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DERI Seminar with Dustin Carlino and Robin Lovelace - Open source and participatory transportation planning and the use of A/B Street software

When: Thursday, January 26, 2023, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Where: zoom

Title: Open source and participatory transportation planning and the use of A/B Street software
Zoom link: https://qmul-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/81148100921
Abstract: This talk will discuss the impacts of making transport models, and the data and tools for decision-making in participatory democracies using open source, accessible, and transparent methods. It will build on recent research into the rapid growth of open source software and open access and participatory transport models that go beyond technologies developed in the 20th Century, using cutting-edge and community-built software to better meet the needs of the 21st.  A/B Street (abstreet.org) is an open-source multi-modal traffic simulator designed for the general public to explore low-cost approaches for reducing motor vehicle use. Starting from OpenStreetMap data and a variety of travel demand sources, people using A/B Street can modify roads (like transforming street parking into bike- and bus-only lanes) and intersections (traffic signal timing). Using built-in elevation data, visualizations about individual trips and aggregate groups, and measurements of impact on travel time and risk exposure, interested citizens can present their idea to a city council for consideration. There are also non-simulation-based tools for analyzing 15-minute neighbourhood accessibility and designing low-traffic neighbourhoods. This talk will first briefly introduce the project and some of the technical aspects.

 

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References

  1. Lovelace, R. Open source tools for geographic analysis in transport planning. J Geogr Syst (2021) doi:10.1007/s10109-020-00342-2.
  2. Lovelace, R., Parkin, J. & Cohen, T. Open access transport models: A leverage point in sustainable transport planning. Transport Policy 97, 47–54 (2020).
  3. Carlino, D. et al. A/B Street. (2022) doi:10.5281/zenodo.6331922.

Bio1: Robin Lovelace is Associate Professor of Transport Data Science at the Leeds Institute for Transport Studies (ITS) and Head of Data at Active Travel England (ATE). Robin is the Lead Developer of the Propensity to Cycle Tool (see www.pct.bike). Transport is key to tackling air pollution and health crises. Robin aims to help build tools that will make transport planning more democratic, participatory, evidence-based and data-driven.

Bio2: Dustin is a software engineer at the Alan Turing Institute and has been building A/B Street since 2018. See https://www.turing.ac.uk/people/researchers/dustin-carlino for details.

 

 

 

 

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