From walking buffers to active places: An activity-based approach to measure human-scale urban form.

• This study provides an exploratory tool to map potential activity spaces of different population groups. • It integrates population-representative transportation survey data into a parcel-level urban form analysis. • It explores the method to measure potential social interaction among different population groups. Urban form measures have been increasingly used in multidisciplinary research, yet few studies have conceptualized different meanings of human-scale urban form for various population groups. This study proposes an activity-based approach that builds direct links between urban form measures and travel-activity patterns of various population groups. With a case study on older adults' walking activity in Toronto, this study maps potential activity spaces for each population group, and measures the potential of social interaction at a land-parcel level. Based on a population-representative survey data and an open source routing algorithm, this study provides an exploratory method to conceptualize and measure human-scale urban form for different population groups. Further, this method helps to understand the non-linear relationships between conventional urban form measures and travel-activity patterns, and to inform planning interventions on urban form features that are particularly important for a specific population group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]