> I spent some time last century living in Toronto, a moderately large North American city. The main street of the neighbourhood in which I lived was a former s

> I spent some time last century living in Toronto, a moderately large North American city. The main street of the neighbourhood in which I lived was a former streetcar route crowded with small human-scale shops on the north side, and a church with a parking lot and some large office blocks on the south side. The north side was always crowded, the south side was always empty. It was obvious where people preferred to walk. I'm in Sydney, AU - I've never been to Toronto, and know only that it's much further from the equator than Sydney is. Even in the mild climate of Sydney, I've noticed myself and others favouring the south sides of streets in winter here, simply because it receives more natural light & warmth. For any given street, there's probably a handful of other candidate explanations for one side of a street being more favoured. It may well be an abundance of shops - if I want to amble, that would (all other factors aside) rate it higher. If I wanted to get somewhere, then I'd eschew a store-dense route, to avoid the myriad amblers that would slow me down.