WALKABILITY IN ASIAN CITIES: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW OF HIGH-DENSITY URBAN ENVIRONMENTS

Abstract

Urban walkability is a critical dimension of sustainable urban development, particularly in rapidly urbanising Asian cities characterised by high-density and high-intensity built environments. However, existing research remains fragmented and largely descriptive, limiting its analytical and conceptual contribution to understanding walkability across diverse urban contexts in different cities. This study presents a systematic literature review of walkability research in Asian cities, analysing 30 peer-reviewed articles across 11 countries. Guided by a PRISMA based approach, the review addresses how walkability is conceptualised and what dominant patterns, tensions, and gaps emerge in the literature. The synthesis focuses on high-density urban environments where pedestrian activity, accessibility, and spatial intensity operate as interdependent urban conditions rather than isolated categories. Findings shows that walkability is a multidimensional construct shaped by interactions between physical infrastructure, experiential perception, and governance mechanisms. These dimensions’ function relationally, where pedestrian outcomes depend on alignment between urban form, user experience, and policy implementation. The review also identifies persistent tensions between formal walkability measures and lived pedestrian realities in high-footfall urban settings. Although many studies focus on commercially active areas, these are better understood as high-intensity urban environments rather than distinct analytical categories. The study develops a conceptual synthesis of walkability in Asian cities, advancing understanding from descriptive classification towards a relational analytical framework and contributing to urban accessibility and pedestrian-oriented planning research.