Learning Resources

Ten Minutes Wide

Human Walking Capacities and the Experiential Quality of Campus Design

By: David Spooner

A review of 37 master plans reveals three main categories of design goals for campus walking paths.

From Volume 39 Number 4 | July–September 2011

Abstract: The study presented in this article examines human walking capacities to better understand how design of the physical environment affects the experiential quality along campus walks. The study centers on the idea of a quarter-mile (10-minute) walking radius, the variables encountered, and how these affect the perception of time and experiential quality. Data collected from 48undergraduate students who participated in six quarter-mile walks on the campus of The University of Georgia suggest that there is a positive correlation between experiential quality, the perception of time, and campus design.