TY - CONF

T1 - Agent-Based Pedestrian Simulation as a Dynamic Representation and Co-Creative Tool in Urban Design, Potsdamer Platz as a Case

AU - Almahmood, Mohammed Abdulrahman M

AU - Schulze, Oliver

AU - Skov-Petersen, Hans

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - This paper explores the potentials of using agent-based modelling (ABM) in computer game technology to create a dynamic, playful, and interactive pedestrian simulation that can serve as a better tool of communication between designers and project stakeholders to co-create human-centred public urban spaces. The paper demonstrates how quantitative and qualitative observational data about pedestrian spatial behaviour derived from ethnographic fieldwork on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin (Germany) constitute a set of backbone data to construct agent's spatial behaviour in the simulation environment. Such data includes interviews, counting pedestrians, mapping and documenting lingering activities, ground floor analyses, as well as photographing and field notes.The Unity3D game engine was used to construct and visualise the agent-based pedestrian simulation. The simulation model considers three types of agent's behaviour. 1) purposeful and goal-oriented behaviour, 2) browsing behaviour, and 3) social behaviour. The study presented focuses on creating agents that simulate different behaviour witnessed in the observational studies on the various social groups on Potsdamer Platz. The agents were thus programmed to have the ability to navigate and avoid obstacles, perform lingering activities, as well as to be able to adapt instantly to the different physical settings of the proposed design alternatives. The findings of this paper highlight the potential of using ABM and game technology in the realm of landscape architecture and urban design. Using game technology helps to construct real-time interactive, immersive, and highly visual agent-based pedestrian simulation. Hence, rather than using static plan drawings and physical models alone, the simulation served as a dynamic tool to convey intricate behavioural patterns in the context of design team meetings and workshops with real estate owners and municipal planners. The paper also identifies the structure sets of spatial behaviour parameters required for interactive pedestrian simulation, as well as the types of physical settings and their influence on the agent’s spatial behaviour.

AB - This paper explores the potentials of using agent-based modelling (ABM) in computer game technology to create a dynamic, playful, and interactive pedestrian simulation that can serve as a better tool of communication between designers and project stakeholders to co-create human-centred public urban spaces. The paper demonstrates how quantitative and qualitative observational data about pedestrian spatial behaviour derived from ethnographic fieldwork on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin (Germany) constitute a set of backbone data to construct agent's spatial behaviour in the simulation environment. Such data includes interviews, counting pedestrians, mapping and documenting lingering activities, ground floor analyses, as well as photographing and field notes.The Unity3D game engine was used to construct and visualise the agent-based pedestrian simulation. The simulation model considers three types of agent's behaviour. 1) purposeful and goal-oriented behaviour, 2) browsing behaviour, and 3) social behaviour. The study presented focuses on creating agents that simulate different behaviour witnessed in the observational studies on the various social groups on Potsdamer Platz. The agents were thus programmed to have the ability to navigate and avoid obstacles, perform lingering activities, as well as to be able to adapt instantly to the different physical settings of the proposed design alternatives. The findings of this paper highlight the potential of using ABM and game technology in the realm of landscape architecture and urban design. Using game technology helps to construct real-time interactive, immersive, and highly visual agent-based pedestrian simulation. Hence, rather than using static plan drawings and physical models alone, the simulation served as a dynamic tool to convey intricate behavioural patterns in the context of design team meetings and workshops with real estate owners and municipal planners. The paper also identifies the structure sets of spatial behaviour parameters required for interactive pedestrian simulation, as well as the types of physical settings and their influence on the agent’s spatial behaviour.

KW - Urban planning

KW - Human-centred urban design

KW - evidence-based design

KW - pedestrian simulation

KW - agent-based modelling

KW - game engines

KW - Unity3D

KW - urban life

M3 - Paper

SP - 262

T2 - City Futures 2019 - EURA UAA

Y2 - 20 June 2019 through 22 June 2019

ER -