Improving urban accessibility: A methodology for urban dynamics analysis in smart, sustainable and inclusive cities

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DOI: 10.2495/SDP-V12-N3-357-367
IMPROVING URBAN ACCESSIBILITY: A METHODOLOGY
FOR URBAN DYNAMICS ANALYSIS IN SMART,
SUSTAINABLE AND INCLUSIVE CITIES
R. PÉREZ-DELHOYO1, C. GARCÍA-MAYOR1, H. MORA2, V. GILART-IGLESIAS2 &
M.D. ANDÚJAR-MONTOYA1
1Department of Building Sciences and Urbanism, University of Alicante, Spain.
2Specialized Processors Architecture Laboratory, Department of Computer Technology and Computation,
University of Alicante, Spain.
ABSTRACT
Despite the improvisations of current urban accessibility regulations and their application in urban
systems, it is a fact that our cities are not accessible. Both, the assessment of the effectiveness of urban
accessibility and its maintenance over time are issues that require a more consistent approach. In order
to address these aspects, it is necessary to have an accurate awareness of the existing condition of
urban accessibility. Therefore, the way this information is transformed into specific data, which must
be collected, stored and assessed, is one of the main challenges that smart cities face. This research
helps implement an integrated system for urban accessibility analysis, combining the latest advances
in the Information and Communication Technologies, such as RF & GPS positioning, smart sensing
and cloud computing. The main goal of this research is to develop a reliable and effective method to
assess public space accessibility with special focus on people with disabilities, by eliciting from users
personal experiences. Consequently, the data obtained will enable a better design for improving pedes-
trian mobility. As a result, a computational architecture for urban dynamics analysis has been designed.
Finally, technology and data processing have been validated as an effective system for data collection,
and, as a first approach to users’ real experience, it has been proposed to have a testing scenario at the
University of Alicante,.
Keywords: accessibility, computation architecture, inclusive cities, smart cities, smart sensors sustain-
able cities, technology-aided urban design.
1 INTRODUCTION
Despite the improvisations of current urban accessibility regulations and their systematic
application in urban systems, it is a fact that our cities are not accessible in many cases.
People with disabilities, either temporarily or permanently, are still facing an urban environ-
ment that is inaccessible, full of obstacles and indifferent to their daily problems [1]. The
level of accessibility of urban public spaces absolutely affects the citizens’ standard of living
and limits their possibilities of enhancing relationships and social integration [2]. That is
why, both the assessment of effectiveness of urban accessibility and its maintenance over
time, are issues that require a more consistent approach.
In this regard, Information and Communication Technology – ICT – involved in the smart
cities concept has much to offer [3, 4]. The large development of ICT allows us to interact
with an urban environment providing a huge amount of data and information about the cities
we live in [5]. A key aspect to deal with regard to the tasks of assessment and maintenance,
as well as to detect and manage different problems of accessibility, is to have an accurate
awareness about the current state of urban accessibility. This real and updated knowledge on
Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 1
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urban accessibility will help in improving mobility and liveability of cities and, thereby, the
quality of life and welfare of all citizens.
In this context, the United Nations Convention establishes that states are responsible for
formulating continuous assessing and monitoring programmes towards achieving equal
opportunities for people with disabilities, developing and disseminating technologies related
to disability [6]. This approach represents an important change in the understanding of disa-
bility and emphasizes the need to include disability as an objective of relevant strategies for
sustainable development [7]. Thus, the European Disability Strategy 2010–2020 [8] is cur-
rently being developed within the framework of the Europe 2020 Strategy [9], which focuses
on enhancing knowledge and innovation, integration and equality, as major pillars for achiev-
ing smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Thus, smart cities concept can make the most of
its human capital [10].
In line with this approach, this research implements an integrated system for the analysis of
the urban accessibility by integrating it with the latest advances in ICT, such as RF & GPS
positioning, smart sensing and cloud computing. The system proposed is part of the objectives
of the European Disability Strategy and exposes the most vulnerable citizens as active partici-
pants. In short, the main goal of this research is to develop a methodology to evaluate the
accessibility of urban public space from the knowledge of the citizen´s own experience, spe-
cially focused on people with disabilities.
