Skyway

In an urban setting, a skyway, catwalk, skybridge, or skywalk is a type of pedway consisting of an enclosed or covered bridge between two or more buildings. This protects pedestrians from the weather. These skyways are usually owned by businesses, and are therefore not public spaces (compare with sidewalk). However, in Asia, such as Bangkok's skywalks, they are built and owned separately by the city government, connecting between privately run rail stations or other transport with their own footbridges, and run many kilometers. Skyways usually connect on the first few floors above the ground-level floor, though they are sometimes much higher, as in Petronas Towers, SWFC, and Kingdom Centre. A notable exception in North America are the Saint Paul skyways, which are publicly owned, unlike most skyways in North America. The space in the buildings connected by skyways is often devoted to retail business, so areas around the skyway may operate as a shopping mall. Non-commercial areas with closely associated buildings, such as university campuses, can often have skyways and/or tunnels connecting buildings.