Introduction | Method | Hypotheses | Advocacy | Case Studies | Recommendations

Method

Introduction

The priority was to identify, collect and organize the multi-disciplinary literature that informs planning, designing, building, and maintaining pedestrian environments. "Literature" was not confined to books and articles but was assumed to include digital, video and CD-ROM or DVD. Within that broad context, common general reference materials, any material specific to accessible pedestrian design, pertinent research materials and materials generated out of the increasing volume of pedestrian advocacy movements (see the Pedestrian Advocacy Movements section of this report). Institutions and associations were primary sources of material. Choices of institutions and associations was based upon their influence in the learning and practice of the relevant professions with the goal of identifying common practice and spotting trends in both sources of information and perspectives about pedestrian design.

The overwhelming majority of sources were from the United States. International sources were included but only those specific to accessible pedestrian design and only recent sources.

Education and Training Material

Educational and professional development literature was gathered for the various pertinent disciplines of engineering, architecture, landscape architecture and urban planning. Because courses, especially in engineering, number in the thousands nationally, the dominant engineering textbooks were selected for review based upon the volume sales and vetted with the National Advisory Board members. Professional development materials were explored but proved too numerous to include all possible source materials. Priority was given to professional development materials used by influential trade associations (Institute of Transportation Engineers – ITE) or federal agencies.

Criteria for Selection

The criteria used to identify, collect and organize these materials were:

1. Commonly used reference works of the last ten (10) years on pedestrian design for the spectrum of disciplines and governmental entities responsible for designing, building and maintaining pedestrian environments;
2. Works in the last ten (10) years written specifically to provides guidance on accessible pedestrian environments including those that provide a rationale for the importance of accessibility in the pedestrian realm;
3. Policies, procedures and guidelines, general and topic-specific, generated within the last ten (10) years specifically for accessible pedestrian environments.
4. Materials created in the last ten (10) years intended as resources or guides for pedestrian environments in short-term and long-term planning including those that generated by pedestrian advocacy and urban design trends.

Literature Search

The literature search was conducted for published work using the publications databases of the following:

Professional Societies

• American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO)
• American Planning Association (APA)
• American Public Works Association (APWA)
• American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
• American Society of Landscape Engineers (ASLA)
• Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)
• Transportation Research Board (TRB)

Standards and Federal Research and Planning Guidance

• U.S. Access Board, ANSI, ASTM, ITC, ISO, ICC, OSHA
• DOT - Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)

Libraries

• The National Transportation Library (digital)
• State Transportation Library (Boston, Massachusetts)
• Engineering Information, Inc. (http://www.ei.org/)

Pedestrian Advocacy Groups

• Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center
• America Walks
• American Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals
• Centers for Disease Control
• ContextSensitiveSolutions.org (the Transportation community's Online Resource Center for CSS)
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Project for Public Spaces
• Walkable Communities

Local, Regional, and State Planning Agencies

A sample of guidance produced by local, regional and state governments were reviewed. A selection of state and local materials to be included was made based on availability, geography and quality. A number were selected based upon their reputation as exemplary by various pedestrian advocacy groups. Finally, because of the recent federal requirements for Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) to incorporate pedestrian and bicycle planning, we chose the handful of available draft documents. Most MPOs are in the process of developing these plans as this process is completed.

Keywords

The following keywords and their variants or combinations were used to perform searches at the above institutions:

• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Accessibility
• Pedestrian
• Disabled, Disability
• Elderly, Aged
• Planning
• Sidewalks, crosswalks

Supplementary Sources

Additional articles were culled from existing materials in Adaptive Environments’ extensive library. Some resources, especially articles, were identified from reference lists of organizations and associations. Referrals from specialists in the field provided additional peer reviewed articles, as well as other documents and literature related to practice.

Materials that were outside of the criteria noted above, because they were dated or just outside of a priority category, were also considered as potentially useful in order to illustrate gaps or to provide clues to problems.

A few documents are included for the assistance they may provide in understanding the culture of a field, but are not part of the literature review per se. For example, Planning Theory for Practitioners, a common textbook for planners, is included to help identify the frame of reference that is important to understanding primary source material and the attention paid to accessibility. It became clear that gathering and reviewing the most common resource materials in each of the pertinent disciplines was a key to understanding how the various responsible parties in pedestrian design understand accessibility as intrinsic or secondary.

At this level, the primary concern was to identify how materials integrated or failed to integrate guidance on accessibility. A secondary concern was to identify the literature of the expanding pedestrian advocacy world and determine whether accessible pedestrian design has garnered their attention and support.

Other

Finally, research documents were reviewed with direct relevance to the public-rights-of-way but that may have not yet have been integrated into guidance. They were included because they represent unresolved issues or contain advice for future research directions.

In total, almost four hundred (400) individual sources were gathered.

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