KarunaNews Story

Some places are simply nicer to walk through than others. But what exactly makes a place walkable is a matter of debate. To understand what makes a place walkable, the architecture firm Perkins Eastman combined qualitative pedestrian preference surveys, visual streetscape imagery from Google Street View, artificial intelligence, and computer vision to identify the type and mix of urban design elements that most influence people’s walking habits. People prefer to walk in places with a higher proportion of several basic streetscape elements, including benches, shade trees, sidewalks, and crosswalks. The study was based in the Kowloon district of Hong Kong, where a decennial survey collects detailed information from more than 100,000 pedestrians. The analysis led to a set of urban design guidelines that suggest ways of making more spaces more walkable.