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Author(s): Peter Wirtz and Gregor Ries
Source: Behaviour, Vol. 123, No. 1/2 (Nov., 1992), pp. 77-83
Published by: BRILL
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4535062 .
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Behaviour
123 (1-2) 1992, E. J. Brill, Leiden
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 Humanethologie der Max Planck Gesellschaft and in the Wickler department of the Max Planck
Institut fur Verhaltensphysiologie.
78
WIRTZ& RIES
measurements from six further cities, confirming the initial result. The
interpreted the higher walking speed of
psychologists M. & H. BORNSTEIN
in
cities
as
a
response to stimulatory overload: "increased
people
larger
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
& BORNSTEIN
Following the procedure described by 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, temperatures were lower than in BORNSTEIN'S
study (between 0 and 10C versus 24C). 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,
Berlin
Hannover
Karlsruhe
Freiburg
Basel
Varese
Colmar
Lahr
Emmendingen
Waldkirch
population
N subjects
%20-30males
%>60
VD
2157695
505875
268309
185669
175000
89146
66694
34566
23653
18879
1033
985
291
1258
904
253
326
293
502
489
1.36
1.46
1.46
1.39
1.44
1.36
1.35
1.40
1.41
1.35
8.02
24.99
25.78
12.71
9.49
10.68
8.88
12.28
7.76
4.70
23.15
6.22
14.10
16.89
14.95
9.90
17.78
12.60
17.73
22.53
1.37
1.44
1.43
1.40
1.39
1.41
1.40
1.42
1.39
1.37
Bad Krozingen
12084
275
1.33
1.10
40.37
1.32
Breisach
Laveno
PonteTresa
10021
8830
5200
274
123
253
1.48
1.28
1.22
5.73
5.68
4.32
23.00
28.47
29.66
1.38
1.36
1.37
V = average walkingspeed of pedestrians(ms-1)%20-30 males = percent 20-30 year old males in the
population;%>60= percentof people olderthan 60 yearsin the population;VD = walkingspeedpredicted
from age- and sex-composition.
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
(BORNSTEIN& BORNSTEIN, 1976;
1979, this study, plus a value for the German city Offenburg
BORNSTEIN,
1.8-
1.6 14
E
E
.'
IC
1.4- V0
1.2-_
-
1.0
1.0 --
0.80.6 -
100
1000
10000
100000
population size
1000000
Fig. 1. The relation between average walking speed of pedestrians and city size.
80
composition.
composition.
Because larger cities have higher proportions of people that walk fast and
lower proportions of people that walk slowly, differences in age- and sexcomposition 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 walking speeds calculated previously, a "demographic walking speed" VD was
calculated; this is the average walking speed predicted for each city
81
1.6
1.5_
male
* female
1.4 U
1.3-
'o
1.21.1-
<20
-30
-40
-50
-60
>60
age (years)
Fig. 2. Averagewalkingspeed of men and women of differentage classes.
* observed
1.5 -
o expected
@0
_
Q.
'
, lo
__
obs.
exp.
1.3100
100
1000
10000
100000 1000000
population size
VD = 0.02 x logpop
=
0.07, two-tailed).
p
+ 1.29
82
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 <
0.05, two-tailed) between demoand
observed
walking speed.
graphic 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
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 considered 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 average body size, psychological phenomena such as the one envisioned by
BORNSTEIN & BORNSTEIN (1976) could influence
walking
speed served
to reduce
83