Abstract

Problem, research strategy, and findings

For decades, planners have been drawing circles of a quarter-mile radius to determine easily walkable distances for neighborhood and activity center planning. However, the radius of such “planners’ circles,” or walksheds, is often informed more by convention than by data. Here we examine walk-trip distances based on two national household travel surveys for the United States and Germany. We describe how walk distances vary by personal and trip characteristics, with a particular focus on trip purpose and pedestrian age. We conducted both univariate and multivariate analyses to compare patterns between the United States and Germany. The multivariate analysis examines quantile regressions for 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles to understand both typical and longer walk distances. The observed distances that people walk vary significantly across age groups, trip purposes, and national contexts. Leisure trips tend to be longest, whereas shopping and errand trips tend to be shortest. There are substantial differences between the United States and Germany in the average lengths of walks (mean/median walk distance: Germany, 1,490/980 m, 0.93/0.61 miles; United States, 970/530 m, 0.60/0.33 miles) and in the effects of independent variables. A significant portion of the variation in walk-trip distances between the United States and Germany is likely due to Germany’s higher quality walk environments.

Takeaway for practice

Rather than always resort to a quarter-mile or 400-m radius, planners can use the data here to customize the size of the planners’ circle, or walkshed, they draw to take into account the primary trip purposes and demographic segments under consideration. Moreover, planners can draw circles with a shorter radius corresponding to the 50th percentile to plan for the most common walk-trip lengths while also considering larger circles corresponding to the 75th and 90th percentiles to provide more supportive and safer pedestrian environments for longer trips.

中文翻译：

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重绘规划师圈

摘要

问题、研究策略和发现

几十年来，规划者一直在绘制半径为四分之一英里的圆圈，以确定社区和活动中心规划的轻松步行距离。然而，这种“规划者圈”或步行区的半径, 通常更多地是通过惯例而不是数据来提供信息。在这里，我们根据美国和德国的两项全国家庭旅行调查来检查步行距离。我们描述步行距离如何因个人和旅行特征而异，特别关注旅行目的和行人年龄。我们进行了单变量和多变量分析来比较美国和德国之间的模式。多变量分析检查第 50、第 75 和第 90 个百分位数的分位数回归，以了解典型步行距离和更长步行距离。观察到的人们步行的距离因年龄组、旅行目的和国家背景而异。休闲旅行往往最长，而购物和跑腿旅行往往最短。美国和德国在平均步行距离（平均/中位步行距离：德国，1,490/980 米，0.93/0.61 英里；美国，970/530 米，0.60/0.33 英里）和自变量的影响。美国和德国之间步行距离差异的很大一部分可能是由于德国的步行环境质量较高。

外卖练习

规划者不必总是求助于四分之一英里或 400 米的半径，而是可以使用此处的数据来自定义规划者圈子或步行区的大小，他们将主要旅行目的和正在考虑的人口统计细分考虑在内。此外，规划者可以绘制半径较短的圆圈，对应于第 50 个百分点，以规划最常见的步行路程长度，同时还考虑对应于第 75 个和第 90 个百分点的较大圆圈，为长途旅行提供更支持和更安全的行人环境。