criteria of street

qualities and characteristics perceived by the users. A self conduct survey was

conducted. A total of 346 questionnaires were distributed. The respondents were

asking to answer the variables regarding the qualities and characteristics of the

street that they perceive. All the data received were analyzed using the SPSS 2005

version 12.0 software. The frequencies of all variables from the data in this sub

topic and a chi-square test is used in order to access the validity of the relationship

between the two variables. In this research, the result of the Chi-square (X²) shows

a degree of association between two variables.

Case study Data presented in this article were collected on the Kuala Lumpur city centre

residents. The study focuses on users‟ needs in Malaysia urban context and the

relationships with physical, functional and social qualities of the built

environments. The physical, functional and social qualities of the streets- Based

on the literature review.

The reasons why choosing this street as a case study because JTAR is the most

significant streets in the Kuala Lumpur city (DBKL 2004). It‟s selected based on

physical, functional characteristics and social cultural significant. Hence the street

is located within main commercial and shopping district with high pedestrian

volumes, popular shopping areas, located within diverse economic activities.



The study area is located within the core of CBD of Kuala Lumpur. The street

name is Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman (see figure 1). JTAR begins from Jalan Tun

Perak intersection and ends near Hospital Universiti which is Jalan Pahang

intersection. The length of this street is approximately 2.58 km. JTAR is a long

stretch of one way road defining by two rows of low rise buildings on the southern

side and high rise office buildings and shopping malls towards the north side.

Within the study area, both sides have rows of commercial buildings such as

hotels, office lots, shop houses, bazaars, restaurants, and the likes (see figure 2).

Figure 1: Location Plan: Study area in Kuala Lumpur city centre

Source: DBKL 2008

Street Layout

Form Characteristics

Figure 2: The study area Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman

Source: Author 2008

Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman



RESULTS

Respondents’ Demographic

The total number of respondents in this research was 346. They represent the key

users of the places. Based on the feedback it found that most of the respondents

were daily users (49%) followed by occasional users (34.0%) and 17.0% of the

respondents do not use Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman (see table 1). For daily users,

most of them (46.8%) have already engaged with Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman for

about 1-5 years. The least response receives from group of user that engage less

than a year in that street. A majority of the respondents is between age group of

26-45 (39%) and 18- 25 (35.0%). This is due to the fact that most of the users in

urban area are people within that aged. The male respondents show more interest

compared to the female respondents. Cultural influence, shy and safety awareness

might have contributed towards unwillingness to answer the questions.

Out of 346 respondents, there are only 282 of them willing to give information

about their monthly income. Majority of the respondents are the group of monthly

income within RM 1001- RM 3000 (77.7 %). In terms of ethnic background,

respondents were mostly Malay. This is due to most of the activities and facilities

provided along this street are per suit Malay needs. Hence the early settlements of

this street are Indian Muslim and Malay population. This has influenced the socio

cultural characteristics and dominancy of particular groups to live and work in this

area. Based on the respondents‟ level of education feedback, 36% are college and

institution followed by secondary school leaver (33.1%), 27 % are university

education, 2.6 % primary education leavers and the remaining are non formal

education. They were mostly attached to private sectors (33.3%) and government

sectors (32.8 %).

Survey analysis from the public respondents In this paper only discuss the relationships of socio economic backgrounds in their

perceptions on street qualities and qualities. The objective is to look at the

similarities and differences within different socio economic backgrounds towards

friendly street in Malaysia context. The frequencies of all variables and Chi-

square test are used to access validity and significance of the variable‟s

relationships in a contingency table. The relationship is only assumed to be

statistically significant if the probability level is 0.05 or less. A significant

relationship only shows the degree of association not what the association is,

where the result of the chi-square test (χ²) show a degree of association between

two variables. Based on the literature review the most mention characters and

qualities n criteria to encourage people to use the street are safe and security,

comfort and convenience; and accessibility and proximity.



Table 1: Demographic of respondents

Source: Field survey 2008

Respondent (N= 346)

Demographic Profile Category Percentage (%)

Types of respondents Daily use 49.0

Occasional 34.0

Non-use 17

Gender Male 60.2

Female 39.8

Age Under 18 2.9

18-25 35.5

26-45 39

46-59 19.7

Above 60 2.9

Marital Status Single 65.1

Married 34.9

Ethnicity Malay 62.4

Chinese 24.7

India 12.1

Others 9.0

Monthly Income Below RM 1000 4.6

RM 1001- 3000 77.7

RM 3001- 6000 15.2

RM6001- 10000 1.8

Above RM 10000 0.7

Occupation Unemployed 20.1

Self employed 8.0

Private 33.3

Government 32.8

Others (student) 5.7

Distance from resident Less than 1 km 0.6

1-5 km 22.9

5-10 km 36.6

10-15 km 9.7

15-20km 9.7

More than 20 km 20.6

Education Non formal education 1.2

Primary Education 2.6

Secondary education 33.1

College or Institution 36.0

University education 27.0

The uses The main attraction of JTAR is shopping centres (46.0%), followed by the best

place to earn money or income (22.6%), public facilities (11.8%) and public

spaces (11.1%) others remain (see figure 3). 60.2 % of the respondents feel not

safe to use JTAR alone. Most of the reasons not feeling safe is because of high

crime rate (42%), followed by lots of migrants and strangers (21%) and lack of

supervision by police (15%).



