Pedestrian Route Research Articles

Empirical characterisation of agents’ spatial behaviour in pedestrian movement simulation

Route choice behaviour is a key factor in determining pedestrian movement flows throughout the urban space. Agent-based modelling, a simulation paradigm that allows modelling individual behaviour mechanisms to observe the emergence of macro-level patterns, has not employed empirical data regarding route choice behaviour in cities or accommodated heterogeneity. The aim of this paper is to present an empirically based Agent-Based Model (ABM) that accounts for behavioural heterogeneity in pedestrian route choice strategies, to simulate the movement of pedestrians in cities. We designed a questionnaire to observe to what degree people employ salient urban elements (local and global landmarks, regions, and barriers) and road costs (road distance, cumulative angular change) and to empirically characterise the agent behaviour in our ABM. We hypothesised that a heterogeneous ABM configuration based on the construction of agent typologies from empirical data would portray a more plausible picture of pedestrian movement flows than a homogeneous configuration, based on the same data, or a random configuration. The city of Münster (DE) was used as a case study. From a sample of 301 subjects, we obtained six clusters that differed in relation to the role of global elements (distant landmarks, barriers, and regions) and meaningful local elements along the route. The random configuration directed the agents towards natural elements and the streets of the historical centre. The empirically based configurations resulted in lower pedestrian volumes along roads designed for cars (25% decrease) but higher concentrations along the city Promenade and the lake (40% increase); based on our knowledge, we deem these results more plausible. Minor differences were identified between the heterogeneous and homogeneous configurations. These findings indicate that the inclusion of heterogeneity does not make a difference in terms of global patterns. Yet, we demonstrated that simulation models of pedestrian movement in cities should be at least based on empirical data at the average sample-level to inform urban planners about areas prone to high volumes of pedestrians.

Street art in the context of urban tourism development


 
 
 
 Today there is a significant demand for unique tourist resources, new interesting routes that meet the cognitive interests and daily tourist practices of the urban population. The objects of street art are distinguished by the fact that due to their strong artistic content, they are able to arouse interest and inspire reflection on socially important issues and problems of today and meet the demand of tourists both within organized tours and amateur tourism. The object of research is conceptual tourist resources or street art objects of Kyiv. The main focus is on such types of resources as murals and minimalist sculptures, which are cultural symbols of the capital. The purpose of this research is to carry out a spatial analysis of street art objects and to develop excursion art routes on the basis of the obtained results of the distribution of street art resources by administrative territorial formations of the city. The main problem was to find the possibility of breeding tourist flows to ensure the rational use of available resources of street art and reduce the tourist load on the open public spaces of the capital, which are traditionally areas of greatest concentration of vacationers. A sociological survey of three age categories (18–25 years, 26–35 years, over 36 years) showed that 76.7 % of respondents consider murals to be the decoration of the capital, and 88 % of the total number noted the importance of the external design of murals. Under the conditions of choosing the subject of wall painting for wall decoration in the area of residence, 51 % of respondents preferred social subjects, 20 % – environmental and 17 % portraits of famous people. Almost 84 % of respondents expressed interest in receiving extended information about modern art objects, with subsequent participation in the tour, of which the greatest interest was formed in the age group of 18–25 years. As a result of the spatial analysis of the street art resources of the Kyiv districts, it was established that as of July 2021, more than 200 street art objects have been created in Kyiv. The largest number of them locates in Shevchenkivskyi district – 64, and the smallest number – 4 in Desnianskyi district. Tourist interest, in the context of the tourist potential of street art, is formed by mini-sculptures created within the project “Search”, reflecting the cultural symbols of the capital. For pedestrian routes, based on the results of spatial analysis, Podilsky and Darnytskyi districts were chosen as representative areas, which allows to diversify tourist flows within the city. The proposed study was not limited to the size of the murals, which allowed to include in the analysis murals created both on residential buildings and on high concrete fences, on the walls of educational institutions, if they had a certain cognitive component. This allowed to expand the possibilities of involving street art objects in excursion routes in certain districts of Kyiv. The route in Podilskyi district includes 13 street art objects, including 9 murals and 4 mini sculptures. The route through the Darnytskyi district of the capital includes 15 murals, which are considered to be the most monumental murals in the city of Kyiv. The developed routes allow to get acquainted with the monumental street art executed in various techniques and devoted to various subjects.
 
