Urbanism and Simulation Modeling: How to Build Comfortable Cities
Currently, urban areas are increasing in population at a very high rate. Urbanization is increasing worldwide. People usually move from the countryside to the developed cities for job and educational opportunities. In developed economies, 79.2% of people live in cities. In developing countries, the amount is less, but still more than half (UNCTAD).
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Urban population growth has been fueled by new technologies that have enabled cities to build tall. The development of skyscrapers has allowed greater population densities. In the future we will see the continued expansion of today’s cities.
Urbanization has given rise to a new type of city called a megacity – that is a city of 10 million or more people. According to United Nations forecasts, there will be 43 megacities by 2030.
Manufacturing and IT jobs, as well as improved education and entertainment opportunities, attract people from both rural and urban areas. Urban areas will continue to grow with population. This continued growth will bring a number of challenges including overcrowding, housing issues, traffic congestion and reduced environmental quality.
Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the construction of the cities of the future. This means more comfortable and neat areas for pedestrians and vehicles. Urban planning is an essential step in creating a well-developed city. It leads to happier people living in this built environment. The plan includes safe and affordable housing, better public transport and public green spaces.
Pedestrian flows and parking problems
Pedestrian walkway design is important to make spaces near residential buildings comfortable for the people who live there. In addition, city planners must take into account pedestrian and automobile traffic. This can help avoid traffic congestion when entering the apartment building lot from the street.
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pedestrian walkways
Simulation modeling allows you to test different scenarios without risk. This is possible by using pedestrian flows and analyzing them before implementing the project. The simulation allows experimenting with a real digital representation of a system.
In a pedestrian simulation model, you can define the area where pedestrians can move. They will look for a faster way to their destination. It can be used to design pedestrian walkways around an apartment building.
The simulation model of pedestrian routes
A lack of parking spaces near apartment buildings can also be solved by simulation. In a model, you can test some combinations of parking lot dimensions with driveways and streets.
In addition, simulation software helps avoid traffic congestion around an apartment building by modeling car movements. A simulation model offers the possibility of predicting the situation on the road. It takes into account the current traffic flow and the road network. Traffic jams at intersections can be reduced by optimizing vehicle movements.
crowd management
Pedestrian flows need to be managed efficiently not only in the city, but also in popular, crowded places. For example, visitor behavior at the Eiffel Tower in Paris was analyzed using AnyLogic simulation software. The model simulated tourist arrivals and their behavior in open spaces.
The pedestrian flow simulation model at the Eiffel Tower
The simulation software estimated queues in front of elevators. At the same time, the rules of operation and the capacity of elevators were taken into account. The top floor had the biggest problems with queues and crowd management. Experiments with a model were useful to optimize existing visitor routes.
Public transport: bus routes
Every day, millions of people move back and forth between their workplace and their home. As a result, thousands of vehicles are driving on the roads. That leads to traffic jams and traffic jams.
Most of these vehicles run on fossil fuels. These fuels cause enormous air pollution and deteriorate air quality. The number of people owning a car is growing every year because the public transport systems are still unreliable. Therefore it needs to be updated.
Cities are trying to make their streets more bicycle and pedestrian friendly. Vienna, Munich and Copenhagen have closed entire streets to car traffic. Barcelona and Paris have more streets dedicated to bicycle traffic. Drivers in London and Stockholm have to pay a fee to go into the city. These measures make people more likely to walk, cycle or use public transport.
bus bundling
Another problem in big cities is bus bundling. In the real world, traffic jams, timetable gaps, mechanical failures, overcrowding and uneven loads cause inconvenience and affect the rest of the route. Using simulation models, the public transport company was able to calculate several indicators, including measures to address irregularities, excessive waiting times and passenger comfort levels.
Bus trunking problem simulation
The simulation model enabled experiments based on input data and evaluation of multiple ideas and combinations to solve this bus bundling. It helped public transport to serve customers efficiently.
Timetable for transit vehicles
In public transport, bus bundling means that a group of two or more transit vehicles are traveling in the same place at the same time. Therefore, bus drivers need transit vehicle scheduling that is evenly distributed along the same route. To avoid bundling of public transport buses, the designers developed the simulation model with the following components: bus stops, buses, passengers and rides.
The solution called “Equilibrium” showed the best results. This is a method used to find a way to maintain spacing between buses. With the balance policy, the buses will no longer follow the route freely. They will continuously adjust, slow down or stop until there is enough space.
Bus transportation system simulation
When the “balance” policy is used, the number of passengers on each bus is more consistent. Furthermore. The waiting time is more predictable. This avoids long waiting times and reduces the overcrowding of the buses. Implementing a simple Uber-like app for bus drivers could tell them when to wait based on network metrics, enforcing the “balance” policy.
Municipal Electric Vehicles
By 2025, 45% of public buses in the EU should be low- or zero-emission. Simulation modeling was used to plan fleet operation of municipal electric vehicles (EV) in Germany. It enabled the prediction of large-scale EV fleet tasks and the assessment of their day-to-day operations.
A user can select vehicle types (Diesel, BEV, FCEV), select the number of each type in a fleet, and set the number of charging stations in the depot and their maximum power.
The operating model for electric buses
Also, in the map view of the model, the user had an opportunity to see different types of buses moving on the streets, their charge levels, types of energy, stops and the charging station (the depot). The user could also select an option to account for the temperature effect on the vehicle’s energy consumption.
With the help of the AnyLogic model, the simulation service provider gained an insight into the potential power requirements of the charging infrastructure. They also calculated the number of vehicles of each type needed.
bike sharing
A well-developed bicycle traffic system is an important part of urban planning. It can help reduce traffic congestion and pollution. Bike sharing systems are becoming increasingly popular around the world.
In Mexico, modeling helped estimate how many people would use the applied system in each macro area. It also showed how they would behave when using a bike-sharing system.
Experimenting with the model allowed engineers to analyze the number of different demand scenarios. They identified the busiest stations in the system and determined the number of bikes at each station.
The model of the bicycle transport system
rail passenger transport
The efficiency of train terminal management affects the process of passenger control and experience. A simulation model was developed to optimize utilization of the terminal in Paris. This optimization could reduce the waiting time at the checkpoints for passengers.
The model took some elements into account. It was about typologically ordered passenger flows, the number of available control points and their flows, waiting and control areas and finally a possible pre-orientation of the passengers. The use of the simulation software helped to cope with the increased passenger volume. The use of the terminal has been optimized while improving the passenger experience.
Passenger flow at the airport
An airport offers mobility for its residents. The processes at Frankfurt Airport had to be optimized in order to improve capacity planning and reduce waiting times. It could increase customer satisfaction. The developers created an airport simulation model to develop an airport passenger flow management system.
The trajectory model and the social force model provided the required accuracy to predict passenger flow at the airport. The terminal management of the airport successfully uses the airport simulation model. This allowed managers to optimize passenger flow and avoid problems.
The role of simulation in building comfortable cities
Strong urban planning will be essential in addressing high energy consumption, poor air quality and other challenges as the world’s urban areas grow.
As we can see, optimization technologies such as simulation modeling play a significant role in building modern and comfortable cities. The simulation helps plan and improve pedestrian flows, parking lots, bus routes including electric vehicles, bike-sharing systems, and rail and airport passenger traffic.
The AnyLogic Pedestrian and Road Traffic Libraries enable users to plan, design, and simulate the dynamics of pedestrian and transport flows in urban landscapes.
Now that we have the data and know how urban planning can transform today’s cities, we need to act now. This will allow us to overcome this set of problems and make urban environments sustainable.
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