Landscape Elements as Determinants of Pedestrian Movement in Urban Public Spaces: the Case of Dodoma, Tanzania

Authors

  • John Modestus Lupala School of Urban and Regional Planning, Ardhi University, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Keywords:

Landscape elements, pedestrian movement, Dodoma, Tanzania.

Abstract

Provision of landscape elements to promote convenient pedestrian movement especially for cities in the tropics has constituted one of the key design elements. Although the majority of the inter-city trips in these cities are made through walking, basic landscape elements to support this mode of transport have been lacking. This paper attempts to evaluate the potentiality of landscape elements (pavements and shade trees) as key determinants in promoting pedestrian movement in urban centres. Two streets; One Way (with paved surface and pedestrian status) and Tembo (also paved but used by both pedestrians and vehicles) in Dodoma were picked for comparison purpose. Similarly, two sides of Arusha Road, one with and the other without shade trees were selected for comparison.  These streets were compared in terms of pedestrian volume based on results from pedestrian counts. The key method that was used to capture empirical evidence was pedestrian count along the lanes of the roads. Pedestrian count was carried out from 08.00 in the morning to 20.00 hours in the night. This was complemented with literature review, field observation, photographing and interview with road users. Findings show that roads which had adequate provisions of landscape elements (pavements or shade trees) accommodated twice as much as the number of pedestrians along roads with limited or no landscape elements. It is recommended that provision of more walking space, provision of continuous, paved and shaded walkways should be encouraged as a strategy of promoting walkability and livability in these cities.

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Published

2015-10-10

How to Cite

Lupala, J. M. (2015). Landscape Elements as Determinants of Pedestrian Movement in Urban Public Spaces: the Case of Dodoma, Tanzania. American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences, 14(2), 113–128. Retrieved from https://asrjetsjournal.org/index.php/American_Scientific_Journal/article/view/928