Evaluating the Impact of an Integrated Urban Design of Transport Infrastructure and Public Space on Human Behavior and Environmental Quality: A Case Study in Beijing

Urban transport infrastructure can result in the physical, psychological and environmental separation of neighborhoods, public spaces and pedestrian networks, leading to negative impacts on citizens’ daily commutes, social activities and the quality of the ecosystem. An integrated design of transport infrastructure and public space is beneficial for mediating these negative impacts. In this paper, we propose an integrated methodology, which combines urban design, computational scenario evaluation and decision-making processes, based on a conceptual model of human and ecological needs-driven planning. To evaluate the impacts of the road network and public space design on individual outdoor activities, travel behavior and air pollution, an agent-based model is demonstrated. This model is then applied to a case study in Beijing, leading to hourly traffic volume maps and car-related air pollution heat maps of a baseline road network-public space design