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The Pace of Life - Reanalysed: Why Does Walking Speed of Pedestrians Correlate With City Size?
Abstract
In a much quoted study, BORNSTEIN & BORNSTEIN (1976) showed that the walking speed of pedestrians is positively correlated with the size of the city. They interpreted the higher walking speed of people in larger cities as a psychological response to stimulatory overload. We also found a positive correlation between walking speed and city size. In addition, we showed that - at least in our sample - larger cities had higher proportions of young males and lower proportions of people older than 60 years. Walking speed and momentary density did not correlate positively. Because walking speed is age- and sex-dependent (Fig. 2), differences in population structure are likely to cause differences in average walking speed. The average walking speed predicted for each city according to its age- and sex-composition correlated positively with city size. The regressions of observed walking speed on population size and of walking speed predicted from age structure on population size did no differ significantly in their slopes (p > 0.95). It therefore seems unnecessary to invoke other factors in addition to age composition to explain differences in average walking speeds of pedestrians.
... Starting from gender differences, almost all studies find that males generally walk faster than females under all circumstances and street environments: signalized or nonsignalized crosswalks [38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49], walkways [23,35,[50][51][52][53][54][55][56], sidewalks [25,57,58], and inside public facilities [10,34,[59][60][61]. This difference in speed is attributed to gait characteristics, which lead to bigger stride for men [60], the fearless behavior of men [62], the security distance that appears to be higher for women [34], or the fact that women tend to chat more on the mobile phone or when walking in a group which distracts their movement [9]. ...
... Walking elements and their design have impact on speed including street sections, crosswalks, pavements, etc. [44,51,58,62]; crosswalk length and front distance length [27,67,77]; crossing markings [45,78]; street width [42]; and on street motor vehicle parking [22]. Walking speed is positively correlated with city size according to [15,55]. Moreover, the land use in terms of walkability plays an important role in walking speed [12,26,43,57,58]. ...
... Carrying a Baggage Cell Phone Use [34] Turkey Sidewalk − − [36] Uganda Walkway − − [36] USA Walkway − + [37] Turkey Unsignalized Crosswalk − − [38] Jordan Signalized Crosswalk − [41] USA Unsignalized Crosswalk − − [48] New Zealand Walkway + [54] Bangladesh Sidewalk − [55] India ...
(1) Background: Almost all trips include a walking leg. Pedestrian flow dynamics are an essential input to infrastructure design as well as efficient and safe operations. Pedestrian walking speed is the most influential traffic flow variable. This study examines the factors influencing pedestrian walking speed, categorizing them into pedestrian flow characteristics, pedestrian attributes, layout configuration, ambient conditions, and pedestrian behavioral patterns. (2) Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted, aggregating studies that investigate pedestrian walking speed across various environments and conditions. The identified factors were systematically categorized, and a meta-analysis was employed to synthesize the results. (3) Results: Speed measurements seem to be dependent on the method and technique employed, with experiments systematically overestimating speed and video recordings systematically underestimating it. Pedestrian density strongly influences speed as in motorized traffic. Being female, being of older age, walking in a group, engaging in social interactions or phone-related tasks, and moving under noise conditions are reported to have a negative impact on walking speed. Carrying baggage and moving under adverse weather conditions are also reported to have a statistically significant impact, but the direction of the impact is not always the same and seems to be very context dependent. (4) Conclusions: The findings highlight the significance of physiological, psychological, and environmental elements in shaping pedestrian behavior and thus speed. Valuable insights from this review can assist researchers, designers, and operators in providing safer, more inclusive, and reliable infrastructures for pedestrians. Future investigations should broaden the scope of data collection methods, particularly indoors.
... In [9,10] it is shown, that even the economic and social status of an individual has an influence on his walking speed. In addition, it turns out that high population and the strong economic development of a country also has a positive correlation with the mean walking speed of the population [11][12][13]. Aside from the individual characteristics just mentioned, environmental factors can also influence the gait. ...
The request of material savings in bridge constructions leads to the development towards slender and lightweight structures, which are more sensitive to human-induced vibrations caused by walking pedestrians. The resulting accelerations do not endanger the structural safety, but can be perceived as unpleasant for the user and must therefore be restricted within the limit state of serviceability. For this purpose, the guidelines define acceleration intervals, called as ''comfort levels" (CL), which evaluate the comfort of the pedestrians, given the maximum acceleration of the bridge. The model for human-induced loads in the design guideline is based on conservative and deterministic simplifications. In particular, the uncertainties in the human gait parameters are neglected. The main objective of this paper is to develop an uncertain load model for walking pedestrians based on Fourier series. The aleatory and epistemic uncertainties in the human gait parameters are quantified with appropriate uncertainty models relying on available data. In a dynamical finite element analysis, the model is used to simulate groups of pedestrians randomly walking over a bridge to calculate the resulting acceleration amplitudes. The approach is applied to a single span beam and to a real world footbridge using a 3D finite element model. The results are then evaluated within the CLs, enabling new assessment methods.
