Pedestrian behavior and perception in urban walking environments

Planning pedestrian environments requires assumptions about how pedestrians will respond to characteristics of the environment as they formulate and e nact their walking itineraries. As a consequence, most research interest in public environments focuses on behavior in relation to those characteristi cs. For example, there is a substantial body of descriptive and typological studies of pedestrian environments. Metric, geometric, and topological mod els have proved useful in characterizing density and direction of movement. The need to understand the mechanism of choice has prompted microscale and laboratory-based research on exploratory spatial behavior within walking d istricts. Studies of behavior in relation to comfort, the way in which imag es of places impinge on choices, and how dynamic and serial experience of t he city affects individual itineraries have all developed as specialized fi elds of understanding. In general, studies of pedestrian environment dynami cs have both diversified and multiplied as its systems and methodologies ar e adapted for planning other environments.