Ranking Urban Catchment Areas according to Service Condition of Walk Environment

Abstract

The article presents a method for ranking various catchment areas of an urban area according to their current service condition of the walk environment and their improvement needs. The study proposes a rationally appealing methodological framework for preparing a ranking order of catchment areas, considering road users’ perceived responses on several individual survey items describing the walk environment of a particular catchment area instead of the overall perception of the walk environment. The rank orders are prepared using three ranking methods: relative to an identified distribution integral transformation (RIDIT), technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), and grey relational analysis (GRA). The outcomes of rank order from these ranking methods were compared pairwise to check whether any monotonicity existed among the outcomes, and then to decide on selection of the final rank order. The method was demonstrated by considering geographical area of the Bhubaneswar city, India, and the study presented several new findings to transportation planners and practitioners with reference to developing countries.