Gender Differences in Pedestrian Perception and Satisfaction on the Walkability of Kuala Lumpur City Center

¹ Institute for Infrastructure Engineering and Sustainability Management, Universiti Teknologi Mara, 40450 Shah Alam, Malaysia
² Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Mara, 40450 Shah Alam, Malaysia
³ Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Johor, Malaysia

^a Corresponding author : drahmadkamil@salam.uitm.edu.my

Abstract

The quality of built environment usually influences the walkability of a city. This is because each pedestrian walk differently on different type of facilities or built environment provided to them. This paper aims to investigate whether gender differences influences the pedestrian perception and satisfaction level at three sidewalks located within the Kuala Lumpur City Center by means of questionnaire survey. A total of 317 pedestrians were involved in the questionnaire survey at the three different sidewalk locations. The result shows significant differences in mean satisfaction value between male and female pedestrians. Female pedestrian give lower satisfaction value for overall travel experience at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman but higher satisfaction value at Petaling Street and Bukit Bintang compared to male pedestrian. Overall, the satisfaction level was rated between acceptable to satisfactory regardless of gender differences. Improvements should be made for the safety parameter because both male and female pedestrian gives lowest satisfaction level in that area.