One of the most written-about phenomena in modern society is our fast-paced world. How can one measure the “pace of life,” and does this pace vary in different places around the world? 
In his very interesting book, A Geography of Time, social psychologist Robert Levine discusses how his sabbatical in Brazil brought him face-to-face with the different pace of life there than what he was used to at California State University in Fresno. Fascinated, he spent the next decade of his career studying time as a major part of his research. He attempted to quantify the pace of life in 31 countries by measuring three things: (1) The speed with which pedestrians in downtown areas walk a distance of 60 feet; (2) How quickly postal clerks complete a standard request to purchase a stamp; and (3) The accuracy of public clocks. His final country ranking statistically combined these three measures: A lower number indicates a faster pace. After reading the list, my first reaction was “let’s map the data!” and my results using ArcGIS Desktop are below.
This makes for excellent classroom discussions because everyone experiences time and space on a daily basis and has an opinion about them. Do any of the results surprise you? Eight of the 9 fastest countries are in Western Europe, with Japan the lone exception. Switzerland’s #1 ranking surprised me, although its clock accuracy (also #1) made sense. What other patterns do you notice? What countries or methods do you wish Dr. Levine had included? Do you think that countries are too large to be assigned just one number? Do you think that rural areas have a different pace than urban areas? How and why? What has been your experiences with time and the attitude about time in different countries?
I invite you to investigate the data for yourself and compare population, climate, and other variables to life’s pace in a GIS environment via the lesson in the ArcLessons library.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to run!
