The Vancouver City council’s project Sustainable City of Sustainable Neighborhoods looks to improve the sustainability and efficiency on a neighborhood-to-neighborhood basis (Vancouver City Planning Commission, 2011). For this commitment to be fulfilled there is a need for more studies of this nature. Though there are difficulties with mapping fluid social phenomena and behaviour there are opportunities to learn from these studies. The calculation of perceived walkability within this study had bias, but with this bias the study was successful in gaining perspective on the walkability of each neighborhood. Upon comparison with the objective walkability, it is clear that the perceived scores may be more accurate representations of walkability. The interpolation method of kriging allowed for the scores to be shown effectively in a spatial manner, highlighting regions that are more conducive to walking than others. The objective approaches for walkability are in need of improvement to more accurately display the walkability of a specific region. It is necessary to continue and develop the objective walkability studies alongside the perceived walkability studies. Although the perceived is more accurate, it is also much more time consuming, consisting of creating and completing surveys, converting the information from these forms into useful information and interpolating and applying the information. Improved methods of calculating objective walkability has the opportunity to provide a platform for information that efficiently highlights high and low walkable zones for city and neighborhood planners who look to improve the efficiency and sustainability of these areas.
The group members have varying degrees of knowledge about each area that would contribute to bias within that area. To breakdown bias for future studies it would be necessary to have a longer timeline; however, this study had a limited timeline because it is a semester based research project for a Geography 455 class at Simon Fraser University. A full-time commitment from group members and a longer timeline would allow for a more in-depth study. A longer timeline would allow for the researchers to break down biases based on age, fitness, race and gender. It would also allow the group to collect actual scan forms from residents who live within these neighborhoods. The objective walkability scores is another way in which future studies need to improve. These improvements can be made through exploring ways to accurately score the walkability on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis. It has been proposed (as mentioned above) to include accurate slope gradient data of the region, calculate the objective walkability of the whole city and clip the results to each neighborhood. This could be interesting to compare with the perceived scores of each neighborhood within Vancouver. Another interesting approach may include creating buffers around each neighbourhood, weight the significance of each buffer, calculate scores, and then clip each neighbourhood. This would breakdown the potential for neighbourhoods further from the city core receiving lower scores. It is necessary to continue and develop the objective walkability studies alongside the perceived walkability studies. Although the perceived is more accurate, it is also much more time consuming, consisting of creating and completing surveys, converting the information from these forms into useful information and interpolating and applying the information. Improved methods of calculating objective walkability has the opportunity to provide a platform for information that efficiently highlights high and low walkable zones for city and neighborhood planners who look to improve the efficiency and sustainability of these areas.