A centrality measure for grid street network considering sequential route choice behaviour

Abstract

This study proposes a novel centrality measure for a grid network based on pedestrians’ sequential route choices, which we call sequential choice betweenness centrality (SCBC). Although conventional centralities are popular tools for urban network analysis, we must be aware of their meaning in the context of urban planning. This study reinterprets the centralities at the point of pedestrian flow. We then formulate the pedestrian flow distribution based on sequential route choice and develop the SCBC as a function of the probability of going straight at an intersection. The sensitivity analysis shows the probability of minimising the difference between the SCBC and existing centralities while revealing the numerical and spatial features of the SCBC. The more biased the grid proportion, the less similar the SCBC is to the existing ones. Moreover, the SCBC tends to be larger than conventional centralities around the corner nodes of the grid network. The probability parameterises the SCBC to go straight and is related to the pedestrian’s environmental cognition level. This parameterisation enabled us to adapt to the expected pedestrian attribution and perform an in-depth analysis of street networks.