Comments/Criticisms on Average Walking Speed

Today, we took some time to revisit the Pace of Life study while thinking about our methodology section. We found an article with useful criticisms, many of which we had already considered.

This article, "Why People in Cities Walk Fast" by Eric Jaffe only discusses the walking speed portion of the study in full depth. However, readers in the comment section also address other areas of the study.

The article can be read here, and also appears in

the links section of our website.

Some comments from this section of the article include:

• • Different walking speeds for different areas of the city

    • Comfort level

    • Trying to make it through all of the walk signals at intersections

• Different walking speeds based on time of day and place a person is travelling to

  • Different walking speeds based on distance a person must travel

    • If things are more spread out, will need to walk faster

There are also comments that look at other aspects such as:

• • Taller people take longer strides

  • "Time is money"

  • Control of how time is used

Overall, these comments made our group think about the methodology section of the Pace of Life

study. More specifically, it made us revisit our measurement of walking speed. To address these comments and criticisms, we made a few changes to Levine's study.

In our experimentation, we will take measurements in 4 different locations throughout Venice of Venetians and tourists. At each location, we will take the measurements at different times of the day: 8:30 AM, 12:00 PM, and 8:30 PM. The multiple locations and multiple times will allow us to better understand how Venetians and tourists value their travel time differently during the different parts of the day. At 8:30 AM, we predict a fast walking speed. Venetians are on their way to work and tourists are on the way to start their day. By 12:00 PM, many Venetians will be going home for lunch at a less hurried pace than the previous measurements. Tourists will be meandering looking for lunch as well, although possibly still in a hurry to make the most of their time in Venice. By 8:30 PM, we expect to see the lowest walking speeds from both groups. Venetians aren't in any particular hurry- maybe to get home for dinner or they might just be out for a relaxing walk. Tourists are returning to hotels, looking for dinner and ending their day.

Another change based on comments is the distance measured. Levine used 60 ft. Comments suggest that this may not be a good representation. For this reason, we will test at at least one location measurements for 100 ft. We will compare results from the 60 ft and 100 ft to determine if the 60 ft is relevant. If needed, we will conduct this measurement multiple times. This will help us to understand the impact of measurements over a longer sample range.

Overall, these changes to the measurements of average walking speed will help us to develop more conclusions and comparisons. We will still conduct the methodology used by Levine in order for accurate comparison to other countries however we will use our methodology in order to obtain a more accurate Pace of Life for Venice.