Modeling Barcelona sidewalks: a high resolution urban scale assessment of the geometric attributes of the walkable network

Within the framework of urban pedestrian networks, this paper presents a method of modeling the street network from the perspective of foot traffic, beyond the vehicle-focused street centerline representation approach in transportation research. A scalable method to extract the centerlines of the co...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Valls Dalmau, Francesc|||0000-0002-9400-5659, Clua Uceda, Álvaro|||0000-0002-5796-8157
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/393897
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/393897
https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284630
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Streets - Design and construction
Pedestrian areas - Spain - Barcelona
Modeling
Network analysis (Planning)
Carrers--Disseny i construcció
Zones de vianants - Catalunya - Barcelona
Modelatge
Anàlisi de xarxes (Planificació)
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Urbanisme::Planejament urbà
Descripción
Sumario:Within the framework of urban pedestrian networks, this paper presents a method of modeling the street network from the perspective of foot traffic, beyond the vehicle-focused street centerline representation approach in transportation research. A scalable method to extract the centerlines of the complete walkable urban area from its polygon representation at a one-meter resolution is discussed, using open-source tools. To evaluate the betweenness centrality in a spatially directed graph, the process is applied to the study of the ‘walkable Barcelona’, focusing on three key parameters: 1) the street width, 2) the longitudinal slope, and 3) the crosswalks connecting the sidewalk platforms. The results identify the uneven distribution of these parameters within a complex urban fabric, and the high-resolution cartography allows the identification of critical areas within the network, introducing future lines of research and applications of the workflow. This is especially relevant considering the increasing awareness of citizens and the urban agendas worldwide, aimed at improving and widening the sidewalk infrastructure that supports local activity in cities.