Ergonomics of spatial configurations: a voxel-based modelling framework for accessibility and visibility simulations

How can we assess the ergonomic comfort of a sizeable spatial configuration such as the indoor space of a complex building or an urban landscape when we design, plan, and manage the space? Is there a fundamental difference between indoor [architectural] spatial configurations and outdoor [urban] spatial configurations with respect to ergonomics?...

Smart home applications for cognitive health of older adults

The lifespan of older people is growing together with their proportion in the population growth in the older population. This leads to an increasing need for support services for older adults who will inevitably experience a significant decrease in their cognitive capabilities and mental health conditions. Cognitive functions, including...

Design for Sanitation: How does design influence train toilet hygiene?

Humans are travelling, and they may need a toilet on the go. <br/>However, they try to avoid this toilet because they perceive it as being dirty.<br/>This research project improved the Dutch train toilet's hygiene by reducing physical, mental, and social distances between toilet, dirt, and train travellers.

Trip chaining of bicycle and car commuters: An empirical analysis of detours to secondary activities

A largely overlooked mode choice factor of cycling is the mode-dependent capability of visiting several activity locations within a trip chain. Due to the bicycle’s limited reach in comparison to the car, this capability can be increased by urban environments that facilitate trip chaining by bicycle. In the present paper, we empirically study...

Substitutability as a concept to understand travel behaviour and its implications

In this paper we propose the concept of Substitutability and define it as ‘the extent to which one or multiple characteristics of the preferred travel behaviour alternative can be substituted by alternatives’. Characteristics include activity choice, mode choice, time choice, and route choice We argue it is a promising concept, which is relevant...

An Approach for Indoor Path Computation among Obstacles that Considers User Dimension

People often transport objects within indoor environments, who need enough space for the motion. In such cases, the accessibility of indoor spaces relies on the dimensions, which includes a person and her/his operated objects. This paper proposes a new approach to avoid obstacles and compute indoor paths with respect to the user dimension. The...

Easiest paths for walking and cycling: Combining syntactic and geographic analyses in studying walking and cycling mobility

Easiest paths for walking and cycling: Combining syntactic and geographic analyses in studying walking and cycling mobility

We discuss fundamentals of a new computational approach to configurative analysis and synthesis and present a number of advancements we have made in the direction of computational analysis of walking and cycling mobility. We have scrutinized the notion of distance and addressed it in correspondence with the notion of geodesic or optimum path. We...

A method to evaluate equitable accessibility: Combining ethical theories and accessibility-based approaches

In this paper, we present the case that traditional transport appraisal methods do not sufficiently capture the social dimensions of mobility and accessibility. However, understanding this is highly relevant for policymakers to understand the impacts of their transport decisions. These dimensions include the distribution of mobility and...

The Effects of Information and Communication Technologies on Accessibility

It is expected that information and communication technology (ICT) can have great impacts on traveler’s accessibility. However, understanding of the effects of ICT on accessibility is still limited. Consequently, this thesis aims to increase the understanding of such effects. The thesis develops a generic formal integrative behavioral model to...

Degrees of sustainable location of railway stations: Integrating space syntax and node place value model on railway sations in the province of North Holland's strategic plan for 2010-2040

Mobility on rails is acknowledged to be one of the most sustainable means of transportation between cities and towns. Therefore, a railway station’s location in a built environment and its degree of accessibility is essential to reach as many travellers as possible. Even though there exist several writings on network cities and TOD principles...

Studying land-use distribution and mixed-use patterns in relation to density, accessibility and urban form

Mixed use development, one of the “mantras in contemporary planning” is a multi-criterion and multi-scalar concept which has various definitions. For this research mixed-use is defined as functional mixed-use and our main interest is to understand the spatial conditions needed to increase the diversity of uses (mix) by combining compatible...

School concentration and school travel

The purpose of the research as described in this Doctor’s thesis is twofold. Firstly it is to define in how far Dutch facilities for primary and secondary education were subjected to spatial concentration during recent decades. Secondly it is intended to assess what this concentration implied for the development of the minimum necessary travel...

Micro scale spatial relationships in urban studies: The relationship between private and public space and its impact on street life

Research on urban environment by means of space syntax theory and methods tends to focus on macro scale spatial conditions. However, micro scale conditions should not be neglected. In research on street life and dispersal of crime in urban areas, it became inevitable to pay attention to the interdependence between the macro as well as the micro...

Building regulations in Europe Part II: A comparison of technical requirements in eight European countries