Bani Anvari

Shared Space Modeling Based on Social Forces and Distance Potential Field

Urban design is moving towards space sharing in order to increase the community texture and safety of street surroundings. However, there is a need for a simulation tool capable of representing future shared space schemes to help judging the designs under which shared space design is a suitable alternative to traditional street designs. This paper presents a microscopic mathematical model that is used a traffic simulation tool capable to represent main behaviors of pedestrians and cars in any shared space layout. This is achieved by generating a route map which helps agents to find the shortest path towards their target destinations on the strategic level. On the operational level, the Social Force Model (SFM) is used and extended for a mixed traffic to produce feasible trajectories. The trajectory results are presented to give a face-validation of the functionality of the shared space simulation model.

Calibration and Validation of a Shared Space Model: Case Study

Shared space is an innovative streetscape design that seeks minimum separation between vehicle traffic and pedestrians. Urban design is moving toward space sharing as a means of increasing the community texture of street surroundings. Its unique features aim to balance priorities and allow cars and pedestrians to coexist harmoniously without the need to dictate behavior. There is, however, a need for a simulation tool to model future shared space schemes and to help judge whether they might represent suitable alternatives to traditional street layouts. This paper builds on the authors’ previously published work in which a shared space microscopic mixed traffic model based on the social force model (SFM) was presented, calibrated, and evaluated with data from the shared space link typology of New Road in Brighton, United Kingdom. Here, the goal is to explore the transferability of the authors’ model to a similar shared space typology and investigate the effect of flow and ratio of traffic modes. Data recorded from the shared space scheme of Exhibition Road, London, were collected and analyzed. The flow and speed of cars and segregation between pedestrians and cars are greater on Exhibition Road than on New Road. The rule-based SFM for shared space modeling is calibrated and validated with the real data. On the basis of the results, it can be concluded that shared space schemes are context dependent and that factors such as the infrastructural design of the environment and the flow and speed of pedestrians and vehicles affect the willingness to share space.