Dual friction mapping of urban pedestrian spaces: Integrating street-view visual analytics and Geographically Neural Network Weighted Regression in Izmir, Türkiye
Sustainable Cities and Society, cilt.150, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 150
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.scs.2026.107913
- Dergi Adı: Sustainable Cities and Society
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Compendex, Geobase, INSPEC
- Anahtar Kelimeler: Geographically Neural Network Weighted Regression, Izmir, Pedestrian friction, Street view imagery, Urban Heat Island, Walkability
- Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Pedestrian comfort is undermined both by physical obstructions that compress usable sidewalk space and by thermal stress in hot weather. Yet physical and thermal friction are usually measured separately, leaving planners without a fine-grained basis for deciding where obstacle removal, sidewalk widening, or shade and cooling interventions are actually needed. This study introduces the Pedestrian Friction Index (PFI), combining a Physical Comfort Score (visual obstruction from street-view imagery, including effective clear walking width) and a Thermal Friction Score (land surface temperature, albedo, greenery, and sky openness) in equal measure, applied across 5663 street-view points in Izmir, Türkiye. Street-view images were segmented for physical indicators, while satellite imagery supplied thermal and terrain metrics. We modelled PFI using Geographically Neural Network Weighted Regression (GNNWR), allowing spatial non-stationarity across the city, and benchmarked it against four spatial regression models. GNNWR achieved an out-of-sample R2 of 0.407 under repeated hex-blocked cross-validation. Local coefficients indicated that clear walking width and tree canopy height consistently reduced friction, whereas morphological density, street canyon ratio, ground coverage, and park distance increased it in specific spatial contexts. A bivariate vulnerability atlas identified locations where high physical and thermal friction coincide, guiding sidewalk widening, obstacle removal, tree planting, and heat mitigation in Mediterranean cities. The findings support a planning transition from generic walkability rankings to diagnosis-specific pedestrian infrastructure policy.