Total length of pedestrian and pedestrian priority streets in 12 city centers (in meters)

The pedestrian networks of the 12 European cities surveyed are shown for comparison.

The individual networks are shown on the maps left, as well as the overall length of all the pedestrian streets. The bar graph above shows the total length of pedestrian streets plus pedestrian priority streets. This type of simple comparison presents some broad outlines, but requires many details and explanations to give a comprehensive overview of the differences of the policies of the various cities.

A number of cities, such as Hamburg, Birmingham, Oslo and Stockholm, have many indoor passages and arcades that supplement the pedestrian network. Other cities, such as Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Edinburgh, have very few. Furthermore, network length only tells part of the story. In a city like Copenhagen, pedestrian streets account for only about 33% of car-free square meters, while squares account for 67%.

For comparison, it should be noted that the most comprehensive pedestrian networks are to be found in German cities such as Freiburg (10 km), Nürnberg (9 km), Münich (7 km) and Stuttgart (6,9 km). (Source: Prof. Rolf Monheim, University of Bayreuth).