Improving Urban Accessibility: A Methodology for Urban Dynamics Analysis in Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Cities

Improving Urban Accessibility: A Methodology for Urban Dynamics Analysis in Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Cities

R. Pérez-delhoyo C. García-Mayor H. Mora V. Gilart-iglesias M.D. Andújar-Montoya 

Department of Building Sciences and Urbanism, University of Alicante, Spain

Specialized Processors Architecture Laboratory, Department of Computer Technology and Computation, University of Alicante, Spain

Page: 
357-367
|
DOI: 
https://doi.org/10.2495/SDP-V12-N3-357-367
Received: 
N/A
| |
Accepted: 
N/A
| | Citation

OPEN ACCESS

Abstract: 

Despite the improvisations of current urban accessibility regulations and their application in urban systems, it is a fact that our cities are not accessible. Both, the assessment of the effectiveness of urban accessibility and its maintenance over time are issues that require a more consistent approach. In order to address these aspects, it is necessary to have an accurate awareness of the existing condition of urban accessibility. Therefore, the way this information is transformed into specific data, which must be collected, stored and assessed, is one of the main challenges that smart cities face. This research helps implement an integrated system for urban accessibility analysis, combining the latest advances in the Information and Communication Technologies, such as RF & GPS positioning, smart sensing and cloud computing. The main goal of this research is to develop a reliable and effective method to assess public space accessibility with special focus on people with disabilities, by eliciting from users personal experiences. Consequently, the data obtained will enable a better design for improving pedestrian mobility. As a result, a computational architecture for urban dynamics analysis has been designed. Finally, technology and data processing have been validated as an effective system for data collection, and, as a first approach to users’ real experience, it has been proposed to have a testing scenario at the University of Alicante.

Keywords: 

accessibility, computation architecture, inclusive cities, smart cities, smart sensors sustainable cities, technology-aided urban design

  References

[1] Joujje, I., Countering the Right to the Accessible City: The Perversity of a Consensual Demand. Cities for All: Proposals and Experiences towards the Right to the City, Habitat International Coalition: Santiago, pp. 43–56, 2010.

[2] Clarke, P., Ailshire, J.A., Bader, M., Morenoff, J.D. & House, J.S., Mobility disability and the urban built environment. American Journal of Epidemiology, 168, pp. 506–513, 2008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwn185

[3] Macagnano, E.V., Intelligent urban environments: towards e-inclusion of the disabled and the aged in the design of a sustainable city of the future. A South African example. Proceeding of the 5th International Conference Sustainable City, 2008. http://dx.doi.org/10.2495/sc080511

[4] Dodgson, M. & Gann, D., Technological innovation and complex systems in cities. Journal of Urban Technology, 18, pp. 101–113, 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10630732.2011.615570

[5] Bohn, J., Coroama, V., Langheinrich, M., Mattern, F. & Rohs, M., Living in a world of smart everyday objects-social, economic, and ethical implications. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal, 10, pp. 763–785, 2004. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10807030490513793

[6] United Nations, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006.

[7] Noga, J. & Wolbring, G., An analysis of the united nations conference on sustainable development (rio+20) discourse using an ability expectation lens. Sustainability, 5, pp. 3615–3639, 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su5093615

[8] European Commission, European Disability Strategy 2010–2020: A Renewed Commitment to a Barrier-Free Europe, 2010. 

[9] European Commission, Europe 2020: A Strategy for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth, 2010.

[10] Cossetta, A. & Palumbo, M., The co-production of social innovation: the case of living lab. Smart City. How to Create Public and Economic Value with High Technology in Urban Space, Springer, pp. 221–236, 2014.

[11] Sala, E. & Alonso, F., La Accesibilidad Universal en los Municipios, Institute for Older Persons and Social Services (IMSERSO): Madrid, 2006.

[12] Beale, L., Field, K., Briggs, D., Picton, P. & Matthews, H., Mapping for wheelchair users: route navigation in urban spaces. The Cartographic Journal, 43, pp. 68–81, 2006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/000870406X93517

[13] Inada, Y., Izumi, S., Koga, M. & Matsubara, S., Development of planning support system for welfare urban design - optimal route finding for wheelchair users. Procedia Environmental Sciences, 22, pp. 61–69, 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.proenv.2014.11.006

[14] Hashim, A.E., Samikon, S.A., Ismail, F., Kamarudin, H., Mohd Jalil, M.D. & Arrif, N.M., Access and accessibility audit in commercial complex: effectiveness in respect to people with disabilities (PWDs). Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 50, pp. 452–461, 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.08.049

