the pace of life - reanalysed

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The Pace of Life - Reanalysed: Why Does Walking Speed of Pedestrians Correlate with City

Size?Author(s): Peter Wirtz and Gregor RiesSource: Behaviour, Vol. 123, No. 1/2 (Nov., 1992), pp. 77-83Published by: BRILLStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4535062 .

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2/8

Behaviour23

(1-2)

1992,

E.

J.

Brill,

Leiden

THE PACE OF LIFE

-

REANALYSED: WHY DOES WALKING

SPEED OF PEDESTRIANS

CORRELATE

WITH

CITY

SIZE?

by

PETER

WIRTZ')

and

GREGOR

RIES2)

(Institut

fur

Biologic

der

Universitat

Freiburg

and

Forschungsstelle

fur

Humanethologie

in der Max

Planck

Gesellschaft)1

(With

3

Figures)

(Acc. 29-X-1992)

Summary

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.

Introduction

With the

catching

titel

The

pace

of life

BORNSTEIN

BORNSTEIN

(1976)

published

the

results of a

much

quoted study

showing

that

the

walking

speed

of

pedestrians

is

positively

correlated

with the

size of

the

city.

The

measurements

of the

walking speed

of,

on

average,

20

people per city

were

taken on the main

roads

of

15 towns

or cities in

the

USA, Ireland,

Germany,

Israel,

Greece and

Czechoslowakia,

ranging

in

size

from 365

to

2.6 million inhabitants. Later,

BORNSTEIN

(1979) published additional

1)

Address

for

correspondence:

Dr. P.

WIRTZ,

Universidade da

Madeira,

Largo

do

Colegio,

P-9000

Funchal,

Portugal,

Madeira.

2)

Many

thanks

for

helpful

discussions

to

colleagues

at

the

Forschungsstelle

fur

Human-

ethologie

der

Max

Planck

Gesellschaft

and in

the

Wickler

department

of the

Max

Planck

Institut fur

Verhaltensphysiologie.


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3/8

WIRTZ

& RIES

measurements

from six

further

cities,

confirming

the

initial result.

The

psychologists

M.

& H.

BORNSTEIN

interpreted

the

higher walking speed

of

people in larger cities as a response to stimulatory overload: increased

walking

speeds

serve to minimize

environmental

stimulation .

In

our

study,

which

measured

the

walking speeds

of

people

at

14

different

places

in

Germany,

France,

Switzerland and

Italy,

we also

found

a

positive

correlation between

walking speed

of

pedestrians

and

city

size.

In

addition,

we

attempted

to find

the

proximate

reason that

directly

determines

walking

speed

and

apparently

somehow correlates

with

city

size.

Material and

methods

Following

the

procedure

described

by

BORNSTEIN

BORNSTEIN

(1976)

we

measured the

walking

speed

(the

time

taken to cover a

distance of

15 to

20

m)

of

123

to

1258

pedestrians

on

the main

shopping

roads of 14 cities

varying

in

population

size

from

5200

to more than

2

million

(Table 1).

As

the measurements

were taken between

November and

April,

tempera-

tures were lower than in

BORNSTEIN'S

study

(between

0 and

10°C

versus

24°C).

To

avoid

observer

bias,

the

first

single

unobstructed

person entering

the

measuring

strip

was

chosen

as a

subject

in

every

case.

In

addition,

we noted

the

follwing

variables:

-

number of

people walking

in

the

opposite

direction and

passing

the

observed

subject

while that

person

was

crossing

the

measurement

strip,

TABLE

1.

Population

size,

sample

size,

walking speed

and

sample

composition

towns

and

cities

place

population

N

subjects

V

%20-30 males %>60

VD

Berlin

2157695 1033

1.36

8.02 23.15

1.37

Hannover

505875

985

1.46

24.99

6.22

1.44

Karlsruhe

268309

291

1.46

25.78

14.10

1.43

Freiburg

185669

1258 1.39

12.71 16.89

1.40

Basel

175000

904

1.44

9.49

14.95

1.39

Varese

89146

253

1.36

10.68

9.90 1.41

Colmar

66694

326

1.35

8.88

17.78

1.40

Lahr

34566

293

1.40

12.28

12.60

1.42

Emmendingen

23653

502 1.41

7.76

17.73

1.39

Waldkirch

18879

489

1.35

4.70

22.53

1.37

Bad

Krozingen

12084 275

1.33

1.10 40.37

1.32

Breisach

10021 274

1.48

5.73

23.00

1.38

Laveno

8830

123

1.28 5.68

28.47

1.36

PonteTresa

5200 253

1.22

4.32 29.66

1.37

V

=

average

walking

speed

of

pedestrians

ms-1)

%20-30 males

=

percent

20-30

year

old

males

in

the

population;

%>60

=

percent

of

people

older

than 60

years

n

the

population;

VD

=

walking

peedpredicted

from

age-

and

sex-composition.

