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

随着新技术、共享和按需服务的开发和采用，我们正处于交通运输范式转变的过程中。这发生在北美许多城市的城市核心大规模更新和密集期间，这些城市正在推动更可持续和更活跃的交通方式，以及整体改善的宜居性。对于交通工程来说，这意味着从以汽车为主的环境规划转向更多方式和更好地整合交通系统和建成的环境。这是因为，除了其核心目标之外，还评估了交通系统和设施对越来越多领域的影响：环境、经济和社会，包括公共健康和生活质量。因此，人们得出了大量的指标来衡量交通系统和设施的性能和影响。这项研究涉及街道，包括街道沿线的公共空间，如人行道和公共广场。道路的主要功能是机动车辆的移动，其次是通往土地和建筑物的通道，与之相反，街道服务于其他功能和更多具有不同能力和需求的用户。第三个功能，“场所”功能，可能是最重要的功能，也是区分街道和道路的根本原因。它与鼓励活动和社交的倾向有关，包括散步、玩耍、锻炼和购物。此外，应履行这些职能，同时将对公众健康(包括事故伤害)和环境的负面影响降至最低。虽然有规范和指南来设计街道，以满足其中一些功能，但缺乏框架和工具，无法根据所有用户的观察，快速、持续和系统地评估街道的实际运作情况。例如，对非机动车用户的新设施的评估很少超过两个标准，主要是安全性，而且没有对这些设施为其所有功能和所有用户提供服务的情况进行综合诊断，也没有对它们的其他影响进行综合诊断。这项研究计划的主要目标是开发一个独创的框架和自动化方法，基于对所有用户的观察，对街道的功能及其使用的影响进行综合评估。

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.