How weather and special events affect pedestrian activities: volume, space, and time

Abstract

Monitoring pedestrian activities and understanding influential factors such as weather conditions and special events are important issues for urban planners who endeavor to foster a vital and sustainable urban environment. This study quantified pedestrian activity by developing pedestrian distribution indexes (PDIs) for the aspects of volume, space, and time, to clarify how PDIs were affected by variations in situational factors related to weather and special events. Accordingly, the PDIs were related by volume and spatial and temporal inequalities to capture pedestrian activities in designated neighborhoods/districts, based on pedestrian count data from multiple locations. The specific effects of weather and special events were investigated based on the PDIs. The results confirmed that the indexes can be used to distinguish between spatial and temporal pedestrian distributions, even when total numbers are equal, thus providing critical information for planners. Furthermore, weather conditions were shown to influence pedestrian quantities, as well as their spatial and temporal distributions. Indeed, temperature and wind speed exacted non-linear effects on quantity and spatial inequality. Additionally, pedestrian distributions varied according to event type. Most events increased pedestrian numbers and expanded their coverage within downtown areas. However, these effects were limited to specific time periods. Thus, this study contributes to incorporating pedestrian distributions into spatial planning efforts by quantifying and evaluating the impacts of special events.