Data Collection and Analysis of Citizen Feedback on the Pedestrianization of Heneral Luna Street in Intramuros
The pedestrianization of Heneral Luna street is part of the agenda of the Intramuros Administration in order to protect the structural integrity of the San Agustin church, promote tourism, and preserve the historical and cultural value of Intramuros. To inform policy and implementation, an online survey and consultations were conducted to understand public sentiment about this initiative. Using Pol.Is as the primary data collection tool and Facebook comments as a secondary feedback collection tool, the survey ran for a total of 16 days, from July 7, 2021, to July 23, 2021. The Pol.Is tool has a total of 47 initial statements related to the main topic, and respondents voted either ‘agree’, ‘disagree’, or ‘pass’ for each statement.
An opening online citizen assembly was held on July 7, 2021, wherein the Intramuros Administration presented its plans, the survey objectives, and the survey process. A total of 1014 respondents submitted their votes via Pol.Is, and a total of 433 qualitative comments were scraped from Facebook and Pol.is’ open message box. After tabulation and analysis, the results were presented in the closing citizen assembly on July 28, 2021.
Using Principal Components Analysis (PCA) via Pol.Is report page, 497 out of 1014 voters were categorized under two opinion groups. These are groups of voters who tend to vote similarly on certain statements. The two opinion groups were labeled Group A (n=126) “Working in Intramuros” and Group B (n=365) “Visitors of Intramuros” because the most defining metadata is the percentage of respondents working in Intramuros. 73% of Group A voters are working in Intramuros while only 22% of Group B voters are working in Intramuros. In general, Group A voters tend to be more hesitant, if not against the pedestrianization of Heneral Luna street because it can make driving cars within Intramuros difficult. Group B voters, on the other hand, tend to agree to pedestrianization of streets in Intramuros, as well as the development of public spaces such as parks.
There are several points of consensus among all voters. One, there is collective disagreement in notions that roads are made for cars only, that riding bicycles are for men only, that riding bicycles makes one look poor, and that parks are a waste of public space. Similarly, there is collective agreement on the benefits of walking and biking, that walking and biking should not be dangerous, and that there should be places where children can walk and play safely.
The 47 initial statements were analyzed using Association Rules Mining and showed that disagreement with pedestrian-only streets is associated with concerns about it negatively affecting businesses, increased difficulty in driving around Intramuros, and road safety and security.
Finally, qualitative comments showed related key topics outside of the Pol.Is voting platform to be: 1. tourism-related concerns; 2. concerns about parking spaces; and, 3. secure walking areas in Intramuros.
Combined quantitative + qualitative analysis highlighted top concerns to be:
- Safety and security when walking
- Factors affecting business and tourism (parking spaces, sidewalk vendors, etc.)
- Special attention to PWDs and senior citizens
- Access to public transportation
- Alternate routes and parking spaces if Heneral Luna street is closed
- And an emerging conversation about preserving culture and history, while embracing development.
Full report below:
An ongoing study related to citizen feedback is being conducted by the CloudCT team and partners. This page will be updated with the DOI once the paper is published. For more details, questions, suggestions, please contact learning@layertechlab.com.