Singapore: Fastest walkers in the world

From airports to public housing, Singapore has achieved many firsts. Now, the bustling city has landed a less welcomed honour - its pace of life is literally the fastest. According to an international study by a British psychology professor, renowned for his quirky experiments, Singapore left 34 other cities including Madrid, Guangzhou, New York and London, trailing in its wake as the "fastest-moving city".

The results of Singapore's brisk walkers showed an increase of over 30% when compared to a similar study by an American academic in 1994, which had also established that pedestrians' speed of walking provides a reliable measure of the pace of life in a city. It also said that people in fast-moving cities have higher rates of coronary heart disease.

In the current test, European cities dominated the top 20 rankings, which included three Asian cities with Guangzhou coming in fourth while Tokyo ranked 19th. Overall, the pace of life in the world has risen by 10% between 1994 and now, with Asian cities registering the highest increase. "The pace of life in our major cities is now much quicker than before. This increase in speed will affect more people than ever, because for the first time in history, the majority of the world's population are now living in urban centres," said Prof Wiseman. He also told British newspaper The Times: "What happens is that as people get more stressed and hurried, they spend less time with their friends, they don't have time to exercise, they eat poorly and they drink and smoke more. It's these factors that build up to cause the risk."

- Here's an anecdote : there is a relatively long tunnel connecting the North-East Line and the East-West Line at the Outram interchange MRT station. A few years back, around 2000 or thereabouts, at my usual walking speed, I was faster than the average commuter in the tunnel. Just a few months back, when I happened to take the same route again, I realized that *everyone* was walking as fast as myself - or even faster.

Everyone was practically walking at "top speed". Any faster and they would be running! I was wondering what it would take to go faster. I concluded that I would *really* have to start running (I am the exact average height for my age group, so I'm neither short nor tall). Actually, there was a handful of people who were *really* RUNNING! I shrugged, slowed down and, observed the hordes in amazement.

Perhaps, a few years later, *everyone* will be RUNNING to switch trains at the Outram interchange tunnel. Or they will get stress-induced heart attacks before that. You know, whichever comes first.

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