Measuring accessibility in low density housing: the role of neighbourhood design

Accessibility is a key contributor to the quality of life experienced by residents and others. This paper asks how might accessibility be measured in different contexts? Quantitative analyses were undertaken, and 247 residents were surveyed in three suburbs. Pearson correlations was used to investigate the relationship between perceived accessibility and a number of independent social and physical neighbourhood design variables. The findings suggest that a quantitative method can be usefully conducted to measure the perception of residents toward their social-spatial environment. The results presented that accessibility is strongly associated with physical design features, even with interaction of socio-demographic variables. Hierarchical multiple regression was also showed that some of the physical characteristics significantly predicted accessibility particularly street type, open space provision and trees coverage after socio-economic factors controlling such as income and length of residence. This indicates that well designed neighbourhoods can be more accessible for residents. The findings also suggest that accessibility associated with the social and physical needs of residents can be critical influences that planners and decision maker need to consider when designing for sustainable environment in contemporary suburban contexts.