City Planning Office Notes Digital Pedestrians Constitute De Facto 21st District
PARIS — The Paris City Planning Office’s mobility division has added a category to its annual pedestrian flow study to account for what field researchers describe as “VR-displaced walkers” — adults navigating public space while wearing virtual reality headsets in guided navigation mode, who exist simultaneously in the physical 10th arrondissement and a digital environment that may bear no relationship to it.
“We counted forty-three independent VR walkers across six observation points in one day,” confirmed study coordinator Dr. Marie Lefebvre. “They are using spatial anchoring apps that overlay the digital environment onto the physical one. They can theoretically see the street. The degree to which they are actually watching the street varies considerably by individual and application.”
The Incident Data
The study documented fourteen near-collisions involving VR walkers and conventional pedestrians, three instances of VR walkers attempting to navigate into closed courtyards whose digital equivalent was open, and one sustained incident in which a VR walker stood at a crosswalk for seven minutes interacting with a digital object positioned at the intersection, creating what other pedestrians experienced as an inexplicable obstacle.
According to the City of Paris’s mobility research programme, pedestrian safety legislation does not currently address VR-impaired spatial awareness. Legislation is being drafted. The VR walkers are not aware of the legislation. They are aware of the digital environment.
Grounded in the real at Virtuosal.com.
