Chapter 5 - Integrating mobility in urban design

Abstract

This chapter examines how mobility analytics can be integrated in an urban design process. Between 2017 and 2019, Urban Systems Design (USD) studio projects took place in Urawa-Misono, Sumida ward, and Kyojima, Japan, as test beds for this process. The projects brought together experts and stakeholders from various organizations to be involved in urban design decision-making aimed at addressing issues of decarbonization, sustainability, resiliency, and human well-being. The studios were housed within the Eco Urban Lab at Georgia Tech's School of City and Regional Planning and School of Architecture and were operated in partnership with the University of Tokyo and the Global Carbon Project at the National Institute for Environmental Studies. These projects served as real-world applications of the USD concept and demonstrated its value within planning and design processes of an urban transport system. The USD concept uses feedback loops of analysis and design to fill the gap that can occur between transportation planners and urban designers, who often make siloed decisions in the real world. The studio projects also facilitated a learning process by providing useful insights about designing urban transport systems, such as how transport modeling can be better integrated with the urban design process and how USD can be applied to support urban transport system design.