 
 

Prediction of Vehicular Traffic Flow Using Levenberg-Marquardt Artificial Neural Network Model: Italy Road Transportation System

In the last decades, the Italian road transport system has been characterized by severe and consistent traffic congestion and in particular Rome is one of the Italian cities most affected by this problem. In this study, a LevenbergMarquardt (LM) artificial neural network heuristic model was used to predict the traffic flow of non-autonomous vehicles. Traffic datasets were collected using both inductive loop detectors and video cameras as acquisition systems and selecting some parameters including vehicle speed, time of day, traffic volume and number of vehicles. The model showed a training, test and regression value (R2) of 0.99892, 0.99615 and 0.99714 respectively. The results of this research add to the growing body of literature on traffic flow modelling and help urban planners and traffic managers in terms of the traffic control and the provision of convenient travel routes for pedestrians and motorists.

The principles of pedestrian route choice.

Pedestrian route choice, the process by which individuals decide on their walking path between two locations, is a fundamental problem across disciplines. Because this behaviour is investigated from different conceptual and methodological angles, and because it strongly depends on the environmental context, it is challenging to establish a systematic framework for research. Here, by reviewing previous work, we identify four principles for pedestrian route choice that are relevant across disciplines. First, ‘information perception’ deals with how pedestrians can perceive information selectively and purposely, given the limited available information. Second, ‘information integration’ considers how pedestrians subjectively integrate environmental spatial information into mental representations. Third, ‘responding to information’ is concerned with how pedestrians tend to be attracted and repelled by specific attributes individually and how this can lead to positive or negative feedback loops across many individuals. Fourth ‘decision-making mechanisms' describe how pedestrians trade off the evidence provided by different attributes. How pedestrians perceive, integrate, respond to, and act upon information is not fixed but varies with the context. We give examples for each principle and explain how these principles shape pedestrian choice behaviours. We hope this contribution provides a systematic overview of the field and helps to spark inspiration among specialists.

Концепция создания музея под открытым небом в Ингальской долине

Раскрыт особый историко-культурный потенциал Ингальской долины как ресурса для развития туризма в регионе. Дана оценка текущего состояния и определены ключевые проблемы развития этой территории: большая протяженность; неразвитость туристической инфраструктуры в малых населенных пунктах, отсутствие сезонного использования местности, разрушение объектов археологического и культурного наследия и другие. Предложена концепция создания музея под открытым небом в Ингальской долине посредством развития инфраструктуры и организации разнонаправленных туристических автобусных, велосипедных и пешеходных маршрутов. В состав музея помимо экспозиций войдут архитектурные, археологические и природные памятники как свидетельства историко-культурного наследия региона.

Walking in the cities without ground, how 3d complex network volumetrics improve analysis

Pedestrian route choice, wayfinding behaviour and movement pattern research rely on objective spatial configuration model and analysis. In 3D indoor and outdoor multi-level buildings and urban built environments (IO-ML-BE), spatial configuration analysis allows to quantify and control for route choice and wayfinding complexity/difficulty. Our contribution is to compare the interaction of the level of definition (LOD) of indoor and outdoor multi-level pedestrian network spatial models and complexity metric analyses. Most studies are indoor or outdoor and oversimplify multi-level vertical connections. Using a novel open data set of a large-scale 3D centreline pedestrian network which implement transport geography 2D data model principles in 3D, nine spatial models and twelve spatial complexity analyses of a large-scale 3D IO-ML-BE are empirically tested with observed pedestrian movement patterns ( N = 17,307). Bivariate regression analyses show that the association with movement pattern increases steadily from R2 ≈ 0.29 to 0.56 (space syntax, 2.5D) and from R2 ≈ 0.54 to 0.72 (3D sDNA) as the 3D transport geography spatial model LOD and completeness increases. A multivariate stepwise regression analysis tests the bi-variate findings. A novel 3D hybrid angular-Euclidean analysis was tested for the objective description of 3D multi-level IO-ML-BE route choice and wayfinding complexity. The results suggest that pedestrian route choice, wayfinding and movement pattern analysis and prediction research in a multi-level IO-ML-BE should use high-definition 3D transport geography network spatial model and include interdependent outdoor and indoor spaces with detailed vertical transitions.

