Elsevier

Automation in Construction

Volume 22, March 2012, Pages 81-89
Automation in Construction

Agent based evaluation of dynamic city models: A combination of human decision processes and an emission model for transportation based on acceleration and instantaneous speed

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2011.07.001Get rights and content

Abstract

This project presents a simulation tool to evaluate procedurally generated 3D city models with a set of agents representing pedestrians, the environment and urban street actors towards greenhouse gas emission from transportation. This empiric tool for architects and urban planners analyses, predicts and quantifies traffic fluctuations over time, and define the number of pedestrians, individual traffic and public transport in each area and street of a city. Examples show that the allocation of functions within a city contributes to the appearance of traffic congestion and therefore emissions. This tool simulates the decisions and returns information about the path occupants take and their individual experiences such as stress, effort and deviations. This allows planners to evaluate their design before implementation in an empirical way.

Section snippets

Motivation

In each period urban planners and decision makers try to solve the most pressing problems. We regard health of the people and emissions as the problems of our generation. In the last century several planning patterns placed their emphasis on path optimization for cars and inflicted drastic changes on the city, which affected not just road users. With health problems and increasing health care bills a shift in the mindset has to take place, and places humans in the centre of attention.

In the

State of the art in urban planning and the use of models

During the 1970s and 1980s the division in urban planning was between positivism and materialism, in regard to scientific analysis and political economy respectively. Despite the dispute remaining unresolved, the focus has shifted again towards the question what effect the physical design has on social outcomes (Habermasian communicative rationality) and expanding a postmarxist political economy approach to a more complex view on social structures. Based on a widespread dissatisfaction with

Method

This project is using a grammar based city model [26] generating a 3D city model. This 3D City model consists of geometry and the correlating semantic layer allowing agents to navigate within. In a second stage we are using agents to evaluate the city. The agents can be mobile (pedestrians, cars, buses etc.) or immobile (buildings, bus stations etc.) (Fig. 1).

The focus of this project lies on the pedestrian-agents as an evaluation tool, the mode of transport they use and the implications this

Experiments

This part is organised in two parts first we are validating the output of each individual agent as well as the interaction of multiple agents and in a second case we combine all agents in a macro case.

Discussion and conclusion

Cities are complex entities shaped by a variety of forces and actors. We can only tackle a limited amount of variables and interdependencies yet. In this project we elaborated on the decision process and emission derived from the allocation of functions and master planning, and proved that this has a major impact on the sustainability of cities. The car-agent, with its acceleration based emission model, is working on an urban scale allowing us to evaluate different street layouts. This, in

Acknowledgment

This work wouldn't exist without the relentless work of the students from the course ‘Reclaim the Public Space’ winter semester 09 at the ETH Zurich and the organisers of the eCAADe 2010.

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