Exploring Walking Behavior in the Streets of New York City Using Hourly Pedestrian Count Data

Jae Min Lee

doi:10.3390/su12197863

Abstract

This paper explores hourly automated pedestrian count data of seven locations in New York City to understand pedestrian walking patterns in cities. Due to practical limitations, such patterns have been studied conceptually; few researchers have explored walking as a continuous, long-term activity. Adopting an automated pedestrian counting method, we documented and observed people walking on city streets and found that unique pedestrian traffic patterns reflect land use, development intensity, and neighborhood characteristics. We observed a threshold of thermal comfort in outdoor activities. People tend to seek shade and avoid solar radiation stronger than 1248 Wh/m2 at an average air temperature of 25 °C. Automated collection of detailed pedestrian count data provides a new opportunity for urban designers and transportation planners to understand how people walk and to improve our cities to be less dependent on the automobile.

Highlights

Walking is receiving belated attention across the urban planning disciplines such as in public health, transportation, real estate, and urban design
The patterns from automated pedestrian counts reflect the characteristics of the observed street
Starting in June, the number of people walking on these sidewalks increased, especially at 7th Avenue, whereas the other streets maintained similar traffic

Summary

Introduction

Walking is receiving belated attention across the urban planning disciplines such as in public health, transportation, real estate, and urban design. Researchers have found that promoting walking and building walkable communities have significant effects on healthy living, energy savings, and enjoying the urban lifestyle [1,2,3,4,5]. Based on these studies, walking seems to be an essential element in creating a sustainable society. The purpose and intensity of walking are heavily influenced by weather, microclimate, sense of safety, and physical environment. In urban design, walking is concerned with favorable environments, either shaded or sunlit, consisting of clean, pleasant, safe, and human-scaled pathways and sidewalks

Methods

Results

Conclusion