Nicholas Stevens

More than Meets the Eye: Using Cognitive Work Analysis to Identify Design Requirements for Future Rail Level Crossing Systems

An increasing intensity of operations means that the longstanding safety issue of rail level crossings is likely to become worse in the transport systems of the future. It has been suggested that the failure to prevent collisions may be, in part, due to a lack of systems thinking during design, crash analysis, and countermeasure development. This paper presents a systems analysis of current active rail level crossing systems in Victoria, Australia that was undertaken to identify design requirements to improve safety in future rail level crossing environments. Cognitive work analysis was used to analyse rail level crossing systems using data derived from a range of activities. Overall the analysis identified a range of instances where modification or redesign in line with systems thinking could potentially improve behaviour and safety. A notable finding is that there are opportunities for redesign outside of the physical rail level crossing infrastructure, including improved data systems, in-vehicle warnings and modifications to design processes, standards and guidelines. The implications for future rail level crossing systems are discussed.

Land Use Conflict Across the Airport Fence: Competing Urban Policy, Planning and Priority in Australia

Land use planning within and surrounding privatised Australian capital city airports is a fragmented process as a result of: current legislative and policy frameworks; competing stakeholder priorities and interests; and inadequate coordination and disjointed decision-making. Three Australian case studies are examined to detail the context of airport and regional land use planning. Stakeholder Land Use Forums within each case study have served to inform the procedural dynamics and relationships between airport and regional land use decision-making. This article identifies significant themes and stakeholder perspectives regarding on-airport development and broader urban land use policy and planning. First, it outlines the concept of the “airport city” and examines the model of airport and regional “interfaces.” Then, it details the policy context that differentiates on-airport land use planning from planning within the surrounding region. The article then analyses the results of the Land Use Forums identifying key themes within the shared and reciprocal interfaces of governance, environment, economic development and infrastructure. The article concludes by detailing the implications of this research to broader urban planning and highlights the core issues contributing to the fragmentation of airport and regional land use planning policy.

Sociotechnical urbanism: new systems ergonomics perspectives on land use planning and urban design

ABSTRACT Land use planning and urban design is in need of disruption. Theory and practice have been caught in a cyclical process of reflection and review, without significant change, for more than half a century. This required disruption is not technological, but methodological, and will provide an opportunity for the optimisation of urban development and city form. Land use planning and urban design have not had the tools to manage the complexity and often competing priorities that are presented in urban development. Here it is argued that ergonomics science and sociotechnical systems understandings of urbanism provide new, and necessary, ways forward for the design and development of our cities and towns. Sociotechnical urbanism will allow for multidisciplinary perspectives and empirical evaluation of the complex interactions between humans, technology and artefacts within modern urban environments.

New Knowledge for Built Environments: Exploring Urban Design from Socio-technical System Perspectives

This paper details the value in exploring, applying and disseminating Human Factors methods in Urban Planning and Design. This innovative research recognises that from a paradigm perspective there are similarities between the challenges faced in both disciplines. The authors have applied Cognitive Work Analysis CWA to explore a range of built environment issues. The findings have allowed for a clearer interpretation of the systems relationships within urban design contexts --- from the functional purposes, to the important objects contained within them. This paper highlights the applications, and discusses the implications for future research and practice. It is concluded that the research contributes to a better understanding of the interdependencies between the designs, user experience and engineering requirements of key urban design projects.

Evaluation of novel urban rail level crossing designs using driving simulation

Rail level crossings (RLXs) are a public safety concern internationally. The design of the RLX environment has been implicated in many recent crashes. In this study we evaluated three novel RLX design concepts using a driving simulator. Participants completed four drives, each incorporating one of the RLX designs (one baseline and three novel designs) in both train coming and train not coming mode. Measures of speed and braking on approach were analyzed, along with subjective measures of workload and usability. Superior driving behavior and subjective ratings were achieved for a design that incorporated an in-vehicle device while the lowest subjective ratings were given in relation to a shared space design that incorporated a simplified crossing environment and sharing of the road environment between motorized and non-motorized users. The implications for RLX safety are discussed.

Human Factors in Land Use Planning and Urban Design: Methods, Practical Guidance and Applications

This book furthers the role of human factors methods in land use planning and urban design that was recognised by Stevens and Salmon in 2014. At a simplistic level the issues found in both discipline areas are one and the same: the design of the environment brings about emergent behaviours that in some cases are not optimal. Such inquiries are often described as humans and systems not behaving as they were expected to; problems which impact overall system performance, and often issues that have been resistant to a range of an ongoing technical interventions. The same is true for many of the challenges in land use planning and design, including crime prevention and safe cities, the prioritisation of walkable and cycleable neighbourhoods, or the design and implementation of enduring, accessible and attractive public open space. [Book Synopsis]

Size Matters: Dwelling Size as a Critical Factor for Sustainable Urban Development

Abstract A critical residential planning objective through much of world is how to create sustainable urban development. Within this context, the average Australian home has been rapidly increasing in size to be among the largest in the world. An innovative approach was used to form a conceptual framework from a critical review of academic literature. It illustrates that the increase in dwelling size is counterproductive to sustainable urban development challenges of urban consolidation, green urbanism and housing affordability. A review of selected government policy and industry guidelines at spatial scales of neighbourhood, region and nation is used to validate the framework. It reveals that issues associated with dwelling size are not represented in strategic approaches. The outcome of this research is a conceptual framework, which illustrates the relationship between increasing dwelling size and its effect on urban sustainability.

Applying Ecological Interface Design principles to the design of rural highway-rail grade crossing infrastructure

Countries such as Australia and USA have many rail level crossings (a.k.a. highway-rail grade crossings) with limited protection (e.g., static signs only or flashing lights but no physical barriers). Lower cost design solutions are required as upgrading crossings using current infrastructure treatments is cost-prohibitive. Here we applied Ecological Interface Design (EID) principles to develop a novel rail level crossing design for high-speed rural roads, and then evaluated the design via two driving simulator studies. Experiment 1 provided an initial concept evaluation of the crossing, then Experiment 2 evaluated the crossing in safetycritical situations, including when a distractor was present and when crossing infrastructure was damaged through vandalism. Driving performance, subjective workload, and usability were compared against existing rural crossing designs. Findings suggest the EID crossing provides a feasible alternative to existing designs, with the potential to encourage safer decision-making by road users and thus reduce collisions.

A social network analysis of the goal scoring passing networks of the 2016 European Football Championships

In the current study, social network analysis (SNA) and notational analysis (NA) methods were applied to examine the goal scoring passing networks (GSPN) for all goals scored at the 2016 European Football Championships. The aim of the study was to determine the GSPN characteristics for the overall tournament, between the group and knock out stages, and for the successful and unsuccessful teams. The study also used degree centrality (DC) metrics as a novel method to determine the relative contributions of the pitch locations involved in the GSPN. To determine changes in GSPN characteristics as a function of changing score line, the analysis considered the match status of the game when goals were scored. There were significant differences for SNA metrics as a function of match status, and for the DC metrics in the comparison of the different pitch locations. There were no differences in the SNA metrics for the GSPN between teams in the group and knock out stages, or between the successful and unsuccessful teams. The results indicate that the GSPN had low values for network density, cohesion, connections, and duration. The networks were direct in terms of pitch zones utilised, where 85% of the GSPN included passes that were played within zones or progressed through the zones towards the goal. SNA and NA metrics were significantly different as a function of changing match status. The current study adds to the previous research on goal scoring in football, and demonstrates a novel method to determine the prominent pitch zones involved in the GSPN. These results have implications for match analysis and the coaching process.