Enhancing pedestrian evacuation routes during flood events

The increasing rate of anthropic activities in flood-prone areas and the effects of climate change are aggravating the dangers posed by floods to people. One of the main reasons for fatality during flood events is walking through floodwaters. Although authorities strongly advise against walking in flood waters, evacuations or the accessing of flooded areas by emergency services might be necessary. This research proposes a novel approach to increasing resilience by retrofitting existing infrastructures to enhance evacuation and access routes by reducing flood hazard rate based on flood and pedestrian characteristics. The methodology was applied to flash floods in two case studies in the UK, namely Boscastle and Borth, highlighting that retrofitting small regions of the existing roads and pathways to reduce flood hazard can enhance people’s safety during the evacuation, and hence provides a solution to improve the resilience of the existing environment.

Flood Assessment and Identification of Emergency Evacuation Routes in Seti River Basin, Nepal

Sudden floods frequently occur in the Himalayas under changing climates. Rapid glacial melt has resulted in the formation of glacial lakes and associated hazards. This research aimed to (1) identify flood-prone houses, (2) determine pedestrian emergency evacuation routes, and (3) analyze their relationships to socioeconomic status in the Seti River Basin. Detailed hazard maps were created using field survey results from unmanned aerial vehicle photogrammetry and the Hydrologic Engineering Center River Analysis System. Questionnaire, focus-group, and key-informant surveys helped identify the socioeconomic situation. Inundation maps revealed that most residents are exposed to future flooding hazards without proper evacuation routes. Highly impoverished and immigrant households were at the highest risk in terms of income inequality and migration rate (p < 0.001) and were located on the riverside. The locations of 455 laborers’ houses were significantly correlated with inundation hazards (p < 0.001). Governmental and associated agencies must develop adequate plans to relocate low-income households. Group discussions revealed the need for stronger adaptive capacity-building strategies for future risk management. Pokhara requires better systematic and scientific land-use planning strategies to address this issue efficiently. A similar approach that combines flood modeling, proper evacuation route access, and socioeconomic survey is suggested for this river basin.

Structural Equations Model of the Transport Habitus in Mexico City during the COVID-19 Era

Habitus involves four dimensions; ethos, eidos, hexis and aisthesis considered as factors years, logical s, gestural and is ethical s. These are provisions that, through mobility, socialize your transportation choices. In this sense, an exploratory and crosssectional study was carried out with a non-probabilistic sample of 100 students to explore their dispositions before the use of minibuses, combis, taxis, motorcycle taxis, pedicabs, scooters or bicycles transportation to school. The results indicate that the mobility habitus is indicated by the practical conscience of agglomeration. Based on a structural model, the decision was made to accept the null hypothesis regarding the multidimensionality of the peri-urban mobility habitus. Involves the design policy from the possibilities that opens technology around peri - urban mobility, comfort of transport and satisfaction of the user which could combine with subsidies units zero emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, or alternative transport subsidies that use eco-routes, cycle tracks or pedestrian routes as well as electrified public transport.

Lifestyles and cities of the future – Rome and Montreal: comparing two realities

This article presents the results of an international research project carried out in Italy and Canada, conducted by architects, landscape architects, sociologists and medical doctors. The study originated in the conviction that health and well-being are crucial objectives integrated within the notion of a sustainable city. For this reason, the configuration of urban space plays a decisive role in defining lifestyles and can contribute to improving the welfare of citizens. Many of today’s diseases are caused by a sedentary lifestyle; it is essential, therefore, to centre prevention on the promotion of physical well-being encouraging an active lifestyle, which can be achieved by changing the urban structure. With the aim of bringing about sustainable and healthy lifestyles, streets are in vogue. Streets are meeting and experimental places, theatres of everyday life and settings for cultural events. They provide crucial urban space for people and, in the context of urban studies, offer intellectual research nourishment to reflect on this fundamental element of the structure of the city. The research project presented here is aimed at encouraging active lifestyles, walkability and the use of public transport by facilitating accessibility to four sites in Rome and Montreal, and by exploring the potential leveraging of existing infrastructures and services. The research-based design proposals start with the idea of redeveloping the system of public spaces, beginning with the increase of bicycle and pedestrian routes in relation to schools, commerce, sports facilities and archaeological heritage. The goal is to build feasible, safe, recognisable and attractive routes and well-equipped public spaces in order to discourage the use of private vehicles, especially for short trips. The projects presented here are based on a systemic vision and make use of existing, but often abandoned or undervalued, spaces and resources.

