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A study from Britain finds that pedestrians in cities across the world are walking 10% faster compared to research from the 1990s. And, somehow, the Big Apple only ranked 8; #1 - Singapore, #2 - Copenhagen, #3 - Madrid. Here's the methodology:
Researchers in each city found a busy street with a wide pavement that was flat, free from obstacles, and sufficiently uncrowded to allow people to walk at their maximum speed...Teams with stop watches timed how long it took 35 men and women to walk along a 60ft stretch of pavement....We'd love to know what 60 feet of sidewalk was measured - and it doesn't sound as though researchers ignored tourists (telltale signs: Clumping, bright backpacks, dazed looks, maps in hands).They only monitored adults who were on their own, and ignored anyone conducting a mobile phone conversation or struggling with shopping bags.
But it's not as though walking faster is a good thing. Psychology professor Richard Wiseman told Reuters, "The pace of life in our major cities is now much quicker than before. We just have this feeling that we should be producing and active all of the time. That is fuelled by the email, text, mobile phone culture. But there has to be an upper limit, because if this trend continues, we will arriving places before we have set off." And according to his website, the study from the 1990s "demonstrated that pedestrians’ speed of walking provides a reliable measure of the pace of life in a city, and that people in fast-moving cities are less likely to help others and have higher rates of coronary heart disease." Eep, but walking on the sidewalk, four people wide, is not cool.
A list of the cities measured is after the jump. And try out this fun quiz from Richard Wiseman - it measures your pace of life.
Photograph of people on the sidewalk across from Rockefeller Center by tmcdaily on Flickr
FASTEST
1) Singapore (Singapore); 10.55:
2) Copenhagen (Denmark); 10.82:
3) Madrid (Spain); 10.89:
4) Guangzhou (China): 10.94:
5) Dublin (Ireland); 11.03:
6) Curitiba (Brazil); 11.13:
7) Berlin (Germany); 11.16:
8) New York (United States of America); 12.00:
9) Utrecht (Netherlands); 12.04:
10) Vienna (Austria); 12.06:
11) Warsaw (Poland); 12.07:
12) London (United Kingdom); 12.17:
13) Zagreb (Croatia); 12.20:
14) Prague (Czech Republic); 12.35:
15) Wellington (New Zealand); 12.62:
16) Paris (France); 12.65:
17) Stockholm (Sweden); 12.75:
18) Ljubljana (Slovenia); 12.76:
19) Tokyo (Japan); 12.83:
20) Ottawa (Canada); 13.72:
21) Harare (Zimbabwe); 13.92:
22) Sofia (Bulgaria); 13.96:
23) Taipei (Taiwan): 14.00:
24) Cairo (Egypt); 14.18:
25) Sana’a (Yemen); 14.29:
26) Bucharest (Romania); 14.36:
27) Dubai (United Arab Emirates); 14.64:
28) Damascus (Syria); 14.94:
29) Amman (Jordan); 15.95:
30) Bern (Switzerland); 17.37:
31) Manama (Bahrain); 17.69:
32) Blantyre (Malawi); 31.60.
SLOWEST
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Pseudoscience triumphs again!
so walking fast... leads to coronary disease? then I guess running makes you melt like you just opened the Ark of the Covenant... thanks Brits! (gets on Rascal scooter)
People would walk faster if they put away their phones. Nothing more annoying than trying to get around an idiot walking slowly and meandering down the sidewalk because they are staring into their phone or worse, tapping an email on a Blackberry.
Next most annoying are people that walk five across on a narrow sidewalk and won't make room for people walking the other direction. It would be nice if people stayed to the right, like they were driving. But then Americans are pretty retarded about driving as well. These people would be dead if they stayed in the left lane on the Autobahn or Autostrada.
So does that mean that if we go to Times Square and walk behind the gaggles of tourists at 0.3mph, we're more likely to have less heart disease and help people?
Don't forget ipods. They steal attentional resources that would otherwise be used for spatial awareness. These people are the worst offenders.
I'm probably the normal, irritated New Yorker who too often finds herself behind pedestrians moving agonizingly slowly, but I can personally confirm that Dubliners walk faster than New Yorkers from a recent trip there where I practically had to jog to keep up with Irish friends. Who would have thought.
I'd rather get heart disease
"demonstrated that pedestrians’ speed of walking provides a reliable measure of the pace of life in a city, and that people in fast-moving cities are less likely to help others and have higher rates of coronary heart disease."
The quote says nothing about walking fast causing heart disease. It implies that cities that have a fast-paced lifestyle also show greater incidence of greater heart disease. It never discussed causation. Read it right, dumbasses.
the best part of being big is: people move out of my way when it becomes clear that I am not moving ... barrelling through crowds ... the startled look on the blackberry girl after she, her massive bag and her venti machiato swirlachino slams into my shoulder.
I can't believe it. I'm from Singapore, living in NYC now. New Yorkers definitely walk faster than Singaporeans. Not only that, the intense heat & humidity in Singapore tends to make people move slower. I don't know how accurate this is. I've been to Tokyo too..there's no way they are down in #19.
35 people sure isn't statistically significant.
I think the coronary disease mention is related to people in cities being more stressed out by work and having higher blood pressure, etc.
Yesterday, I was walking near a lady pushing a stroller. She was on the phone, holding the cell in her left hand. When I tried to pass her on a narrower stretch of sidewalk, she overcompensated her one-handed stroller-steering by pushing her kid into the street. She gave me a dirty look, and while I felt bad for her kid, she *could* have had two hands on the stroller.
People do walk fast in Guangzhou.
When did they do this research. In winter people in Ottawa tend to walk fast because it's cold.
but why is everyone always walking slower than me!?
Perhaps caning has something to do with the walking speed in Singapore.
" 'They only monitored adults who were on their own, and ignored anyone conducting a mobile phone conversation or struggling with shopping bags.'
We'd love to know what 60 feet of sidewalk was measured - and it doesn't sound as though researchers ignored tourists (telltale signs: Clumping..."
If one of the telltale signs of tourists is that they clump together, then they were not measured because, as the quote says, they only measured adults who were walking alone.
Walking fast, or Slow makes no real difference if you don't take care of yourself . You wonder why people here are so out of shape ? It's because they don't eat right, or exercise regularly . It's true what health experts have been saying for decades about Fatty foods,& Cholesterol . The shits no good for the body ! I really hate stories like this because usually the answers to the facts don't follow the after affects of the problem . Walking is not the answer to this problem . A healthy lifestyle is the key to a healty body .
the fast-moving new yorker is a myth. i imagine it was once true but i'm stuck behind meandering buffoons almost every day -- and they're not all tourists.
What's with the Malawi outlier? 31.6 seconds to walk 60 ft???
I do notice people move significantly slower here than they did 7 years ago when I moved here.
The world IS different since 9/11!!!
I was walking on washington and little west 12th on the 16th of april and there were 3 people set up at either end of the block with a bunch of stock watches and the like...