Browsing by Author "Hewawasam, C"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8

item: Conference-Abstract
Analysis of factors affecting pedestrian route choice
(Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa., 2013-07) Hewawasam, C; Bandara, JMSJ; Wirasinghe, CS; Pasindu, HR
Walking is considered as a most efficient mode of transport for shorter distances as it is environmentally friendly, requires minimal energy, costs nothing and is accessible to all irrespective of the age, gender and ability if facilities are provided appropriately. Pedestrian facilities in an urban area have a significant influence on the traffic flow and socio-economic environment. Communities with good pedestrian facilities will enhance the quality of life. Pedestrians enjoy a high degree of freedom of movement even in a highly congested area as opposed to vehicles. Accordingly, more alternative paths are available for pedestrians between any origin-destination (O-D) pair. This paper describes a study carried out in Panadura city center in Sri Lanka to estimate the relative importance given by pedestrians to various factors such as travel time and visual attractions in their route choice. The first part of the questionnaire that was used in the study was on their current journey and the second part was based on stated preference using a series of hypothetical route choice questions. Here respondents were presented with choices between hypothetical yet realistic alternatives, with each alternative being described in terms of their attributes. The results were obtained by conjoint analysis and highlighted that travel time is the most significant factor in route choice for less than 1000m trips and travel distance got priority for longer distance trips. Further, it is apparent that congestion and visual attractions were secondary factors their route choice.
item: Conference-Abstract
Application of level of service facilities for sidewalk assessment
(Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa., 2018-09) Hewawasam, C; Saparamadu, S; Pasindu, HR
The model share of pedestrians, in developing cities has the tendency of being very high, as opposed to developed cities. For example, between 25-50% of trips in major Indian cities, and about 50% of all trips in major African cities, are made entirely on foot. However, though such is the case, in majority of developing cities, pedestrian infrastructure, amenities, and services are often neglected in municipal planning and budgets (Fang, 2005). Improved walking facilities not only will generate new pedestrian flows, but will also increase the comfort of the current walking population. Consequently, it will result in an increase in the public transit usage and a decrease in private vehicle trips. Accordingly, a need has arisen to measure the performance of pedestrian facilities for improvements and priority setting. Traditionally, pedestrian facility operations were evaluated on the basis of the level of-service (LOS) concept. Therefore, the LOS methods used in the assessment of pedestrian facilities are to be examined in detail, to identify what is to be added or improved in the South Asian context. In response, this paper aims to study the current status of the sidewalks in Sri Lankan urban areas for the estimation of the sidewalk level of service. It reveals that the current level of services methodologies are lacking, as they address western conditions rather than the prevailing conditions in Sri Lanka. So, this study intended a review of existing methodologies by evaluating the existing sidewalks, and a combination of most appropriate factors for Sri Lankan conditions were selected. As for the review of existing methodologies, recent methodologies that developed at an international level have been selected. They are included in Table1. This study is at the initial stage and is to be developed as an “all-inclusive pedestrian facilities Level of Services methodology for South Asian Countries”.
item: Conference-Full-text
Assessing factors affecting university students’ preference of walking; comparing university of Moratuwa & university of Sri Jayewardenepura
(2020-11-06) Hewawasam, C; Abeysinghe, U; Saparamdu, S
This research has been investigated factors affecting students’ preference of walking comparing two universities which have distinct characteristics regarding the students’ preference of walking. First developed framework including factors affecting for walking which have been found through reviewing past research studies. The framework has included three main features: Functionality, Safety and Aesthetic. Under the each feature, a set of elements have studied. Distance and duration elements and safety feature are significant for the decision of walking of university students over the other transportation modes available. Contribution of road conditions such as pavement availability, aesthetic aspects, shading trees, pollution and cleanliness and traffic volume and speed are not highly significant to decide student walking although it highly matters for decide leisure walking. Therefore this research has been revealed the importance of assessing the factors which contribute the decision of walking of university students. This will be helpful to decide future strategies for improve walking.