Figure 3: The main attraction of Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman

Source: Field Survey 2008

Based on the feedback on duration of visit, most of the users spend around 1-4

hours in this place during their visit to this place (53.4 %) followed by 5-8 hours

(29.3%) more than 12 hours (11.2%) less than 1 hour (3.4%) and 9-12 hours (2.6

%). Majority of the users use this street in the morning (46.2%) , late afternoon

(27.4%), evening (16.2%) afternoon 10% .The result on how they come to this

place shows that most of them used private cars (39.3%) , LRT ( 36.8%), followed

by motorcycle (14.5%) , bus 7.7% and taxi 1.7%.

The results shows that 36.8% of the users visited Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman

when they are in Kuala Lumpur, 46.2 % are sometimes) and 17.1 % are most of

the time. 55.6 % of the respondents like to come to this place during free time.

Most of the users (43.1%) come to this place with their peers, 31.9 % like to come

here alone followed by with family 12.9 and remains 12.1% are couples. The main

reasons mention in the study on preferring to come with their peers because they

feel more comfortable, safe, leisure and discussion. The results shows user‟ age

group less than 18 years old and above 60 prefer to come to this street with peers.

Groups of users age between 18-24 always use this street alone.

There are significantly different based on the respondents the „age group‟,

„marital status, „distance from residence‟ and „income‟ and their association with

visit to JTAR (see table 2 )

Table 2: Chi-square test of respondents‟ perceptions with the visit to JTAR

Source: Field Survey 2008

Variables Test Result

Age Chi-square χ ²= 24.099, df=8, p= 0.002

Marital status Chi-square χ²= 14.736, df= 7, p= 0.001

Occupation Chi-square χ²= 30.703, df=8, p= 0.000

Distance from residence Chi-square χ²= 20.613, df= 8, p= 0.008

Income Chi-square χ²= 6.967, df= 2, p= 0.031

46

11.8

2.8

11.1

4.2

22.6

1.4

Types of attraction

The main attraction of JTAR

Shopping centres

Public facilities

Buildings

Public spaces

Landscapes

Income

Others



The results of the chi-square test (χ ²) shows not much significant different within

frequency of visit to this street with the variables (see table 3). The only variables

that show significant different are occupation and distance from resident. Most of

the respondents who stay more than 20km distance visit this street occasionally.

Table 3: Chi-square test of users‟ perceptions with their frequency of visit.

Source : Field Survey 2008


Occupation Chi-square χ²= 50.621, df=16, p= 0.000

Distance from residence Chi-square χ²= 33.105, df= 16, p= 0.007

In duration of visit „age group‟ shows significant different with the result χ²=

29.594, df=16 and p= 0.02. The respondents with different age group feedbacks

vary significantly in the duration of using JTAR. There is no respondent in the

age group under 18 use this street more than 5 hours. Majority of the respondent‟s

age between 18- 24 spend about 1-4 hours in this street. It shows in this graph that

respondents in the age group 26-45 years old are most vary in their durations

spend in JTAR. The group ages above 60 years spend about 5-8 hours in that

street. Most of the street users‟ age group 18- 45 years old spend their time within

1-4 hour to 5-8 hours there. However the age groups 26-45 tend to spend longer in

that street.

Safety and security attributes to encourage the use of the street The results on the surveys on the criteria on safety and security that encourage

people to use JTAR indicated higher positive responses (see figure 4). The scale of

1.21 – 1.89 of the attributes show that safety and security quality are very

important to encourage the uses of the street (see table 4). However, compared to

others attribute under safety and security „ shows the least important.

Figure 4: Degree of safety and security attributes


0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

a b c d e f g h i j k

Attributes

Safety and security qualities

strongly unimportant

slightly unimportant

slightly important

strongly important



Table 4: Degree of safety and security attributes based on mean values


Safety qualities Mean Value

a Presence of people 1.77

b Presence of security official and patrol police 1.21

c Presence of activities 1.78

d Safe crossing devices 1.39

e Full of activities day and night 1.89

f Safe environment for elderly, disabled and children 1.41

g Low traffic flow and speed 1.57

h Free of accidents 1.34

i Low crime statistics 1.34

j Free of the presence of anti-social behaviours 1.41

k No graffiti and vandalism 1.47

Mean Value

Response format

1= strongly important

4= strongly unimportant

1.50

Based on chi-square test there are significant variables with the safety and security

attributes (see table 5).