78




4/8

THE

PACE OF

LIFE

-

REANALYSED

79

-

number of

people

on the measurement

strip

immediately

after the

subject

had left

it,

-

sex

of the

subject,

-

estimated

age

of the

subject

in

the

classes

15-20, 21-30, 31-40,

41-50, 51-60,

older than

60 years (persons estimated to be younger than 15 years were not counted).

Results

Walking

speed

and

city

size.

Average

walking speed

(V)

correlated

positively

with the

logarithmic

value

of

city

size

(logpop),

following

the

equation

V = 0.043

x

logpop

+ 1.169

(r

=

0.461, p

<

0.05, one-tailed).

Figure

1

shows the

relation between

walking speed

and

city

size for all

36 cities for

which

data

are

available

(BORNSTEIN

&

BORNSTEIN, 1976;

BORNSTEIN,

979,

this

study,

plus

a value for the German

city Offenburg

1.8- ·

1.6

-

E

14

IC

E 1.4--

V0

_

.

1.2-

.' 1.0

-

/

*

·

.0

-

0.8-

0.6

-

i

I

I I I

I

I

I

100 1000 10000 100000 1000000

population

size

Fig.

1.

The relation between

average walking speed

of

pedestrians

and

city

size.

based on

the

walking speed

of

1232

pedestrians

measured

by

S.

KoPKA

during

a student's

practical:

V

=

1.52

m/s,

logpop

=

4.7).

The

equation

for the total

sample

is

V = 0.19 x logpop + 0.42

(r

=

0.76,

p

<

0.0001,

two-tailed).

Walking speed

and

momentary

density

of

people.

For the

city

of

Freiburg

(the

place

with

the

highest

sample size),

we

correlated the

walking

speed

of

pedestrians

with

two

measures of

momen-




5/8

80

WIRTZ & RIES

tary density,

namely

number of

people

walking

in the

opposite

direction

and

passing

the observed

subject

while

that

person

crossed the

measure-

ment strip and number of people on the measurement strip imme-

diately

after the

subject

had left

it ;

we also correlated

walking speed

with

the

logarithmic

values of these two measures. The

walking

speed

of

neither

male nor female

subjects

correlated

with

these

variables;

the

resulting eight

correlation coefficients

ranged

between -0.003 and

-0.19,

none

of

them

approachig

significance

level.

Walking speed

and

age

or sex

of

subject.

It

is,

of

course,

well known that males tend to walk faster than females and

that older

people

tend to

walk

slower than

younger people

(references

in

WALMSLEY

LEWIS,

1989). Higher

walking

speed

of males is due to

larger

stride

length

and not to

higher

stride

frequency

(S.

KOPKA& C.

KRAMER,

unpublished

students'

report).

The

average

walking speed

of

males and

females of

each

age

class was calculated

separately

for

every city.

The

mean of these

means

gives

a

walking

speed

typical

for each

age-

and

sex-

class and

independent

of

city

size.

The

relation between

walking

speed

and

age

or

sex is shown

in

Fig.

2.

City

size and

population composition.

Because

walking speed

was found to be

age-

and

sex-dependent,

we

tested

whether cities of different sizes

differed

in

their


In

our

sample, population composition

covaried with

city

size

in a

system-

atic

way:

larger

cities tended to have

higher proportions

of

20

to

30

year-

old

males,

i.e.

higher

proportions

of the fastest

walking

class

(r

=

0.62,

p

<

0.02,

two-tailed)

and

larger

cities tended

to

have lower

proportions

of

people

older

than

60

years,

i.e.

lower

proportions

of the two slowest

walking

classes

(r

=

-0.56,

p

=

0.03,

two-tailed):

Table 1.

Walking speed

and


Because

larger

cities have

higher

proportions

of

people

that

walk

fast and

lower proportions of people that walk slowly, differences in age- and sex-

composition

could

perhaps already

explain

the faster

walking speeds

observed in

larger

cities.

Using

the data on

age

and

sex of the

people

measured in

each

city,

and

using

the

average age-

and

sex-specific

walk-

ing

speeds

calculated

previously,

a

demographic walking

speed

VD

was

calculated;

this is

the

average

walking

speed predicted

for each

city




6/8

THE

PACE

OF LIFE

-

REANALYSED

81

1.6

-

male

w

1.5_

*

female

E

1.4

-

U

1.3-

'

1.2-

o

1.1-

i

I I I

60

age (years)

Fig.

2.

Average walking

speed

of

men and women

of different

age

classes.

*

observed

o

expected

1.5

-

@ 0

0

o obs.

lo·

_

_ ,

__

exp.

Q.

'

1.3-

100

100

1 0 1

1000 10000 100000

1000000

population

size

Fig.

3.

