Francesco Pinna

Benchmarking Smart Urban Mobility: A Study on Italian Cities

The sustainable development of transport systems has generated particular interest within the initiatives in the field of ‘smart cities’. This paper is part of current approaches to smart cities benchmarking and it focuses on the definition of a quantitative methodology, capable to evaluate urban mobility through a synthetic indicator of mobility. In this work, we propose a valid method for any city in the world, although its application focuses on the Italian context. This is because this paper shows a first phase of a broader research.

Use of Kriging Technique to Study Roundabout Performance

Road intersections are dangerous places because of the many conflicting points between motorized and nonmotorized vehicles. In the case of defined traffic volume, several research groups have proved that roundabouts reduced the number of injuries and fatal accident cases. In recent years, many countries have adopted roundabouts as a standard design solution for both urban and rural roads. Several recent studies have investigated the performance of roundabouts, including some with models that calculated the entering flow (Qe) as a function of the circulating flow (Qc). Most existing models have been constructed with the use of linear or exponential statistical regression. The interpolative techniques in classical statistics are based on the use of canonical forms (linear or polynomial) that completely ignore the correlation law between collected data. As such, the determined interpolation stems from the assumption that the data represent a random sample. In the research reported in this paper, a geostatistical approach was considered: the relationship Qe versus Qc is supposed to be a regionalized phenomenon. According to that supposition, collected data do not represent a random sample of values but are supposed to be related to each other with a defined law. This recognition allows the realization of interpolation on the basis of the real law of the phenomenon. This paper discusses the fundamental theories, the applied operating procedures, and the first results obtained in modeling the Qe versus Qc relationship with the application of geostatistics.

Non-Standard Roundabouts: Analysis of Problems

Road intersections are dangerous places in the road system due to the high number of conflicting points between motorized and non-motorized vehicles. In the case of defined traffic volume, several research groups have proven that roundabouts reduce the number of injuries and fatal accident cases. In the last years, several studies have investigated the performance of roundabouts, among which, include different models with the ability to calculate the entering flow (Qe) as a function of the circulating flow (Qc). This research work has focused on an analysis of the performance features of Italian urban roundabouts, that have non-standard geometric characteristics. The goal of the research work is to analyze, on the basis of geometrical and design parameters, the capacity of the non-standard roundabouts in order to understand in which way non-standard features influence capacity. The study underlines that in standard roundabouts the entering flow is reduced when the circulating flow increases (like in the existing international models) and in non-standard roundabouts the entering flow is not reduced when the circulating flow increases (it seems that there is not a relationship between circulating flow and entering flow).

Home-School Routes and Child Psychology: The Smartness in Small Steps

The smartness of a city can be built and developed through many elements that together contribute to its development. One pillar of this elements is the smart mobility, that not always involves technology, planning, infrastructure, but tend to work on the change of citizens behavior, even in the long term. Among them, home-school routes can play a fundamental role; in fact, these routes allow children to use and live public spaces now occupied by vehicles and traffic and to build a culture of sustainable mobility that will see great results when these children become adults. Kids are not small adults and they have a different perception of reality. For this reason, it is necessary to create road signs and markings that are comprehensible for children aged 6-14 when they are engaged in a road environment. Information that users can obtain are based on traffic control devices which are the combination of three elements: shape, color and pictogram. Therefore it is important that message generated by the three elements is understandable by children. In fact, children overcome the phase of syncretism after the age of 6, which corresponds to the phase in which children are unable to analyses and syntheses. The research target is to design road signs and markings for children, to ensure safety of home-school routes. This paper collects the main principles about children psychology and describes a traffic control devices study to be conducted for Cagliari’s project on road safety.

How has Cagliari Changed Its Citizens in Smart Citizens? Exploring the Influence of ITS Technology on Urban Social Interactions

The main purpose of this article is to evaluate and to achieve a deeper understanding of the changing role of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITSs) not only in transport habits, but also in urban traditional lifestyles of citizens, by using the city of Cagliari (Italy) as a case study. In fact, ITSs play a significant role in determining innovative sustainable transport, for a better use of urban space and time, enhancing also the people quality of life. ITSs help people to move around more easily, safely and economically, in a more environmentally friendly manner. Traditionally, ITSs were used to improve traffic flow, cars speed, easy parking and therefore encouraging the use of the cars, by causing negative impact on social interactions. Nowadays, cities are changing and use technology in order to greatly improve public transport and smart mobility. Specifically, this study analyzes the city of Cagliari (Italy) and its transition toward a smart, sustainable and green mobility, by showing the successful steps from a scenario based on a car-used city to a new scenario based on a free cars-used city due to an integrated, environmental, smart approach.

Prediction Models for Space Mean Speed on Urban Roads

The research investigates the relationship between driving behavior and characteristics of the road environment in urban area. This study allows the identification of factors which influence driving speed. The purpose is to develop mathematical models which link driving behavior with infrastructure geometric characteristics. The parameter used to describe driving behavior is space mean speed. This is very important because it considers speed of vehicles traveling a given segment of roadway during a specified period of time and it is calculated using the average travel time and the length for the roadway segment. This speed is used to understand driving behavior in normal traffic flow and in daylight conditions. The data are collected on urban road tangents. These roads have the common characteristic to be single or dual carriageways with two lanes for each direction with a speed limit of 50 km/h. With a multiple linear regression, two models are developed and validated to predict speed. Statistically significant variables include traffic characteristics (flow, number of vehicles entering and leaving traffic stream) and geometric design attributes (lanes width, type of median, tangent length and type of left-lateral obstacle). This study can be useful to both traffic manager and road designers because developed models could implement design guidelines, especially regarding road tangents.