Modelling walking and cycling accessibility and mobility

Abstract

Purpose-The most sustainable forms of urban mobility are walking and cycling. These modes of transportation are the most environmental friendly, the most economically viable and the most socially inclusive and engaging modes of urban transportation. To measure and compare the effectiveness of alternative pedestrianization or cycling infrastructure plans, the authors need to measure the potential flows of pedestrians and cyclists. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach-The authors have developed a computational methodology to predict walking and cycling flows and local centrality of streets, given a road centerline network and occupancy or population density data attributed to building plots. Findings-The authors show the functionality of this model in a hypothetical grid network and a simulated setting in a real town. In addition, the authors show how this model can be validated using crowd-sensed data on human mobility trails. This methodology can be used in assessing sustainable urban mobility plans. Originality/value-The main contribution of this paper is the generalization and adaptation of two network centrality models and a trip-distribution model for studying walking and cycling mobility.

Exploring Spatial Parameters to Evaluate Human Walking Accessibility of Urban Green Space

“…Thus, when we simplify the environment as flat terrain, we can conclude the travel distance by defining an exact travel speed and tolerant travel time (Eq.4). For example, we reference the regular walking speed as 84 meters per minute defined by Nourian et al (2018) and set the daily walking time as 5 minutes based on the principle of approaching proximity (Nourian et al, 2018). Then we can conclude the daily walking distance of 420 meters.…”

“…It is the walking direction on the path, because going up and going down the same slope would generate different walking speed. Therefore, the research about walking speed calculations in a network always take the double edge directions into account (Nourian et al, 2018). As this study only focuses on the green space as a destination, the returning direction of the walking path is not considered.…”

World Studio: a pedagogical experience using shape grammars and parametric approaches to design in the context of informal settlements

“…However, as in shape grammars, the adoption of parametric urban design approaches is not as developed as in architecture. Nevertheless, the works of Steinø and Veirum (2005), Beirão (2012), Lima et al (2017), Nourian et al 2018, andDogan et al (2020), for instance, explore the use of parametric tools in the analysis and generation of urban areas. In this sequence, the work of Lima et al (2019) presents a parametric approach to walkability, diversity, and density analysis in low-income neighborhoods in the city of Juiz de Fora, Brazil.…”

Towards Urban Densification: Parametric Modeling of Possible Scenarios for Urban Mobility

“…It considers cognitive and physical aspects, for pedestrians and cyclists, to finds the shortest, simplest and less physically exerting routes between points of interest in a city, by comparing dimensions such as flatness, distance and travel time. The method was used to make a plug-in for Grasshopper, called Cheetah (Nourian et al, 2015) Lima et al (2017) combined metrics, indexes and principles from Transit Oriented Development (TOD) to develop a computational methodology to support urban planning decisions through the use of parametric tools. It applies different indexes to measure walkability, accessibility, density and diversity.…”