A Random Walk down Four Mile Run

 

As humans, we have agency over our actions and the possible choices one makes on a day to day basis are almost incalculable. As such one would imagine that our day-to-day routines would be difficult to predict, this does not seem to be the case as humans fall into predictable patterns of commuting, as our locations now can be tracked via the smart phones in our pocket, different patterns are emerging of human movement.  

A 2021 study using cell-phone data was published in the Journal Nature concluded that the micro-structure of Central Place Theorem was largely correct and that most people had a limit to how far they were willing to travel to purchase goods. (Schlapfer 2021). This results in people making trips to nearby destinations rather than making trips to further destinations all things equal. One would not pass a grocery store to go to a grocery store further away if both stores were comparable.

I conform to the above pattern and take a daily trip around the neighborhood and in to the local center of commerce (Shirlington) to buy a coffee at my local coffee shop. I am friendly with my local barista TJ and he often asks how my child is doing, or takes a look as I almost always have him in tow when getting a coffee. Since my son is still in a stroller I am constrained by the availability of travel paths that will be safe enough to take a baby down with a stroller. This is made easier by my neighborhood which is near multiple bike paths and has a robust network of sidewalks. 

While my neighborhood was one of Arlington's historically African-American neighborhoods, and historically lower income for the area, it does not suffer from some of the issues other historically low income neighborhoods do such as being a food desert or having no or limited public transportation options. The local village center had a Harris Teeter supermarket and Shirlington is a major bus hub as well as the aforementioned bike paths.  
 
from Schlaper 2021 showing people travel locally if possible. 

  


From (Frank 2021) showing how movement can be affected by income


Frank, A. (2021, May 6). How cell phone data can help redesign cities. Big Think. https://bigthink.com/13-8/cell-phone-data-redesign-cities/


Schläpfer, M., Dong, L., O’Keeffe, K., Santi, P., Szell, M., Salat, H., Anklesaria, S., Vazifeh, M., Ratti, C., & West, G. B. (2021). The universal visitation law of human mobility. Nature, 593(7860), 522–527. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03480-9

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