... The ArcGIS Pro 3.0 software takes a value of 5 km/h as a default value. Many studies have been dedicated to measuring this indicator and numerous differences have been proven, especially in European, Asian, and American cities [57,58]. The value chosen in this study is precisely the one that is the default for ArcGIS Pro because it matches the results for cities of similar morphology from Europe. ...
The global trend of increasing urbanization and motorization represents a major obstacle in the sustainable development and planning of cities. This trend did not bypass the city of Novi Sad (Serbia), which, despite good cultural and historical preconditions for the development of sustainable forms of transport, did not resist the sudden increase in the degree of motorization. The aim of this work is to present how favorable the existing structure of the city is for the development of sustainable types of traffic (mainly walking and cycling). Furthermore, this research aims to establish the link between bikeability and walkability and walking and cycling in the city through a survey questionnaire thus aiming to show how much the planned land use affects the increase or decrease in walkability and bikeability in the city of Novi Sad in order to establish whether the planning documents respect the principle of sustainability defined by law. The methodological procedure is adapted to European cities and the information base available in the researched area is based on the walkability and bikeability index. The results showed that the city of Novi Sad has the potential and morphology to support sustainable modes of transport, but the planning documents do not recognize the imperative of change towards sustainability.
... It combines a social force model, governing random walk movement of the pedestrian agents and their interaction, alongside the navigation agents of the navigation map that contains information for the pedestrian agents to find their way in the walkable zones within the study area (Jiang et al., 2020;Li et al., 2019). When there is no floodwater, the walking speed of the pedestrian agents is set to 1.4 m/s to represent the average human walking speed (Mohler, Thompson, Creem-Regehr, Pick, & Warren, 2007;Wirtz & Ries, 1992). Nonetheless, the existing behavioural rules in both the social force model and the navigation map allow the pedestrian agents to locally increase or decrease their walking speed (e.g., when they need to abruptly change direction to avoid collisions with each other or with existing obstacles located in the study area). ...
This article presents a simulator for the modelling of the two‐way interactions between flooding and people. The simulator links a hydrodynamic model to a pedestrian model in a single agent‐based modelling platform, Flexible Large‐scale Agent Modelling Environment for the Graphical Processing Unit (FLAMEGPU). Dynamic coupling is achieved by the simultaneous update and exchange of information across multiple agent types. Behavioural rules and states for the pedestrian agents are proposed to account for the pedestrians' presence/actions in/to floodwater. These are based on a commonly used hazard rate (HR) metric to evaluate the risk states of people in floodwater, and by considering two roles for the pedestrians: evacuees or responders for action during or before the flood event, respectively. The potential of the simulator is demonstrated in a case study of a flooded and busy shopping centre for two scenarios: (a) during a flood evacuation and (b) pre‐flood intervention to deploy a sandbag barrier. The evacuation scenario points to changes in floodwater hydrodynamics around congested areas, which either worsen (by 5–8%) or lessen (by 25%) the HR. The intervention scenario demonstrates the utility of the simulator to select an optimal barrier height and number of responders for safe and effective deployment. Accompanying details for software accessibility are provided.
This handbook is the first to comprehensively study the interdependent fields of environmental and conservation psychology. In doing so, it seeks to map the rapidly growing field of conservation psychology and its relationship to environmental psychology. The Oxford Handbook of Environmental and Conservation Psychology includes basic research on environmental perceptions, attitudes, and values; research on specific environments, such as therapeutic settings, schools, and prisons; environmental impacts on human well-being; and ways to promote a more sustainable relationship between people and the natural environment. This handbook presents an extensive review of current research and is a thorough guide to the state of knowledge about a wide range of topics at the intersection of psychology and the physical environment. Beyond this, it provides a better understanding of the relationship between environmental and conservation psychology, and some sense of the directions in which these interdependent areas of study are heading.
EN (PL below):
The aim of this thesis was to investigate the correlation between the detailed pedestrian path configuration, land use
characteristics and the pedestrian movement patterns in the historically and spatially diverse urban grid of Bydgoskie
Przedmieście and Bielany in Toruń.
