The Impact of University Campus Spatial Organisation on Pedestrian Speed: A Comparison between the Old and New Campuses of Sulaimani University

Abstract

Walkable university campuses require comprehensive planning and design that considers the campus as a whole, which means that buildings and the surrounding environment should not be segmented from a walkability point of view. Without considering the walkability criterion, the spatial organisation of the teaching buildings on university campuses may negatively impact pedestrian speed. This paper outline a comparative study of the old and new campuses of Sulaimani University, which have different types of spatial organisation, to demonstrate the impact of campus layout design on pedestrian speed. The aim is to show how university campus design and spatial organisation type affect pedestrian speed and determine the best type of campus layout design from a walkability point of view. For the empirical study, data were collected through video recordings and observing pedestrian speed between 8:00 am and 9:00 am for 15 days on both campuses. The recorded data were then transformed into numerical values such as speed, and different types of walking. In a second step, data about physical characteristics of campusesdesignwere collected, such as walkway length, width and level, and number of pedestrian walkway intersections.Finally, using multiple linear regression analysis, a mathematical model was designed to test campus spatial organisation on pedestrian speed. In this way, comparing the results for the campuses, the findings reveal that campus layout design and walkway characteristics affect pedestrian speed with different impact ratios. The results indicate the best spatial organisation type for walkable campuses.