Pedestrian Simulation

UAF, Breakthrough Solutions for a Changing World

Traditionally urban space design has always favoured vehicle movement over pedestrian or crowd movement. The need for high quality traffic infrastructure in order to promote urban growth and to facilitate the movement of goods and people is well understood and illustrated in every aspect of today’s modern urban cities.

Pedestrians Now A Primary Mode of Transport

However, there is a shift taking place. Today it is no longer the case that the car rules supreme, indeed urban space designers are increasingly becoming more sensitive to the needs of the pedestrian as a primary mode of transport. There is now a growing trend towards balanced urban space design where the needs and quality of service provided to both vehicular and pedestrian users are evaluated in tandem.

Green Initiatives and Health Issues

Initiatives to support the green agenda and health issues i.e. making urban spaces more attractive for people to walk in and less polluting are also key drivers for the move towards a balanced urban space policy. Finally, and most importantly, pedestrian safety is paramount when considering new urban road usage or revising existing facilities. Planning to improve pedestrian safety and the avoidance of pedestrian/vehicle accidents is a primary goal of the Urban Analytics Framework.

It is important to develop the new tools required by city planners now to ensure that techniques are available to accurately model our world’s changing requirements in the future.