Synthetic Pedestrian Routes Generation: Exploring Mobility Behavior of Citizens through Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

The data-driven city is improving the quality of everyday life for citizens and the efficient use of resources. While data-driven cities are benefiting from artificial intelligence technologies, one of the major challenges are the security, privacy, managing issues and costs. Furthermore, the training data for machine learning methods are in many cases not sufficiently available. Simulation tools are available for the designers or administration, and synthetic data generation based on real data is a promising approach on the development of new methods. This paper reports an exploratory research, targeting data generation with agent-based simulations combined with reinforcement learning. The study is still in its starting phase, but the conceptual outline and methodology has been created. The goal of this study is to establish a model to retrieve insights into the integration from a restricted data set from Google Maps and agent-based simulations. One of the primary observations is that intelligent agents, trained/reinforced paths instead of random behavior, show vastly different behavior than randomly acting agents. Evaluate the behavior according to empirical data, mostly because of the advantage of this method for complex behavior, where it would impractical to iterate through all possible paths, resulting in methodological issues. The paper exposes the following methodical challenges. (1) Realistic data sets will be large and full of decisions that appear to be random. To verify the collected, empirical data might lead to unreliable results, as actors will, as in real life, make different decisions according to circumstance. (2) The more complex a model has to be to be equivalent to the synthetic model, the more powerful the computational resources have to be. This leads to a dilemma between the model's complexity to make results comparable, and the simplicity to make computation realistic. Outline of the papers framework: (1) The generated data set challenges explored with the goal of providing realistic synthetic data. (2) A method for integration of synthetic and real-world data based on the reinforcement learning is developed. The premise is that implementing a reinforcement learning framework on top of multi-agent systems makes it possible to understand the mobility behavior of citizens. The paper explains the feasibility of both points, showing that this approach forms a solid basis for further investigation of the synthetic data generation for recognizing the mobility behavior of the citizens and enables the researchers to investigate the usage of reinforcement learning approach on the human mobility routes.

A systematic review of the factors associated with pedestrian route choice

ABSTRACT Pedestrian route choice (PRC) is influenced by a wide range of factors, yet an understanding of the trends, patterns, and findings of PRC research is a gap in the literature. The present study applied the PRISMA framework to systematically identify published studies on PRC. The identified studies were synthesized by answering the systematic classification scheme (SCS) questions. Results show that prior studies have used a total of 105 factors associated with PRC. The identified factors were categorized under three groups (i.e. pedestrian socio-demographic factors, built environment factors, trip characteristics). The findings of this systematic review identified several critical research gaps for studying PRC behaviour. Future PRC research should aim to determine the influence of social, physical, and individual factors associated with PRC and the nature of the relationships of those factors with PRC.

Modeling boundedly rational route choice in crowd evacuation processes

With the development of modern information technologies, advanced evacuation guidance systems have been widely installed to provide updated route information. However, although pedestrians may know the information of the building and its surrounding environment, they sometimes still use the non-optimal route, that is to say, their decision-making process is rather boundedly rational. To understand the dynamics underlying such behavior, we present a model where we consider two important factors affecting pedestrians’ route estimation, i.e., distance and congestion. The model is then validated, after which, detailed simulation studies have been performed to discuss the influence of those two factors. Results show that for small and open spaces, the influence of the free walking time on pedestrians’ route choice is higher than the congestion queuing time. Moreover, pedestrians prefer changing route in order to save the completion time. For a large virtual building, if pedestrians would like to use short route, pay less attention to congestion route and prefer keeping current route, the route usage can be quite different, some of the routes can be extremely crowded while others can be barely used. On the contrary, if pedestrians do not mind distance difference, prefer avoiding congestion and changing route, significant detour behaviors will be observed, which also increases the evacuation time. This boundedly rational route choice feature results in distinct importance rank of evacuation facilities when considering their failures. The present study deepens our understanding of pedestrian route choice considering bounded rationality and provides a basis for crowd management in building evacuation.