Walkingspeed

observed and

predicted

from

age-

and

sex-composition.

according

to its

age-

and

sex-composition

and

independent

of

its size

(Table

1).

Demographic

walking

speed

was

positively

correlated with

population

size,

indicating

that

differences

in

the

age

and sex

composition

of

the

cities do

already

explain higher

walkings

speed

in

larger

cities. The

regression

equation

was

VD

=

0.02

x

logpop

+

1.29

(r = 0.502, p = 0.07, two-tailed).

The

unexpectedly

low

walking

speed

at the

city

of Berlin

apparently

is

caused

by

an

atypically

high

proportion

of

older

people

and an

atypically

low

proportion

of

younger

people

(see

Table

1).

Observed

walking

speed

V and

demographic

walking

speed

VD

were

positively

correlated with r

=

0.572

and

p

=

0.032,

two-tailed.

The

partial




7/8

82

WIRTZ

& RIES

correlation coefficient between

city

size and

observed

walking

speed

was

0.346

(p

>

0.10,

two-tailed),

i.e.

considerably

smaller

than

the

partial

correlation coefficient of 0.579 (p <.05, two-tailed) between demo-

graphic

walking speed

and observed

walking speed.

Figure

3

compares

the

walking

speeds

measured

in

the

14

cities and the

demographic

walking speeds

calculated

for

these

places.

The

slopes

of

the two

regression

lines were

compared

by analysis

of covariance.

They

do

not differ

significantly (p

>

0.95).

Discussion

BORNSTEIN & BORNSTEIN

(1976)

measured the

walking speeds

of,

on aver-

age, only

20

people per

city.

Even had

they

thought

of

it,

they

would have

been unable to test for the influence

of

the

age

composition

of the

population

on

walking speed

in

their data.

We

have shown

that

-

in

our

data

set,

at least

-

the

populations

sampled

in

different cities did

not

have

the same

age

structure.

Apparently, systematic

differerences

in

the

age

structure of the

14

cities observed

by

us

already

explain higher walking

speed in larger cities.

The variance

in

measured

walking

speed

is much

greater

than that in

demographic walking speed. Clearly,

other

factors

than

age

and sex

influence

walking

speed.

In

the towns of

Varese,

Colmar, Laveno,

and

Ponte

Tresa

walking speed

was

much lower

than

that

predicted

from

population

composition.

A

more leasure life

style

in Latin

towns than

in German

ones is

one

of

several

speculations

one

might

put

foreward as a

possible

reason.

Another factor whose

influence would

have to be consid-

ered in future studies is body size: in the northern hemisphere, southern

populations

of

Homo

sapiens

tend to

be smaller than

northern

ones and

therefore

probably

have shorter

stride

lengths.

In

the

study

by

BORNSTEIN

& BORNSTEIN

(1976),

small

towns

were

predominantly

from

southern

areas

and

large

cities

predominantly

from

northern areas

-

the

possible

reason for a much

larger

regression

coefficient

in

the

equation

found

by

BORNSTEIN& BORNSTEIN

(1976).

In

addition to

differences

in

age

structure,

sex

composition,

and

aver-

age body size, psychological phenomena such as the one envisioned by

BORNSTEIN & BORNSTEIN

(1976)

could

influence the

average

walking speed

of

pedestrians.

The

observation

that there was no

positive

correlation

between

walking speed

and

momentary density (if any,

the trend was a

negative correlation)

argues against

the

particular

explanation

offered

by

BORNSTEIN

&

BORNSTEIN.

If

increased

walking speed

served

to

reduce




8/8

THE PACE

OF LIFE

-

REANALYSED

83

stimulatory

overload we

would

expect higher

walking speeds

at

higher

densities.

The regression of observed walking speed on population size and the

regression

of

walking

speed predicted

from

age

and

sex

composition

on

population

size

resulted

in

two

slightly

different lines

(Fig.

3).

The

slope

of

the curve

with the observed

walking

speed

is the

steeper

of the

two,

indicating

that there

might

be an

additional factor

correlating

positively

with

population

size.

The statistical

comparison

of

the

two

lines,

however,

showed that there is

a

97%

probability

of the

difference

between the

lines

being

a

chance

product.

At

present,

it

therefore seems

unnecessary

to

invoke additional factors other than age composition to explain the

differences

in

average walking

speeds

of

pedestrians.

References

BORNSTEIN,

. H.

(1979).

The

pace

of

life:

revisited.

-

Int.

J.

Psychol.

14,

p.

83-90.

-&

BORNSTEIN,

. G.

(1976).

The

pace

of

life.

-

Nature

259,

p.

557-559.

WALMSLEY,

.J.

&

LEWIS,

G.J. (1989).

The

pace

of

pedestrian

flows

in

cities.

-

Environ-

ment

and Behaviour

21,

p.

123-150.

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