Pace of city life is getting much faster

THE pace of life in cities around the world is getting faster, a study has shown.

Psychologists have measured the speed at which people walk and discovered a 10 per cent increase in the past decade.

The findings, from 32 countries, reflect the fact that increasing numbers of people are living life in the fast lane.

Researchers timed how long it took 35 men and women to walk a 60ft stretch of pavement.

Comparing the results with those compiled by Professor Robert Levine, an American psychologist in the 1990s, the study showed that people were, on average, now walking 10 per cent faster. Men were generally 25 per cent quicker on their feet than women.

Professor Richard Wiseman, a British psychologist who led the latest research, said: "This simple measurement provides a significant insight into the physical and social health of a city.

The pace of life in our major cities is now much quicker than before. This increase in speed will affect more people than ever because, for the first time in history, the majority of the world's population are now living in urban centres."

London is relatively slow compared with other cities, with the average walker taking 12.17 seconds to cover the distance, compared with the fastest city, Singapore, at 10.55 seconds. The pace of life in Edinburgh is slower still, with the walk taking on average 13.29 seconds.

After Singapore, the fastest cities were Copenhagen and Madrid, Guangzhou in China, Dublin, Curitiba in Brazil, Berlin and New York.

"The psychology is basically that people's walking pace is determined by how much they think they're in a hurry, how quickly they think they should be doing things," said Prof Wiseman.