[15] Mackett, R.L., Achuthan, K. & Titheridge, H., AMELIA: making streets more accessible for people with mobility difficulties. Urban Design International, 13, pp. 81–89, 2008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/udi.2008.12

[16] Church, R.L. & Marston, J.R., Measuring accessibility for people with a disability. Geographical Analysis, 35, pp. 83–96, 2003. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/geo.2002.0029

[17] Shigeno, K., Borger, S., Gallo, D., Herrmann, R., Molinaro, M., Cardonha, C., Koch, F. & Avegliano, P., Citizen sensing for collaborative construction of accessibility maps. Proceeding of the 10th International Conferencce on Web Accessibility, 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2461121.2461153

[18] Comai, S., Kayange, D., Mangiarotti, R., Matteucci, M., Ugur Yavuz, S. & Valentini, F., Mapping city accessibility: review and analysis. Studies Health Technology and Informatics, 217, pp. 325–331, 2015.

[19] Ford, A.C., Barr, S.L., Dawson, R.J. & James, P., Transport accessibility analysis using gis: assessing sustainable transport in London. International Journal of Geo-Information, 4, 2015.

[20] Yigitcanlar, T., Empirical approaches in knowledge city research. Expert Systems with Applications, 41(12), pp. 5547–5548, 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2014.02.005

[21] Neirotti, P., Marco, A.D., Cagliano, A.C., Mangano, G. & Scorrano, F., Current trends in smart city initiatives: some stylised facts. Cities, 38, pp. 25–36, 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2013.12.010

[22] Ferrari, L., Berlingerio, M., Calabrese, F. & Reades, J., Improving the accessibility of urban transportation networks for people with disabilities advances. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 45, pp. 27–40, 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2013.10.005

[23] Bajaj, R., Ranaweera, S.L. & Agrawal, D.P., GPS: location-tracking technology. Computer, 35(4), pp. 92–94, 2002. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/MC.2002.993780

[24] Moloo, R.K. & Digumber, V.K., Low-cost mobile GPS tracking solution. Proceeding of the International Conference on Business Computer and Global Information, IEEE, 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/bcgin.2011.136

[25] Zhang Y., Li, L. & Zhang, Y., Research and design of location tracking system used in underground mine based on WiFi technology. Proceeding of the International Forum on Computer Science-Technology and Applications, pp. 25–27, 2009. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ifcsta.2009.341

[26] Gómez, C., Oller, J. & Paradells, J., Overview and evaluation of bluetooth low energy: an emerging low-power wireless technology. Sensors, 12(9), 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s120911734

[27] Chawla, V. & Ha, D.S., An overview of passive RFID. IEEE Communications Magazine, 45(9), pp. 11–17, 2007. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/MCOM.2007.4342873 

[28] Ni, L.M., Zhang, D. & Souryal, M.R., RFID-based localization and tracking technologies. IEEE Wireless Communications, 18(2), pp. 45–51, 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/MWC.2011.5751295

[29] Matic, A., Osmani, V. & Mayora, O., RFID-based system for tracking people: approaches to tagging demented patients. Ambient Media and Systems, 2nd International. ICST Conference, Springer, pp. 60–65, 2011.

[30] Xiong, Z., Song, Z., Scalera, A., Ferrera, E., Sottile, F., Brizzi, P., Tomasi, R. & Spirito, M.A., Hybrid WSN and RFID indoor positioning and tracking system. EURASIP Journal Embedded Systems, 6, 2013.

[31] Lin, X., Lu, R., Kwan, D. & Shen, X., REACT: An RFID-based privacy-preserving children tracking scheme for large amusement parks. Computer Networks, 54, 2010.

[32] Mora, H., Gil, D., Lopez, J.F.C., Pont, M.T.S., Flexible framework for real-time embedded systems based on mobile cloud computing paradigm. Mobile Information Systems, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s150613591

[33] Mora-Mora, H., Gilart-Iglesias, V., Gil, D. & Sirvent-Llamas, A., A computational architecture based on RFID sensors for traceability in smart cities. Sensors, 15(6), pp. 13591–13626, 2015.

[34] Gilart-Iglesias, V., Mora, H., Perez-delHoyo, R. & Garcia-Mayor, C., A computationalmethod based on radio frequency technologies for the analysis of accessibility of disabled people in sustainable cities. Sustainability, 7(11), pp. 14935–14963, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su71114935

[35] Mora, Higinio. et al. Interactive cloud system for the analysis of accessibility in smart cities. International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics, 2016.