Role of water bodies in the structure of open public spaces of cities (Chermyanka river)

Most of the cities standing on rivers are currently faced with the problem of the formation of near-water depressed spaces. The paper presents the results of a study of the depressive territory of the Chermyanka River section (Moscow), in which the authors took part. Based on the results of the reconnaissance survey and sociological research, the main problems of the study area were identified. Based on the analysis of successful foreign and domestic projects for the revitalization of depressed spaces, ways of solving these problems are proposed. The paper describes an option of the reorganization of the depressed territory under consideration, developed by the authors. The choice of zoning the territory of the river into green and open public spaces has been substantiated. The functional content of public spaces and communications is described, allowing them to be combined into an integral recreational complex. The new public space will allow the Bibirevo and Otradnoye districts to be linked by a pedestrian route and will provide free movement between the banks of the river.

A simulation and machine learning based optimization method for integrated pedestrian facilities planning and staff assignment problem in the multi-mode rail transit transfer station

To face the booming passenger flow volumes, the optimization of pedestrian facilities plans and the associated staff assignment plans in the transfer station, including adjusting pedestrian flow routes and adopting different numbers of machines, is an efficient measure to promote transfer connection and avoid passengers congestion in order to enhance the service level. We propose an integrated optimization model based on the simulation model and machine learning method aiming to provide optimal pedestrian facilities plans and the corresponding staff assignment simultaneously. The pedestrian facilities plans ensure the service quality requirement based on three performance indicators, i.e., transfer capacity, transfer average time and level-of-service. The framework, which contains the transfer station simulation model and the Random Forest for obtaining the values of performance indicators, is developed. Random Forest, a machine learning method, trains and learns the samples of indicators and scenario attributes outputted from the simulation model to fit the approximation functions that can evaluate the performance indicators under the given scenarios. As the application, the optimization model uses the approximation functions to obtain performance indicators so that select out the available pedestrian facilities plans for time-varying passenger demands. With the aims of minimizing employment cost and preventing excessive fatigue, the optimization model selects the most suitable pedestrian facilities plans and obtains the corresponding staff assignment plan with the consideration of the workload fairness and rest time under four types of consecutive working time constraints. The experiments of the Xipu station demonstrate that the proposed integrated optimization model can return reasonable pedestrian facilities plans and staff assignment plans for each period in a day. The constraints of consecutive working time can acquire good compromising of reducing labor cost and avoiding overwork, so that the staff assignment plans are acceptable for both station managers and employees.

Quiet Route Planning for Pedestrians in Traffic Noise Polluted Environments

Noise pollution is one of the main stressors in urban environments, having negative impacts on people’s quality of life and health. For some groups of citizens, such as school children, patients, and elders, there is a need to support them in finding pedestrian routes in noise polluted areas of cities. In this paper, we focus on the estimation of traffic noise, and present an approach to provide quiet routing services, taking into account the estimated noise levels of roads. By combining Volunteered Geographic Information, official socio-economic data, and open-access GPS trajectory data, we develop a set of traffic related variables, and apply machine learning methods to perform traffic volume estimations. Given the estimated traffic information, an existing traffic noise model is then employed to derive the noise polluted areas. For generation of quiet routes, a new routing algorithm is proposed based on the Dijkstra algorithm. It minimizes the exposure of pedestrians to traffic noise pollution while taking into account the route distance constraint. We apply our quiet routing approach to the city of Heidelberg (Germany). The application results demonstrate the efficacy of our algorithms in the generation of quiet routes customized to pedestrian preferences.

Organizational and economic mechanism of the automatic underground train operation system

This work deals with the provision of underground, as one of the main modes of public transport, with automated control systems, in particular the provision of automated train management. It defines that the underground is one of the most progressive modes of transport, which is related to its environmental safety, comfort, and speed of movement, as this mode of transport does not intersect with other transport and pedestrian routes, which excludes traffic blocks. Underground is an important element of urbanized spaces, for it serves large passenger traffic. The article presents an algorithm for the creation of an automated control system for the underground train system. Based on this algorithm, a model of building an organizational and economic mechanism for automation of control systems has been developed. The diagram of organizational and technical implementation of the automated system of underground train management is presented. An economic analysis of the effectiveness of the application of the automated control system of underground trains was carried out. The recoupment on the acquisition and installation of automation systems is very high. The application of the automated system will increase the capacity of the underground by optimizing the traffic schedules, which will contribute to increasing its profitability. It is also useful to determine the reduction of electricity consumption due to the change in the dynamics of acceleration and braking systems, which is important, as the underground is a powerful enterprise. In the future, a promising direction is to streamline the coordination of train schedules and other modes of land public transport.

