“Access” refers to the totality of opportunities reachable by a person given a specified time window (e.g., 15 minutes) and method of reaching it (e.g., walking, e-delivery)[i]. In the last few years, a variety of resources and guidebooks related to accessibility have been developed by academic committees, non-profit partnerships, international organizations, federal agencies, and other researchers. This post discusses a process of measuring access and a case study that uses automated methods to evaluate transportation projects and understand the magnitude and distribution of their benefits.

A critical task for cities considering any type of Vision Zero Plan is to identify which locations pose the highest risk of dangerous traffic collisions, so that they can be prioritized for improvements. To this end, a common strategy is to develop a High Injury Network (HIN), which identifies the streets with the largest concentration of collisions where a victim was killed or severely injured (KSI). This post discusses efficient and effective ways to create HIN’s in practice.

Procedural modeling helps planners to communicate and evaluate their ideas in a data driven, efficient, and scenario focused manner. It accelerates the iterative design and evaluation process that scenario planning demands and yields enriching visualizations that enhance the communication of planning scenarios. This post explores how procedural modeling enables custom 3D visualizations to improve upon the conventional parking occupancy map.