@article{ref1,
title="Perception of urban subdivisions in pedestrian movement simulation",
journal="PLoS one",
year="2020",
author="Filomena, Gabriele and Manley, Ed and Verstegen, Judith A.",
volume="15",
number="12",
pages="e0244099-e0244099",
abstract="The perception of urban subdivisions, deriving from regionalisation processes and the identification of separating elements (barriers), has proven to dynamically  shape peoples' cognitive representations of space and route choice behaviour in  cities. However, existing Agent-Based Models (ABMs) for pedestrian simulation have  not accounted for these particular cognitive mapping processes. The aim of this  paper is to explore the behaviour of pedestrian agents endowed with knowledge about  urban subdivisions. Drawing from literature in spatial cognition, we adapted a  region-based route choice model, which contemplates a high- and a local planning  level, and advanced a barrier-based route choice model, wherein the influence of  separating elements is manipulated. Finally, we combined these two approaches in a  region-barrier based model. The patterns emerging from the movement of agents  employing such approaches were examined in the city centres of London and Paris. The  introduction of regions in the routing mechanisms reduced the unbalanced  concentration of agents across the street network brought up by the widely employed  least cumulative angular change model (-.08 Gini coefficient). The inclusion of  barriers further raised the dispersal of the agents through secondary roads, while  leading agents to walk along waterfronts and across parks; it also yielded a more  regular usage of pedestrian roads. Moreover, the region- and the region-barrier  based routes showed deviation ratio values from the road distance shortest path  (region-based: 1.18 London, 1.16 Paris, region-barrier based: 1.43 London, 1.33  Paris) consistent with empirical observations from pedestrian behaviour research. A  further evaluation of the model with macro-level observational data may enhance the  understanding of pedestrian dynamics and help tuning the interplay amongst urban  salient elements at the agent level. Yet, we consider the movement flows arising  from our current implementation insightful for assessing the distribution of  pedestrians and testing possible interventions for the design of legible and  walkable spaces.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1932-6203",
doi="10.1371/journal.pone.0244099",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244099"
}