Open-source geospatial processing software QGIS was used to model the detailed pedestrian network covering both
formal and informal paths and to analyse the spatial and functional characteristics of all network elements. The attributes
independent from network configuration were measured as the sum of topological and functional weights given to the elements
within a direct buffer of each network segment. The configurational characteristics in which the real length of pedestrian routes
was considered, were analysed using sDNA – a spatial network analysis plugin developed at Cardiff University.
The weighted network analysis was conducted using topological weights, such as segment length and a new weight
proposed by the author referring to the length of perceived space boundary. Additionally, functional weights derived from
buildings were used – total floor area and retail area. Several routing methods were tested and a hybrid between Euclidean and
angular routing was selected as the best match for modelling the measured pedestrian traffic, defined by sDNA creators as
‘pedestrian’ routing.
This research proves the lack of statistically significant relation between the pedestrian traffic and spatial and land use
characteristics measured as the crow flies and a strong correlation between the pedestrian counts and path betweenness
centrality – a measure of strategic positioning of each network segment depending on the number of geodesic paths that pass
through the segment.
It was revealed that the value best fit for sole modelling pedestrian movement patterns is betweenness centrality
weighted using the proposed space boundary length. It was concluded that the betweenness value can be interpreted as
pedestrian potential of movement on a given segment in a pedestrian network and that the hybrid between Euclidean and angular
routing matches the common tendency of pedestrians to select routes that are not only the shortest, but also the most simple in
terms of angular changes.
A metric based on network configuration and land use characteristic was recommended to use for accessibility
assessment, enabling a quantitative analysis of selected spatial and functional characteristics within a considered walking
distance of each network segment.
As a practical example of methodology application, the author proposed several changes to the pedestrian network of
Bydgoskie Przedmieście and Bielany and analysed their impact on pedestrian movement patterns and accessibility.
It was recommended that the presented tools were used in spatial planning units as evidence-based support for
planning decisions regarding new walkways, optimal location selection for links between interrupted axes or to evaluate the
impact of new investments on spatial accessibility and pedestrian movement patterns. The presented tools can also serve as
support in area regeneration programs, enabling conscious rechannelling of main footfalls, which can also prove beneficial to
investors and business-owners interested in increasing the number of customers.
PL:
W niniejszej pracy magisterskiej podjęto tematykę zależności pomiędzy przestrzennym rozkładem ruchu pieszych a
strukturą przestrzenno-funkcjonalną sieci dróg pieszych na różnorodnym pod względem układu urbanistycznego obszarze
Bydgoskiego Przedmieścia i Bielan w Toruniu.
Za pomocą programu QGIS służącego do przetwarzania danych geograficznych, wymodelowano sieć dróg pieszych
formalnych i nieformalnych oraz zbadano cechy przestrzenno-funkcjonalne wszystkich elementów sieci. Właściwości niezależne
od konfiguracji sieci dróg mierzono jako sumę wybranych wartości topologicznych i funkcjonalnych przypisanych elementom
znajdującym się w badanej prostoliniowej odległości od każdego punktu tego odcinka. Cechy zależne od konfiguracji, czyli te
uwzględniające rzeczywistą długość trasy pieszej, zostały obliczone za pomocą opracowanego przez Cardiff University narzędzia
sDNA służącego do przestrzennej analizy sieci.
Do badania struktury przestrzenno-funkcjonalnej jako wagi wykorzystano dane topologiczne takie jak długość
elementów sieci oraz zaproponowana przez autorkę długość granicy przestrzeni, a także wagi funkcjonalne jak powierzchnie
całkowite budynków oraz powierzchnie handlowo-usługowe. Przetestowano różne metody wyznaczania najkorzystniejszych tras
i wybrano mającą najlepsze dopasowanie z pomiarami metodę trasowania hybrydowego, zawierającą w sobie elementy
trasowania metrycznego oraz kierunkowego., a przez twórców sDNA nazwana trasowaniem pieszym.
Wykazano brak statystycznie istotnej zależności pomiędzy ruchem pieszym a zbadanymi cechami niesieciowymi oraz
silną relację pomiędzy zmierzonymi natężeniami ruchu pieszego a obliczoną miarą pośrednictwa dróg pieszych, będącego miarą
położenia odcinka względem najkorzystniejszych tras pomiędzy wszystkimi innymi odcinkami dróg w sieci przestrzennej.
Najlepsze dopasowanie modelu opisującego natężenie ruchu pieszego otrzymano dla hybrydowego pośrednictwa
ważonego długością granicy przestrzeni. Zauważono, że miara pośrednictwa może być interpretowana jako potencjał ruchu
pieszego na danym odcinku sieci dróg pieszych, a pośrednictwo hybrydowe uwzględnia powszechne dążenie pieszych do
wybierania tras nie tylko metrycznie najkrótszych, ale też najprostszych w rozumieniu zmian kierunku.
