Perceived environmental utility under the influence of alternative transportation systems: a framework for analysis

The view that citizens should be involved in transportation planning is now widely accepted. However, there have been few attempts to measure residents' perceptions of the effect of alternative transportation proposals on their environment. The study reported here draws up a conceptual framework for measuring firstly the perceived attributes of a residential environment, and secondly how a population evaluates such an environment under different transportation options. In each instance the conceptual framework is tested by making use of case study data. At the first stage it is demonstrated how Kelly's Personal Construct Theory and related procedures can be applied to elicit cognised environmental components of urban places. One urban place is selected and population clusters which are 'homogeneous' in socioeconomic characteristics and activity patterns are defined. The INDSCAL model is then specified and applied to determine whether members of each population cluster evaluate the attributes of their environment in the same way under alternative transportation proposals. The measures of environmental utility for each proposal which the model produces show considerable variation within the groups. However, the model successfully defines each group's response to the effects of different transportation options.