Evaluation of emissions in traffic reduction and pedestrianization scenarios in Madrid

• We evaluate reduction in CO, NO x and PM emissions in the ‘Madrid Central’ • VISUM, COPERT Street level and R-Line models have been applied. • We consider exploratory traffic reduction and pedestrianization measures. • The decrease in pedestrian exposure to pollutants is assessed. • Combination of pedestrianizations and traffic reductions lead to good results. Cities have implemented a range of strategies to reduce traffic volumes and hence pollution; including low emission zones (LEZ) and pedestrianization. This paper aims to evaluate the degree of reduction in CO, NO × and PM emissions in Madrid’s ‘Centro’ LEZ after the adoption of traffic reduction and pedestrianization actions. We propose a current scenario of traffic volume and pedestrianized streets, and another set of exploratory scenarios. The methodology uses a traffic simulation model, followed by the estimation of the emissions at street level and their dispersion. These results are crossed with pedestrian routes to estimate the reduction in pedestrian exposure to these pollutants. The results show that improvements are generalized in scenarios where traffic is reduced. The results serve to analyse the rate of the decrease in pedestrian exposure to these pollutants and can provide evidence-based geographically-dimensioned information to identify priority actions.

School Safe Route in Sumbersari District, Jember Regency

The number of underage accidents in Jember Regency in 2011-2012 increased from 37 to 190 cases. Therefore, bicycle and pedestrian paths were planned through the School Safe Route program that could encourage students to choose to ride a bicycle or walking. The method of this study was the Level of Service analysis (LOS), student and travel characteristics, cross tabs, bicycle lanes, pedestrians, and road equipment facilities. The results showed that the level of road service on each road section varied, including LOS A, B, D and E. The characteristic and common cross tabs analysis results showed that most transportations used by students were motorcycles. Still, there was a relatively large proportion of students’ willingness to change their transportation mode in operational conditions if bicycle and pedestrian path facilities were provided. Cycle path analysis showed that the types of bicycle lanes were planned, specifically type A and C, with a bicycle lane width was 1.44 m for each lane. From the calculation of the minimum effective width of the sidewalk obtained 1.01 m with a crossing facility in the form of a pelican crossing with waiting stalls. Several road equipment facilities were planned, such as traffic signs, road markings and Traffic Signaling Equipment (TSE). Bicycle and pedestrian routes were planned at Tawang Mangu Street, Danau Toba Street, Mastrip Barat Street, Kalimantan Street, Jawa Street, Karimata Street, M.T. Haryono Street, Letjen S. Parman Street, Letjen Panjaitan Street and Letjen Suprapto Street.

Impact of urban water bodies on the structure of open public spaces

Currently, most cities situated next to rivers are facing the problem of near-water depressive spaces formation. Most frequently, coastal territories that were previously used for agricultural and industrial needs become depressive spaces. After the loss of their purpose, these facilities cease to be operated, which leads to a negative environmental impact on the environment and to its gradual degradation. The article contains the results of the study of depressive territory of the Chermyanka river section (Moscow city), in which the authors took part. The section of the river is located in the North-Eastern Administrative District of Moscow in the municipal districts of Bibirevo and Otradnoye. Based on the results of the reconnaissance survey and sociological research, the main problems of the studied depressive territory were identified. Based on the analysis of successful domestic and foreign projects on the revitalization of depressive near-water spaces, the ways of solving these problems and the development of the degraded territory are proposed. The article describes in detail the option of reorganization of the considered depressive territory, developed by the authors. The option of zoning of the river territory into green and open public spaces is justified, including an assessment of the morphometric indicators of the river, biological, sociological and landscape characteristics. The functional content of public spaces aimed at meeting the needs of various social and age groups, and communications that allow combining open public and green spaces into a holistic recreational complex are described. The new public space should perform not only a recreational function, but also a communication one. It will allow linking the Bibirevo and Otradnoye districts by a pedestrian route and will provide free movement between the banks of the river.