Zaproponowano miarę określającą dostępność przestrzenną bazującą na strukturze przestrzenno-funkcjonalnej,
pozwalającej na analizę ilościową wybranych cech przestrzennych lub funkcjonalnych znajdujących się w wybranej rzeczywistej
odległości od każdego z odcinków badanej sieci.
Pokazano przykład stosowania opisanej metodologii do analizy oddziaływania zaproponowanych zmian w układzie
dróg pieszych Bydgoskiego Przedmieścia i Bielan na przestrzenny rozkład ruchu pieszego oraz dostępność przestrzenną.
Opisywane narzędzie zaleca się stosować w jednostkach samorządowych w celu naukowego wsparcia decyzji o
wyznaczaniu nowych ciągów pieszych, wybierania optymalnych lokalizacji dla łączników ciągów przerwanych, a także oceny
wpływu planowanych inwestycji na dostępność przestrzenną i zmian w przestrzennym rozkładzie ruchu pieszego. Przedstawiony
typ analizy może też być pomocny w programach rewitalizacji umożliwiając świadome zmienianie potencjału ruchu pieszego, co
może być również korzystne dla inwestorów i przedsiębiorców zainteresowanych zwiększaniem liczby potencjalnych klientów.
The mechanisms that regulate human walking are not fully understood, although there has been substantial research. In our study, we hypothesized that, although walking can be volitionally modified, it is also involuntary and controlled by evolutionary factors, such as the relationship between temperature and movement speed in poikilotherms. This study aimed to determine the effects of environmental temperature on speed, step length, and cadence during unrestrained walking over long periods. Customers of a private insurance company were asked to use a background smartphone GPS application that measured walking parameters. Participants were 1065 app users (298 men and 767 women) aged 14–86 years. Observed walking speed and cadence were higher in winter (average maximum temperature: 10.2 °C) than in summer (average maximum temperature: 29.8 °C) (p < 0.001). The walking parameters were closely related to environmental temperature, with cadence most strongly correlated with daily maximum temperature (r = − 0.812, p < 0.001) and indicating a curvilinear relationship. A decrease in environmental temperature was found to increase cadence when the temperature was below 30 °C. The findings suggest that walking may be regulated by environmental temperature and potentially by the autonomic nervous system’s response to environmental temperature.
Ambulation is one routine aspect of the pace of life. In Western societies at least, human ambulation varies in a linear fashion with the size of the local population. This relation can be described adequately by the formula, Velocity = 0.86 log Population + 0.05. Ergonomical, cognitive, social, and economic explanations for this result are examined, and hypotheses for further cross-cultural investigation of urban-rural differences in pace of life are proposed. La marche est un des aspects quotidiens du déroulement de la vie. Dans les sociétés occidentales en tout cas, la marche humaine varie de façon linéaire en fonction de l'importance (numérique) de la population locale. Cette relation peut ětre décrite par la formule, Vitesse = 0.86 log. Population + 0.05. Nous proposons des explications ergonomiques, cognitives, sociales et économiques de nos résultats ainsi que des hypothèses en vue de recherches interculturelles futures sur les différences du déroulement de la vie en milieu urbain ou rural.
The article discusses the proposition that the pace of life in big cities is faster than in other sizes of settlement, thus creating conditions conducive to the high levels of social pathology found in those cities. Observation of over 1,300 pedestrians at 10 places in Australia and England revealed that walking speed is a function of city size in that pedestrians move more quickly in big cities than in small towns. The influence of city size was, however, found to be more gradual than had been suggested in some earlier studies. In addition, the age and sex of the pedestrian, the degree of congestion in the areas under study, the time of day, and possibly even the weather had an influence on walking speed.
THE specific effects of population pressure on the quality of everyday
life should be of pressing social and policy concern; and although
population studies have proliferated in the behavioural sciences,
research has focused primarily on fertility-related
behaviours1,2. Moreover, the few social scientists interested
in the relationship of the numbers of humans to individual human
behaviour have been puzzled by a dearth of clear-cut
effects3. This study reports preliminary analyses from a
larger cross-cultural investigation of the quality of life. Following a
suggestion from Lowin et al.4, we have systematically
observed the rates of pedestrian locomotion over a constant distance in
15 cities and towns in six countries in Europe, Asia and North America.
The results of these observations indicate that pace of life varies in a
regular fashion with the size of the local population, regardless of the
cultural setting.