Aspirations and reality of a compact walkable neighbourhood: The case of Surrey's East Clayton neighbourhood

As cities and suburbs pursue narratives of sustainable, compact and walkable neighborhoods, ex-post evaluation and monitoring of plans have been largely neglected by policy makers. Such ex-post evaluation and monitoring of compact and walkable neighbourhood plans are critical to inform lessons learned, but little is known about the impacts of plan especially from the perspectives of local residents. This thesis aims to explore the impacts of compact and walkable suburban built environment on encouraging pedestrian activity for parents and children aged 10 to 12 years old. Employing a mixed method approach, an unobtrusive observational study is conducted on the design of the built environment, supplemented by semi-structured interviews with parents and children living in the area. Through the case study of East Clayton neighbourhood, this empirical study demonstrates a gap between planning aspirations and reality for local residents. The findings also underscored the importance of contextualizing general best practices from principles of compact and walkable neighbourhood to grounding them in local values and needs of residents.