Title: Selection and assessment of pedestrian areas in urban environments: a model - and expert-opinion-based approach

Authors: Iraklis Stamos; Evangelos Mitsakis; Josep Maria Salanova Grau; Maria Morfoulaki; Kornilia Maria Kotoula

Addresses: Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Hellenic Institute of Transport, 6th Km Charilaou, Thermi Rd., 57001, Thermi, Thessaloniki, Greece ' Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Hellenic Institute of Transport, 6th Km Charilaou, Thermi Rd., 57001, Thermi, Thessaloniki, Greece ' Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Hellenic Institute of Transport, 6th Km Charilaou, Thermi Rd., 57001, Thermi, Thessaloniki, Greece ' Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Hellenic Institute of Transport, 6th Km Charilaou, Thermi Rd., 57001, Thermi, Thessaloniki, Greece ' Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Hellenic Institute of Transport, 6th Km Charilaou, Thermi Rd., 57001, Thermi, Thessaloniki, Greece

Abstract: Many cities worldwide have implemented pedestrian zones in the past years, as part of an effort to ease the impacts of congestion. However, as pedestrianisation directly affects traffic circulation, operation and accessibility, the issue of optimally selecting pedestrianisation areas within an urban road network is pivotal. The present paper applies a two-level optimisation method for identifying road links and axes within an urban road network, which, if selected for pedestrianisation aiming at improving the pedestrians LoS, would result in the minimum impacts on overall traffic and accessibility. The method is based on a unified network performance measure for calculating the criticality of network links. Outcomes of the proposed method are presented for a case study in Thessaloniki, Greece. Results are expressed in traffic-related performance measures (e.g., travel time). Road links for pedestrianisation are ranked and validated through a survey, targeted to experts and representatives of the responsible local governmental authority.

Keywords: pedestrianisation; criticality; traffic impacts.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIDS.2021.119377

International Journal of Information and Decision Sciences, 2021 Vol.13 No.4, pp.381 - 393

Received: 01 Nov 2018
Accepted: 09 Mar 2020
Published online: 02 Dec 2021 *

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