Whether it’s a leisurely stroll along the River, a power-shopping walk down the Mall, or the walk home – walking is a big part of the everyday life of cities. Ever noticed as a tourist how the unspoken social rules and speeds of walking can define the ‘vibe’ of a city? Recently the British Council conducted research about pedestrians in 109 countries. It examined the speed of people walking on city streets, believing that walking speed is reflective of the ‘pace of life’. A very fast pace of life is indicative of a stressful society that can prove unhealthy. The average city dweller is now walking an average 10% faster than they did in the early 1990’s. The ‘fastest’ walking city was Singapore, followed by Copenhagen, Madrid, Guangzhou, Dublin, Curitiba, Berlin, New York, Utrecht and Vienna.
How, when, where we walk in cities is also a big reflection of how successful a place is. You don’t need to be an urban designer to understand good places, we all instinctively know it even if we can’t quite pinpoint it – think about your walking routes about how you walk to avoid certain dodgy areas, take certain shortcuts and how some streets and places just feel nicer than others to walk through. Designing great pedestrian experiences is all about facilitating what the legendary Jane Jacobs called the “sidewalk ballet” and the more walkable our cities are than surely the more livable they are.