Table 5: Chi square test results on safety and security attributes with demographic factors.

Source: Authors (2009)

Variables Presence

of people

Presence

of

activities

Safe

crossing

devices

Activities

day

and night

Free of

accident

Low

crime

statistic

Age χ²=

57.473,

df=12,

p= 0.000

χ²=

24.904,

df= 12,

p= 0.015

χ²=

19.368,

df= 8,

p= 0.013

χ²=

26.239,

df= 12,

p= 0.010

χ²=

16.812,

df= 8,

p= 0.032

χ²=

10.810,

df= 4,

p=

0.029

Education χ²=

24.135,

df=8,

p= 0.002

χ²=

16.476,

df=8, p=

0.036

Occupation χ²=

26.823,

df=12,

p= 0.008

χ²=

35.053,

df=4, p=

0.000

Distance

from

residence

²=

21.416,

df= 00,

p= 0.018

χ²=

33.740,

df= 15,

p= 0.004



Comfort and convenience attributes to encourage the use of the

street Results indicate the similar patterns of importance in the attributes of comfort and

convenience (see figure 5). The scale of the attributes shows criteria of comfort

and convenience are important. Surprisingly, based on mean value, seating

placement, sufficient and comfortable seating show least important compared to

others.

Figure 5: Degree of comfort and convenience attributes


Table 6: Degree of comfort and convenience attributes based on mean values

Source: Field survey 2008 Comfort and Convenience qualities Mean Value

a A lot of veranda way/shade and other protection from sun and rain 1.36

b Free of pollution, noise, smell and vibration 1.23

c Breezy 1.50

d Suitable temperature 1.50

e Width of the walking space 1.87

f Lot of rest area and seating places 1.85

g Comfortable and sufficient seating 1.92

h Seating places adjacent to pedestrian flow 2.01

i Very clear pedestrian signage 1.62

j Lots of convenience place for shopping 1.70

k Very clear direction of the place 1.58

l A lot of greenery (trees/shrubs/flowers and grass) 1.75

m Very attractive building facades 1.76

n Availability of dust bins, telephones and toilets. 1.47

o A lot of outdoor cafes, refreshment kiosks 1.77

p Lot of banking and communications centre 1.66

q A lot of spots for entertainment 1.92

r A lots of recreation facilities 1.64

Mean Value

Response format



1.53

0%

20%

40% 60%

80%

100%

a c e g i k m o q attributes

comfort and convenience qualities

strongly unimportant slightly unimportant slightly important strongly important



Based on Chi-square test result, age group and marital status are significant factors

in respondents‟ feedback based on the issue of veranda way and protection from

the rain and sun (see table 7).

Table 7: Chi-square test on the issue of protection from rain and sun

Source : Field Survey 2008


Age Chi-square χ²= 27.685, df=12, p= 0.009

Chi-square χ²= 15.236, df= 3, p= 0.002

Issue of accessibility and proximity to encourage the use of the

street Results from the surveys on the issue of accessibility and proximity to the place

indicated higher positive responses (Figure 6). The scales in mean value as

summarised in table 8 indicates that the criteria of accessibility and proximity are

important to the street users in order to encourage them to use the street..

Figure 6: Degree of accessibility and proximity attributes


0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

a b c d e f g h i

attributes

accesibility and proximity

strongly unimportant

slightly unimportant

slightly important

strongly important

Table 8: Degree of accessibility and proximity attributes based on mean values


Accessibility and proximity Mean Value

a Easy access by public transport 1.51

b Easy to get to by foot 1.45

c Sufficient parking 1.61

d No physical barrier, wall, building, fence, curb. 1.58

e Well connected to paths of circulation or other places 1.58

f Meeting places for people from different culture 1.56

g Visibility of different activities 1.61

h Distances to areas from the parking area 1.53

i Distances to areas from public transport 1.6

Mean Value

Response format



1.22



CONCLUSION In summary, in order to create a street as successful urban public area, the

understanding of the needs of the urban users is the most important. There are

many ways in which urban designers, planners and policy makers may be able to

act to support the quality of the street in order to create friendly street. The

designers must understand the current need of the users and creating the place that

has qualities and characteristics that can fulfil the needs of user in local context.

Understand the needs of both behavioural and physical environment.

Based on the study, it is found that there are significant different in perception of

users in different socio economic backgrounds. The factors of age, marital status,

gender, distance from residence, income and level of education shows significant

different in their perceptions on friendly street. It was discovered there is no

significant variation in the perception of friendly street between different cultural

groups.

Finally, the research found that there were no significant different between the

theories developed in the west and those found in the Malaysian situation.

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USER PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS STREET CHARACTERISTICS AND QUALITIES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO USER FRIENDLY...

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