More than transportation: An integrated framework to evaluate how streets serve all users

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We are in the middle of a paradigm shift in transportation with the development and adoption of new technologies, sharing and on-demand services. This is happening during a sizable renewal and densification of urban cores in many North American cities and a push by these cities for more sustainable and active modes of transportation, and for overall improved livability. For transportation engineering, this means a shift from planning for car-dominant environments to more multimodal and better integrated transportation systems and built environments. This is happening because, in addition to their core goals, the impacts of transportation systems and facilities are evaluated on a growing number of areas: the environment, the economy and the society, including public health and quality of life. A vast array of indicators have thus been derived to measure the performance and impacts of transportation systems and facilities. This research deals with streets, including the public spaces along them like sidewalks and public squares. On the contrary to roads whose main functions are the (through) movement of motorized vehicles and to a lesser extent access to land and buildings, streets serve other functions and a larger variety of users with different abilities and needs. A third function, the "place" function, may be the most important one and essentially what distinguishes a street from a road. It is related to the propensity to encourage activities and socializing, including strolling, playing, exercising and shopping. In addition, these functions should be fulfilled while minimizing the negative impacts on public health (including accident injuries) and the environment. Although there are norms and guides to design streets to serve some of these functions, the framework and the tools are missing to evaluate quickly, continuously and systematically how streets actually operate, based on the observation of all their users. For example, new facilities for non-motorized users are rarely evaluated on more than two criteria, primarily safety, and there is no integrated diagnosis of how well these facilities serve all their functions and all users, nor of what their other impacts are. The main objective of this research program is to develop an original framework and automated methods for the integrated evaluation of the functions of streets and the impacts of their use based on the observation of all users.