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Why People in Cities Walk Fast (2012)

citylab.com

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Re: Why People in Cities Walk Fast (2012)

#11

Post by mmPzf »

I remember reading this. I also remember reading a compelling argument that the conclusions drawn by those studies were wrong, and that the actual cause for the difference in walking speed is age. People in big cities tend to be younger (due to urban migration, and whatnot), and with lower age comes faster walking speed.

I can't remember where that argument was made, and I never fact checked it, so take it with a grain of salt. However, it seems much more convincing than the 'pace of life' argument.

Re: Why People in Cities Walk Fast (2012)

#12

Post by xyzzy123 »

I think it would be interesting to see not just the average but also the distribution of walking speeds. I posit the effect might just be “number of people walking to/from work or arrival time sensitive activity.”, with “average age” and “adoption of mass transit” as significant factors.

(Mass transit because you’re more likely to see commuters! Outside big cities you will measure fewer people walking to work, because they drove).

So, strongly correlated with economic activity and cultural factors around timeliness, but no deep psychological explanation required.

I walk fast in the city when I’m going to/from work or trying to get somewhere on my break.

I don’t walk as fast on the weekends, and tourists in the city certainly seem to be in no particular hurry (at least, it seems that way when stuck behind them clogging up the footpath).

Re: Why People in Cities Walk Fast (2012)

#13

Post by TomMarius »

baxtr wrote: post #7

I don’t buy this. It seems they’ve tested one potential explanation only, GDP. What about the size of the city per se or mean walking distant between objects? As example: Berlin is a city which is not compact and quite spread out. What if people just need to walk quicker there to make it to work on time? I am not saying this is true. But I want to make a point that you could come up with other things to test easily.

Why would people go fast in dense cities, then?

"Interestingly, Wiseman clocked some of the quickest feet in Singapore, China, and Brazil — perhaps a reflection of these rising economies."

Re: Why People in Cities Walk Fast (2012)

#14

Post by TeMPOraL »

culturestate wrote: post #10
ken wrote: post #8

I'm surprised they don't mention the obvious practical reason. I walk faster when I'm in the city because I have farther to go. Last week, I was working in a smaller city 30 miles out. So I drove, and out in the suburbs, I can park pretty close to where I'm going. Today, I was working in the city, a mile from home. At that distance, there's a good chance I wouldn't be able to find parking any closer to where I'm goin…

> I'm surprised they don't mention the obvious practical reason. I walk faster when I'm in the city because I have farther to go. I tend to walk slower when I'm going a longer distance because I want to avoid arriving at my destination drenched in sweat, although I suppose this could be driven partially by the fact that I live in a tropical city (Hong Kong).

> I suppose this could be driven partially by the fact that I live in a tropical city (Hong Kong).

Most likely it is. I live in Poland, and there I can walk very fast without visibly sweating, except on the hottest days of the summer, and during winter iff I wear too thick clothes.

Been to HK/Shenzhen in early winter, and what you have there then seems equivalent to our summers :).

Re: Why People in Cities Walk Fast (2012)

#15

Post by hnruss »

I walk faster in the city because there are more people who are walking faster and if I walk slower, they will walk around me, which is more annoying in the city due to the closeness by which people walk. If people kept a respectable distance behind me regardless of my pace, and didn’t try to push past me, I probably wouldn’t walk faster in the city.

Re: Why People in Cities Walk Fast (2012)

#17

Post by burfog »

Muggers consistently choose targets based on how they walk. This is shown to be the case even if other physical information is hidden during the research:

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20131104-how-muggers-size-up...

To avoid attack, move with "synchrony and energy", with purpose. The city people are doing exactly this.

Re: Why People in Cities Walk Fast (2012)

#18

Post by [deleted] »

TomMarius wrote: post #13
baxtr wrote: post #7

I don’t buy this. It seems they’ve tested one potential explanation only, GDP. What about the size of the city per se or mean walking distant between objects? As example: Berlin is a city which is not compact and quite spread out. What if people just need to walk quicker there to make it to work on time? I am not saying this is true. But I want to make a point that you could come up with other things to test easily.

Why would people go fast in dense cities, then? "Interestingly, Wiseman clocked some of the quickest feet in Singapore, China, and Brazil — perhaps a reflection of these rising economies."

[deleted]

Re: Why People in Cities Walk Fast (2012)

#19

Post by peterwwillis »

The whole thing seems like a hammer looking for a nail. It's clear from every study quoted that there were always multiple factors that changed the results, and they were trying to find one "overall" factor, but even that was limited.

For example, most of the "walking speed" measurements are done in "downtown locations". Most cities are not made up of downtown locations, downtown is one location in the city, so the measurements only indicate why people walk fast in downtown locations.

They also quote other factors that change the results, like environment, and culture. So basically the results change for any cities that aren't identical. And they're trying to use a national metric (GDP) to relate to walking speed in individual cities, when it's obvious that walking speed is going to relate more to local economic metrics, not national.

Re: Why People in Cities Walk Fast (2012)

#20

Post by dm33tri »

They walk faster but still slow. I'm amazed by how little they care for others. You can't cut them in front because they are fast and don't see you, you can't pass them from behind because they are slow and don't see you. (Same goes for many cyclists. Only car drivers seem to care about surroundings and their speed.)
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