item: Conference-Full-text
Evaluating the age-friendliness of transport system in Sri Lankan cities
(Sri Lanka Society of Transport and Logistics, 2023-08-26) Ranasinghe, R; Hewawasam, C; Abenayake, C; Gunaruwan, TL
Nowadays as one of the key areas of urban planning and design, health concerns of the community, with high vulnerability on older population have re-appear. Over the time, the elderly population around the world are predicted to increase and Sri Lanka follows the same trend. In this context, the concept of ‘Age-friendly Cities’ introduced by WHO comes to play. WHO has identified, ‘Transport and Mobility’ as one of the eight priority domains for policy action in order to build age-friendly cities. Since without transportation, other facilities and services are inaccessible, transportation plays a major role in a city design. How to effectively understand the age-friendliness of a city’s transport system and diagnose the underlying problems of urban development have therefore become critical in managing this demographic change. Previous studies have not yet provided a proper methodology for quantification of age-friendliness of transport system in Sri Lankan cities. This study aims to evaluate the age-friendliness of transport system in Sri Lankan cities by incorporating quantitative indicator-based examination. Three case study areas; Negombo, Kurunegala and Kandy, were employed and the results show that the age-friendliness of transport system in each city is 59.29%, 68.25% and 66.98% respectively.
item: Conference-Full-text
An Evaluation on level of publicness of urban public spaces by using core dimensions; specific reference to Galle fort (sea bath area), forest (beach) park area, Mahamodara marine walk and ocean pathway in Galle
(Faculty of Architecture Research Unit (FARU), 2021-12-03) Sandaruwan, KLKTB; Hewawasam, C
In 1990s, the decrement of non-built-up areas due to urbanization directly cause a reduction in the quality of life of the people & the occurrence of social issues in Sri Lanka due to monotonous lifestyles. Therefore, to overcome these issues with a sustainable Sri Lankan vision by 2030 urban beautification projects like urban public spaces, parks concept was introduced to Sri Lanka especially in suburban areas. Recently, the urban recreational spaces concept came to urban fabric with common characteristics that were developed as social spaces for community gathering and interactions with a variety of physical activities. Although with the emerging public space concept, there is no such consideration on research regarding an evaluation on publicness of urban public spaces by using physical dimensions; Specific Reference to Galle Fort (sea bath area), Forest Park area, Mahamodara Marine walk and Ocean Pathway in Galle. Further, there is no proper regulatory framework in public space monitoring & evaluation to improve the infrastructure of public space. The research aim is to evaluate the level of publicness of urban public spaces based on physical dimensions which are owned by public administration in Sri Lanka. Also, it focused to identify what parameters, need to evaluate the level of publicness and understand satisfaction levels of urban public spaces and key indicators, to assess how contributing indicators, influence to achieve the effectiveness of public spaces among users and to provide recommendations based on the experts’ and users’ views for future improvements of urban public spaces to enhance the publicness level in Sri Lanka. This study was focused on four urban public spaces with the dissimilarity of the availability of design characteristics in Galle. The methodology of the research was comprised of onsite observations, questionnaire surveys, semi-structured interviews, and photographic documentation. The data were quantitatively analysed by using the VIKOR model which is a democratic model to evaluate the publicness level, AHP analysis, and descriptive statistical analysis using SPSS and EXCEL. Qualitative analysis was based on content analysis and photographic documentation. According to the findings of the research, it proved that based on key physical dimensions, criteria, and indicators publicness level, effectiveness, and truly public or not in four case studies. The highest publicness level and satisfaction level occurred in Forest Park which proved the hypothesis of the study. Additionally, by providing more shady areas, proper waste management, proper sitting opportunities, provide proper security system and monitoring system for control spaces, provide diverse activities for all age categories are some of the comments based on respondents which need to be considered in planning & designing urban spaces for increase attraction levels which are benefited for urban planners and designer.
item: Conference-Abstract
Features and variables of quantifiable measures to be used in quantifying walkability
(Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa., 2012-07) Hewawasam, C; Bandara, JMSJ; Wirasinghe, SC; Pasindu, HR
Pedestrian facilities in an urban area have a significant influence on the traffic flow and socio- economic environment. Walking is considered as the most efficient mode of transport for shorter distance; it is environmentally friendly, requires minimal energy, has no direct financial cost and is accessible to all irrespective of age, gender and ability if facilities are provided appropriately. Communities with good pedestrian facilities will enhance the quality of life of the people. Measure of “walkability” has been used to evaluate pedestrian facilities. Majority of such measures are qualitative in nature and rank road segments based on the level of service concept. A recent attempt to develop a scorecard based on measurable aspects of walkability is available but it focuses only on comparing roads based on the facilities available for pedestrians. However, walkability is not only about pedestrian infrastructure and it has more elements while pedestrian infrastructure being one of them. In this research four main elements of walkability have been identified as infrastructure, destination, journey and environment. A complete walkability evaluation criterion must address all these four elements. Hence with those four elements of walkability, a through literature review on the walkability models so far developed has been carried out in order to identify quantifiable measures of walkability. A set of six quantifiable measures of walkability have been identified as connectivity, proximity, density, infrastructure, land use and environmental and safety. Finally, the features and variables of those identified measures have been identified and offers in this paper to be further reviewed. It is expected to use these measures in developing a model to prioritize pedestrian facility requirements in an urban area.
