Pedestrian visual satisfaction and dissatisfaction toward physical components of the walking environment based on types, characteristics, and combinations

An uncomfortable urban environment negatively affects residents' physical and mental health. Creating a high-quality walking environment is increasingly acknowledged as an essential component of promoting walking to improve people's health. Configuring key physical aspects of the walking environment to be more appealing satisfies the needs of pedestrians and encourages walking. However, pedestrians' satisfaction or dissatisfaction, which may vary according to the characteristics and combinations of environmental and landscape components, have rarely been investigated at the detailed street level. This study investigates pedestrians' satisfaction and dissatisfaction with physical environmental components, including types, characteristics, and combinations. This study surveyed 810 pedestrians regarding their visual preferences among 200 walking environment images to identify satisfying and dissatisfying components (i.e., satisfiers and dissatisfiers). Results indicate that, depending on their characteristics, some components can act as either satisfiers (e.g., wood and steel) or dissatisfiers (e.g., plastic). The effects of combinations of components can also be synergistic or antagonistic rather than merely additive, with either positive (e.g., adjacent road with wooden fences) or negative (e.g., adjacent road with curved path) combined impacts. This study informs the creation of a more satisfactory walking environment at the street level by guiding landscape planning, including the addition, removal, and modification of physical environmental components, ultimately contributing to an increase in urban residents' walking activity.