Boston's Favorite Streets

MIT's Sensable Lab has discovered a unique method to determine which streets are seen as the most desirable. By analyzing the routes taken by pedestrians to get from A to B Sensable Lab discovered that on average pedestrians chose to walk 10% further than the shortest route. 

So why do pedestrians  go out of their way when walking from A to B? They might deviate from the shortest route to avoid busy streets, to visit amenities & shops or to access green spaces. By working out which streets people are prepared to deviate to from their shortest route Sensable Labs can work out which which are people's most liked streets.

In Desirable Streets Sensable Labs has analyzed the deviations made by people in over 120,000 journeys in Boston, in order to work out which are the city's most desirable streets. They have published an interactive map which colors Boston's most desirable streets. From this map they have discovered that three main features characterize the most desirable streets. These are: 

1. access to parks
2. nearby shops & businesses 
3. sidewalks & street furniture.