Agent-Based Emergency Evacuation Simulation with Individuals with Disabilities in the Population

Catastrophic events have raised numerous issues concerning how effectively the built environment accommodates the evacuation needs of individuals with disabilities. Individuals with disabilities represent a significant, yet often overlooked, portion of the population disproportionately affected in emergency situations. Incorporating disability considerations into emergency evacuation planning, preparation, and other activities is critical. The most widely applied method used to evaluate how effectively the built environment accommodates emergency evacuations is agent-based or microsimulation modeling. However, current evacuation models do not adequately address individuals with disabilities in their simulated populations. This manuscript describes the BUMMPEE model, an agent-based simulation capable of classifying the built environment according to environmental characteristics and simulating a heterogeneous population according to variation in individual criteria. The method allows for simulated behaviors which more aptly represent the diversity and prevalence of disabilities in the population and their interaction with the built environment. Comparison of the results of an evacuation simulated using the BUMMPEE model is comparable to a physical evacuation with a similar population and setting. The results of the comparison indicate that the BUMMPEE model is a reasonable approach for simulating evacuations representing the diversity and prevalence of disability in the populationAgent-Based Simulation, Individual-Based Simulation, Disability, Emergency Egress, Evacuation, Reinforcement Learning

The Role of the Built Environment in Individuals with Mobility Disabilities’ Physical Activity

This study explored the relationship between the built environment and the health behaviors of individuals with mobility disabilities. The findings suggest that individuals with mobility disabilities are likely to participate in light recreation activities more often if there are opportunities to do so within convenient pedestrian distance of their residence

Socially Equitable Community Planning: Including Individuals with Disabilities in the Democratic Association of Place

Individuals with disabilities need opportunities for socially equitable association, where interactions are not premised on relational social qualifications, to realize community membership. Communities of location, defined by “place” rather than “people,” are a mechanism to avoid and an avenue to address the relational boundaries of communities of organization and culture for individuals with disabilities. The democratic associations of place supported by communities of location may be a significant factor in individuals with disabilities gaining membership in other types of social communities and being equal members of the community

Cottonwood Racquet Club

The Cottonwood Racquet Club is a private club development located in the Little Kitten Creek region of West Manhattan, Kansas

17-08 Transportation Access and Individuals with Disabilities\u27 Community Integration

This study examined the relationship between transit service patterns and the spatial organization of individuals with disabilities’ activities of daily living residing within Utah’s Wasatch Front region to provide recommendations to improve the design, planning, and management of the Utah Transit Authority’s public transportation system. The study objectives included an accessibility Index of Transit Provision to represent fixed-route bus and light-rail service capacity, and an Index of Transit Need representing the spatial organization of individuals with disabilities’ activities of daily living and indicators of transportation disadvantage. The findings suggest that 58.7% of individuals with disabilities living within the Wasatch Front Region do so in areas with greater than average transit disparity. The results identify 26 areas with very high transit disparity. Addressing those areas of higher transit disparity through prioritizing new transit investment or the reallocation of existing transit services will contribute to greater equity in individuals with disabilities’ access to activities of community living across the Wasatch Front Region

The Changing View of Physical Recreation for People with Disabilities in the USA: A More Inclusive Perspective?

Historically, people with disabilities have had limited access to physical recreation. However, as society’s view of people with disabilities and their rights has been in transition, so has physical recreation activities for people with disabilities. The purpose of this study is to examine the transition of physical activity for people with disabilities in the United States. A three-fold search process of databases, ancestral, and descendent searches were conducted, yielding sixteen studies for inclusion in this historical literature review. The results show that the earliest physical recreational opportunities for people with disabilities were based in medical response to physical needs. Today, opportunities for physical recreation for people with disabilities include therapeutic and non-therapeutic activities. Nonetheless, there is still a division in how society views recreation for people with disabilities, represented by major recreation organizations holding either medical or sociopolitical views of people with disabilities

15-12 Analysis of Walking Facility Performance Guidelines for Individuals with Disabilities

It is necessary to design and evaluate the effectiveness of walking facilities to accommodate the needs of all pedestrian groups, including individuals with disabilities. The Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) defines walking facility performance using a qualitative measure describing operational conditions, or level of service (LOS). However, how closely pedestrian LOS thresholds correspond to actual conditions are questionable. To overcome the limitations, a controlled large-scaled walking experiment involving individuals with disabilities was conducted at Utah State University (USU). A temporary circuit with the necessary walking facilities was constructed using eight foot self-standing walls. In total, 202 (160 without and 42 with disabilities) individuals were recruited to participate in the experiments and they were asked to pass through the circuit repeatedly. Individuals were tracked using the camera system and trajectory data extraction was accomplished using a software platform suite. During each experiment session, some participants were randomly selected and asked to complete a questionnaire assessing their walking experience. Using both trajectory and survey data sources, this study explored how a heterogeneous mix of pedestrians perceive and evaluate operational performance of walking facilities. Specifically, an ordered statistical approach was applied to investigate effects of environmental density on pedestrians’ perceptions. Results indicated that individuals with disabilities were less tolerant of extreme congested environments. Furthermore, analysis showed that the LOS criteria provided in HCM is inadequate in quantifying service performance of walking facilities based on the actual perceptions of individuals participated in the controlled experiment. The findings are expected to improve operational guidelines used to assess walking facility performance

14-12 Capacity Analysis of Pedestrian Facilities Involving Individuals with Disabilities

Walking facilities are important infrastructures that must be designed to accommodate the behavior of pedestrians in order to be effective. Heterogeneity in pedestrian composition is one important factor generally overlooked in walking facility design guidelines. Particularly, individuals with disabilities are often ignored due to lack of available data on their pedestrian behaviors. A controlled, large-scaled walking experiment involving individuals with disabilities was conducted at Utah State University to observe individual pedestrian behaviors in various walking facilities; these facilities include passageway and bottleneck formations. The purpose of this report is twofold: (1) to model time headway between different individual types using a mixed distribution model, and (2) to estimate passageway and bottleneck capacities and to identify the impacts of involving individuals with disabilities on capacity estimations. Results showed that the proposed model had good performance for pedestrian time headway modeling. Analysis also revealed that visual impaired individuals and individuals using motorized wheelchairs had the minimum and maximum capacity reduction effect on passageways and bottlenecks. The findings are expected to improve the facility capacity estimations required and to meet a preferred level-of-service for heterogeneous populations