item: Conference-Full-text
Influence of the safety-security attributes on the walkability of university students in Sri Lanka
(Sri Lanka Society of Transport and Logistics, 2023-08-26) Abeysinghe, U; Saparamadu, S; Hewawasam, C; Gunaruwan, TL
Walking is the most common, and sustainable mode of transportation, which gives numerous health benefits as well. The relationship between pedestrian safety-security and walking preference is equally important in micro-environments like university neighborhoods, as in macro-environments, such as large cities. A framework has developed based on safety-security attributes [3] and elements [14] and a regression model was developed. The findings of this study could support to define walkability framework as a model which can be adopted in pedestrian planning in other city campuses and will promote walkability.
item: Conference-Abstract
Review of walkability enhancing neighbourhood environment attributes in urban tropics
(Transportation Engineering Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, 2023-12-08) Abeysinghe, U; Saparamadu, S; Hewawasam, C; Jayantha, WRAN
The usage of private vehicles has grown rapidly, especially in urban areas of developing countries, which has led to many environmental and socio-economic issues such as congestion, high fuel consumption, and air pollution. Traffic congestion and delays continue to be a problem in mega, large, and even small cities due to the excessive volume of private cars. An important strategy to reduce the use of private cars is by offering high-quality public transport services and by encouraging pedestrian mobility. Improving walkability could discourage the use of motorized vehicles, and that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, decrease congestion, and be beneficial for human health. Walkability is defined as the quality of a neighbourhood that supports and encourages people to access their destinations on foot. A better understanding of what factors create a more walkable environment would enable planners and engineers to develop more comprehensive and practical urban transportation plans that ultimately lead to a user-friendly city for walking, which is lagging in developing countries. The objectives of the study are to explore the most significant walkability-enhancing Neighborhood Environment Attributes (NEAs) in urban areas of Sri Lanka. To identify the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) in existing transportation policies in the country for effective integration of walkability-enhancing NEAs. Proposing how to integrate them into transport planning. As the literature review, SCIENCEDIRECT and GOOGLE SCHOLAR databases were chosen to study the peer-reviewed documents published between 1993 and 2021 May in the tropical context. The first step in the selection involved literature on walking/ walkability research. Then, articles that related to NEAs on walking preference/ influence were selected. A brief review of the abstracts and introductions served to exclude non-related articles. Thirdly, screened articles were thoroughly studied, and a set of NEAs were identified using 56 published research papers. As the fourth step, a field survey was conducted at Nugegoda, Wijerama (n=372), and a set of significant attributes and elements were identified. Pedestrians were randomly stopped and were asked to scale NEAs identified from the literature review from 1 to 5 (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree), with higher scores indicating a more favourable value. Photographing was avoided during the field observation and surveying since it might hinder the privacy of the participants, and photographs were taken on separate occasions. The 3 main attributes and 24 elements under them were identified as the most significant NEAs in the urban Sri Lankan context. The road is safe from crime (53.5%), the road is full of people (48.4%), and the availability of residences along the street (39.5%), were identified as the most significant factors as most participants strongly agreed (5) which encourage the walkability, while block size, block length, and number of dead ends, were identified as insignificant. A comprehensive review of existing urban and transport policies, acts, and plans was reviewed, and a SWOT analysis was conducted. Based on the findings, an innovative framework was proposed to integrate walkability-enhancing NEAs into urban planning in Sri Lanka effectively. The review could be helpful for researchers and urban planners in developing walkability studies and in defining policies to improve walkability. Further, this will provide additional insights into how built NEAs influence walkability and identify gaps and issues that should be analyzed in-depth in the future. Nevertheless, results can be utilized to develop a walkability index for the country as well.