Speaker
Description
Boulevards are widely recognized as urban features that encourage pedestrian movement due to their walkable design. However, despite their perceived role as pedestrian corridors, empirical evidence supporting this notion through actual pedestrian count data remains scarce. This study addresses this gap by leveraging mobile app-derived pedestrian data collected over time in Tel Aviv, Israel. The research examines pedestrian volumes in boulevards compared to other streets, considering temporal variations. The analysis is conducted at multiple spatial scales: city-wide analysis, neighbourhood-level analysis, and a detailed street-segment evaluation. Findings indicate that, at the city-scale, boulevards experience higher pedestrian volumes on weekdays, while weekend patterns show no significant differences across most seasons. The temporal role of boulevards within their immediate context varies; some consistently function as major pedestrian pathways within their neighbourhood, whereas others do so only during specific times, such as seasonal or weekly variations. In contrast, certain boulevards exhibit pedestrian volumes similar to or lower than adjacent streets. An examination of street attributes in boulevards with positive vs. negative association with walking compared to other streets reveals that physical characteristic and network centrality measures have a stronger association with street-level pedestrian volumes than land-use configurations. The study’s insights highlight boulevards' dynamic role and the need for urban planning strategies adapted to local conditions and scales.
| Keywords | boulevards; walking; pedestrian movement; mobile-app data; tempo-spatial analysis |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
