Urban Network Analysis: Tools for Modeling Pedestrian and Bicycle Trips in Cities

Andres Sevtsuk, Essay, expanding design practices, High Density, Territory and mobility, Urban Paradigms

Accessibility, Active Public Spaces, Analysis, Architect’s role, Bicycle, Built environment, City development, Comfortable environment, Cultural agitator, Demography, Density, Developing policies, Digital design, Essay, Infrastructure, Megacities & High Density, Mixed use, Mobility, Network, Pedestrian realm, Territorial Approach, Territory&Mobility, Transportation Systems, Urban design, Urban mobility, Urban research, Urban sprawl

Excerpt from Urban Network Analysis by the City Form Lab at Havard University GSD.
A short introductory video about the UNA toolbox, as well as a few screen-recorded tutorials can be found online at: http://cityform.gsd.harvard.edu/projects/una-rhino-toolbox.

Design of the built environment – the spatial arrangement of buildings, blocks, streets, public spaces and the socio-economic functions they house – produces a variety of influences on urban mobility patterns and mode choices. Sprawling developments, where destinations are far apart and routes between them wide and fast, incentivize motorized trips. High density, mixed-use environments, with diverse destinations connected through a network of quality sidewalks, incentivize walking, biking and face-to-face encounter. City form and land-use patterns influence whether, how often and along which paths people choose to walk.