Walking is the most basic and common way people get around, especially in cities.
But pedestrian movement or traffic in cities is rarely measured, especially during peak times, compared with vehicle traffic.
A new study published in February 2026 in the Nature Cities journal, “Spatial Distribution of Foot-traffic in New York City and Applications for Urban Planning” has assembled a routable dataset of sidewalks, crosswalks, and footpaths for all of New York City – a massive mapping project and the first complete model of pedestrian activity in any U.S. city.
The study is led by Andres Sevtsuk, an associate professor in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), and is a continuation of his work with colleagues to chart and model pedestrian traffic worldwide, from Melbourne to MIT’s Kendall Square neighborhood in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Sevtsuk and his team of MIT researchers developed the first comprehensive model of pedestrian activity in New York City. The model maps foot traffic across all sidewalks, crosswalks, and footpaths in NYC during peak periods, revealing where heavy pedestrian traffic occurs, surprising patterns in how people move around the city, and where they are most vulnerable to vehicle crashes.
Contrary to the notion of car-centricity in American cities, New York City is a city of walkers, with 41% of trips made on foot, compared with 28% by car. In the future, the city’s climate action plan envisions that by 2050, trips made on foot, by bike, or by public transit will account for 80% of trips.
While Manhattan is New York’s commercial and financial center and exhibits the highest pedestrian traffic – around 1700 pedestrians per sidewalk segment per hour during the evening peak of foot traffic – several thoroughfares outside Manhattan, like Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, also have comparable foot traffic levels. Despite this data, the study’s model revealed a bias in Manhattan’s policymaking due to a lack of metrics.
In 2020, the NYC Department of Transportation’s Pedestrian Mobility Plan developed a street classification type that serves as the basis for priority funding. Most of the streets with the highest classification type – “global corridors,” which receive priority funding for sidewalk widening, pedestrian plazas, and other improvements, were in Manhattan.
While many of these streets, like Broadway and Fifth Avenue, are important corridors, the study’s model shows that 26 streets in the outer boroughs had higher pedestrian volume than 75% of the “global corridors” designated by NYC DOT, yet they were categorized lower, meaning they won’t receive the treatment or investment they deserve.
While there is a strong chance that New York City will adopt the MIT model, given that officials are in regular contact with the MIT study team, the model can also be applied to other US cities and towns.
Sevtsuk hopes that other cities take note of the study and the available tools to analyze foot traffic in US cities, and address decarbonization and the disproportionate focus on car travel prevalent in 20th-century urban planning.
“I hope this can inspire other cities to invest in modeling foot traffic and mapping pedestrian infrastructure as well,” Sevtsuk says. “Very few cities make plans for pedestrian mobility or examine rigorously how future developments will impact foot-traffic. But they can. Our models serve as a test bed for making future change” (Dizikes, 2026).
Although the study focused on New York’s pedestrian traffic and infrastructure, its methodology and use of smart technologies, real-time monitoring, and dynamic modeling can be replicated in other cities.
This approach can help address inadequate pedestrian infrastructure and support integrated, multi-modal urban transportation planning.
Sources
Dizikes, T. (2026, February 26). I’m walking here! A new model maps foot traffic in New York City. MIT News. Retrieved from https://news.mit.edu/2026/new-model-maps-foot-traffic-new-york-city-0206
Brandon, E. (2026, February 23). MIT researchers just mapped New York City foot traffic for the first time ever. Fast Company. Retrieved from https://www.fastcompany.com/91492342/mit-foot-traffic-model-nyc
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