Resumen
This research aims to better understand pedestrians? travel behavior in large Chinese cities. Researchers investigated pedestrians? travel characteristics in 21selected neighborhoods in Shanghai central city. They were classified into five different categories: A. Li Nong, B. Old Worker Village, C. Old Residential Neighborhood, D. Market Rate Residential Neighborhood, and E. International Neighborhood. The data were collected through stratified random samplings using questionnaires and interviews from January 2012 to January 2013. Researchers distributed 2,940 samples and 2,861 of them were valid with a survey return rate of 97.3%. Among all respondents, 59% were female, with an average age of 43, full time employed(57%), part-time (6%), retired/unemployed (35%), and students(2%). The average car ownership was 0.3per household.71% of respondents were from a carless household, 24% had one car, and 4% had 2 or more cars. The results showed that in terms of travel objective, 36.8% of overall walking trips were exercise/relax-based travel,35.6% were work-based commute travel and 29.7% were non-work-based travel. The study also showed that walking travel was definitely shrinking in China. However, walking is still a major travel mode, especially for the working class. Age and car ownership were positively and negatively correlated with travel distance and time. People generally agreed that walking was very important for their health and were generally satisfied with the walking environment they lived in.