Human Movement Behaviour in Urban Spaces: Implications for the Design and Modelling of Effective Pedestrian Environments

Abstract

Despite a burgeoning research effort directed at the design and modelling of effective urban spaces for pedestrians, remarkably little is known about how pedestrians actually negotiate urban spaces. This paper reports the results of a video-based observational study aimed at exploring: (1) individuals' movement preferences within uncluttered environments, in particular: (a) desired walking speed, (b) microscopic position preferences, and (c) interpersonal distances between companions while walking; and (2) the ways in which these variables might be influenced by the various personal, situational, and environmental factors that characterise the context in which pedestrians move. The microscopic movement trajectories of 2613 participants were investigated in a covert, video-based observational study of three mixed-use (residential/retail) urban environments close to the city centres of Edinburgh and York, United Kingdom. Age, gender, level of mobility, group size, time of day, and location were found to have significant effects on movement preferences across the range of locations studied. We concluded that a number of influential factors affect how humans negotiate urban spaces, and suggested how these factors may be taken into account in attempts to design and model effective urban spaces for pedestrians.

The Application of Visual Environmental Economics in the Study of Public Preference and Urban Greenspace

“…Such environments have been tested in previous studies (for example, de Kort et al, 2003) the results of which suggest a capability for conveying an enhanced sense of landscape experience compared with those of static images and photographs and thus a role to play in research and information exchange with respect to changes in green and open spaces. It is likely that the experience of movement through an environment, and the movement of objects within that environment, may play an important part in perception and the formulation of choices (Bishop et al, 2001, Willis et al, 2004. Therefore, future research could consider the extent to which landscape valuation studies, including choice experiments and contingent rating studies (e.g.…”

Body size and ability to pass through a restricted space: Observations from 3D scanning of 210 male UK offshore workers

“…In such cases where secular trend in body size, the principle of design for sustainability becomes paramount (Nadadur & Parkinson 2013) in order to mitigate the risks of the ill-effects for workers, which need to consider dynamic as well as static spatial needs. Urban planning uses evaluative tools described in Willis et al (2004) in designed spaces which relate person-flow to a range of factors, including effective corridor width, group size, crowd density etc. They also noted previous work on 'buffer zones' between people and buildings, street furniture and other individuals.…”

Application of Geospatial Analysis and Augmented Reality Visualization in Indoor Advertising

“…Age, gender, level of mobility, group size, time of day, and location were found to have significant effects on movement preferences across the range of locations studied (Willis et al, 2004 (Malczewski, 1999;Ying et al, 2007;Sadeghi-Niaraki et al, 2010). In this analysis, population density, moving speed, and angles of view for weighting was considered.…”