Quantifying the Change in Pedestrian Flows Following the Conversion of Traffic Lanes into Walkable Pathways

While improving the urban landscape of cities is an objective aimed by most city governments around the world, improving the urban landscape implies investments which may be below other city expenses with higher priorities. Pedestrianization, which is increasingly popular among urban planners, refers to converting traffic lanes exclusive for cars into pedestrian only pathways, and may fit into this kind of interventions, with a lower level of priority below topics like security within the criminal sphere, or utilities supply. In this work the case of New York City is analyzed, where high quality permanent pedestrian counting systems exist, and which include a wide spectrum of longitudinal data. The analysis includes a comparison between a treatment and a control group of pedestrian counters, defined by their closeness to an intervention area. The outcomes in terms of change in pedestrian volume flows are measured, considering the control group as the counterfactual of the intervention. After the analysis, a project proposal is presented for the city of Monterrey, Mexico. 5 strategic streets are chosen for a theoretical pedestrianization, and some are prioritized based on some urban indicators, considering some findings from the research study.