An integrated framework to evaluate how streets serve all users
Sommaire
Datasets
- car-free streets
- plaza st hubert
- intersections before REV construction
- place valois (before new design 2023)
Research objectives
Engineering Sustainable and Inclusive Streets for the City of Short Distances
This age, for which a new geological epoch has been proposed given the impacts of human activity on the natural world, is characterized by a convergence of crises, from the recent COVID-19 pandemic to the now very tangible impacts of climate change. Cities are at the forefront of these crises, where they may manifest more acutely, but also offer solutions if they become sustainable. For cities to become sustainable, transport must also become sustainable.
Transport is rarely an end in itself, it "connects people with goods, services, and activities". The growing recognition of this fact has led transport engineering and planning to a shift from mobility with an emphasis on speed to a broader approach focusing on access(ibility), defined as "people's ability to reach goods, services, and activities", regardless of personal abilities and means. Such a shift highlights the importance of land use and inclusive transport options that do not require a driving license. In the context of climate change, solutions must involve the most sustainable modes of transportation, walking, cycling and public transit, and compact and mixed-use neighbourhoods, under the umbrella term of the 30-min city (and its many variants), where most needs can be met through trips shorter than the set threshold.
This research deals with ground transport facilities that include paths, streets, roads, and adjoining public spaces like squares and gardens. They have four functions relevant for transport: mobility, access, place (activities and socializing), and parking. Since the mobility function enables access to distant places, it therefore provides "remote access", while the traditional street function of access can be better characterized as "local access". These can be viewed in a figure adapted from the visual framework for sustainable development in the shape of a donut: the street functions are the basis or purpose of transport facilities. The outer boundary represents their wider impacts in different areas, where negative impacts should be minimized or kept below certain thresholds to be sustainable. It reflects that transport facilities should provide services along the four functions to varying degrees, while avoiding or minimizing negative impacts, i.e., staying in the green zone of the donut. The 30-min city with sustainable transport and inclusive, quality, facilities offers a solution for society to thrive sustainably.
While there is a mature literature on measures of access at the network level, there is a lack of knowledge and technical resources to consistently design and manage transport facilities that enable and promote inclusive and sustainable transport in a 30-min city. Planners and engineers do not know how new facilities will perform in terms of their functions and wider impacts before building them, and generally lack the resources to do the evaluations once they are built. There are very few holistic analyses of how streets operate and on the trade-offs between their different functions and wider impacts.
Summary of the research started in 2017
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.