Consequently, the present work is structured as follows: Section 2 gives an overview of the
related work on urban actions and technology used for the analysis of accessibility in cities;
Section 3 describes the proposed methodology for improving urban accessibility; Section 4
explains the architecture of the proposed system, based on urban dynamics analysis, and
shows the experimentation conducted; and finally, in Section 5, some conclusions are drawn.
2 RELATED WORK
2.1 Urban actions
The actions carried out to improve urban accessibility have been greatly influenced by
European guidelines. Broadly, the actions undertaken at the national, regional and local levels
have been classified in three axes established in the European Disability Strategy, which are:
awareness, education and information.
However, urban accessibility is an independent matter at the local level. Although national
and regional plans have served to define general guidelines and deadlines for action, compe-
tent institutions to develop these guidelines and address the specific problems of accessibility
have been the city councils at a local level. Theoretically, local accessibility plans have been
the most operative instruments. They have been responsible not only for cataloguing the
existing barriers in the different municipalities, but also inmaking proposals for their elimina-
tion in accordance with current regulations. Increasingly, they are including citizen
participation, taking into account social awareness, and have the support of better trained
technicians.
Nonetheless, the important legal and regulatory progress and the huge effort, both technical
and economical, that has led to the development of local plans have not achieved the expected
results. In fact, if we look at the example of Spain, substantial differences have not been
reached by the municipalities that have had accessibility plans and those that do not have [11].
This makes it necessary and urgent for a review of the methodologies used up until now.
2 Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

2.1.1 Limitations of the methodologies employed and requirements for a new method to
improve the accessibility of cities
Basically, current methods have been applied in certain urban areas in isolation, without giv-
ing importance to maintaining their quality over time. The absence of comprehensive
mechanisms to evaluate the effective accessibility of the urban environment, as well as moni-
toring its evolution, is one of the main weaknesses of the current methodologies. The local
application of standards of accessibility is now a common practice. However, the evaluation
of its effectiveness has not been consolidated as part of the process.
Likewise, current methodologies have other serious limitations: (1) Many barriers have
been identified but the causes or factors that contribute to these barriers have not been ana-
lysed. (2) Neither have the modes of behaviour of the different groups to compare and detect
inequalities been contemplated. Current methods have been able to determine and quantify
certain isolated problems but have not provided the mechanisms to deal with the diversity of
citizens. (3) Only static methodologies are always implemented and, therefore, participatory
processes have been integrated only partially. Therefore, they have lacked a global strategy.
Thus, a new method to improve the accessibility in cities requires: (1) To move towards
proposals with integral features, which are addressed not only to the removal of barriers but
also to prevent their occurrence. (2) To provide mechanisms for assessing the current condi-
tion of accessibility, as well as monitoring and controling their effectiveness through time.
(3) To allow to consolidate the transversal nature of accessibility, and tackle urban and social
complexity. (4) To integrate citizen participation into all its mechanisms and processes. (5) To
be flexible enough to suit social diversity and nature of the different cities.
Although progress is being made towards models based on encouraging mobility, since the
first accessibility plans where implemented, further research is still necessary to endow these
models the ability to integrate multiple aspects that can affect urban accessibility. Accessibil-
ity can no longer be conceived separately. The concept of city itself demands an integrated
approach that fits its spatial complexity and the diversity of its inhabitants [1].
2.2 Technology used for the analysis of accessibility in cities
Traditionally, the methods used to obtain information about the status of urban accessibility
have been mostly based on surveys [12, 13], interviews [14] and audits or direct observation
[15]. Other studies have provided mathematical or statistical analysis of these data [16]. In
addition, self-reporting tools have allowed for obtaining information from certain places with
the collaboration of users [17].
On the other hand, the evaluation of accessibility of urban environments has been mostly
associated with processes for informing citizens about the number of urban opportunities.
The higher the number of services, the greater the accessibility of an environment, regardless
of the capabilities of the user citizens. These processes have been mainly based on the calcu-
lation of close relationships and intensities of use, and they have been primarily supported by
Global Positioning Systems technologies – GPS – for positioning and Geographic Informa-
tion Systems – GIS – for displaying data and spatial analysis.
Progressively, the dimension of disability has been taken into account with the introduc-
tion of the concepts of absolute and relative access, for measuring time differences in the
implementation of specific walks as well as the impact of the elimination of certain obstacles
[18, 19]. The main limitations of these technologies have been associated with differences in
scale; they have been valid in specific actions but not effective for the urban scale.
Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 3

Accessibility must be incorporated into the city becoming an automatism. Thus, at the
present time we face a new challenge: to stop proposing additional technology to the existing
design and to begin incorporating it as a part of the urban organism. In this way, urban acces-
sibility finds an optimal scene of opportunity in the context of smart cities. The concepts of
ubiquitous and smart cities make use of processing technologies, sensing and communica-
tions to provide intelligence to the city while offering connectivity resources, power supply
and interoperability [20]. These conditions facilitate the deployment of interconnected smart
elements that provide services to citizens for efficient decision-making and to make better use
of resources [21].
Increasingly, the methods for assessing the aspects that affect the functioning of the city
are based on evidence, i.e. the study of the citizens’ behaviours. A good example of this trend
is the Information System on the public transport of London [22]. Actually, these participa-
tory processes based on the analysis of urban dynamics are part of a challenging field of
research to improve urban accessibility.
2.2.1 Technologies for urban dynamics analysis
The most accurate technology to determine the position and deduce the movement is GPS
[23], but it only works outdoors and requires the users to allow reporting their position
through their devices to a third-party application. In addition, the GPS functionality requires
high energy consumption, which means that although it is available on many mobile devices
[24], in most cases it is disconnected.
Other wireless communication technologies such as Global System for Mobile communi-
cation – GSM – or local area wireless computer networking – WIFI – and Worldwide
Interoperability for Microwave Access – WiMax –, also have a high penetration rate in mod-
ern societies. Although these networks are not designed for tracking purposes, the paths of
the connected devices can be calculated from one base station to another [25]. However, the
accuracy offered by these technologies may not be enough. Low Energy Bluetooth beacons
– BLE – also enable communication with mobile devices [26]. These latest spread systems
require low energy but users also ‘have to give permission to access to their mobile devices’
can be rephrased as ‘have to give permission to access their mobile devices.
An alternative to the above methods is Radio Frequency Identification technology – RFID –
[27, 28]. RFID is increasingly being used in the design of user-centric applications, both indoors
and outdoors. Furthermore, RF tags are distributed in several formats, such as prepaid plastic
cards, tickets, electronic keys and even clothing labels. Several researches have used this kind
of technology for tracking people [29–31]. RFID technology neither requires the cooperation of
users nor involves energy costs as that of GPS technology. Nonetheless, its scope is not compa-
rable to GPS, because it depends on the position of the antennas and its scope.
The citizen track-and-trace issue is not new as evidenced by the number of researches
made. In fact, there is some concern among users and authorities on maintaining the privacy
of individuals, due to the large number of devices connected at the users’ hands.
3 PROPOSAL OF A METHODOLOGY FOR IMPROVING URBAN ACCESSIBILITY:
OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES
As it was previously specified, after a period of intense legislative development it is a chal-
lenge for modern cities to know whether the protection provided by the regulations on urban
accessibility is effective or not; and whether its application guarantees people with disabili-
ties the access to urban environments. In order to address this challenge, methodologies that
4 Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

recognize whether the implementation of these regulations meets the everyday needs of peo-
ple with disabilities are needed.
In this regard, the main objective of this research is to design a methodology for assessing the
effectiveness of urban accessibility and to monitor its maintenance over time. For this purpose,
a system has been designed to measure the real use of public spaces by people with disabilities
as well as its evolution. This is an information system about routes, dynamics or patterns of
behaviour, which can also be compared with those obtained from people without disabilities.
As a result, not only do we have a real knowledge of the participation of people with dis-
abilities in cities, but a mapping of effective accessibility is also obtained. The main
functionalities of the system are described below.
3.1 Continuous assessment and monitoring of urban accessibility
A proposed system that addresses the assessment and monitoring of urban accessibility
according to three levels of approximation:
3.1.1 Identification of ‘accessible’ and ‘inaccessible’ public urban spaces
In a first approximation, the system can identify the ‘inaccessible’ urban pathways and spaces
that are either infrequently or never walked by people with disabilities; regardless of being or
not adapted to a regulation on accessibility. As well, the system can identify the ‘accessible’
urban pathways and spaces that, on the contrary, are frequently chosen by people with
disabilities.
From this first identification, it is possible to determine the parameters that characterize
and qualify, if any, these spaces that are perceived by people with disabilities as ‘accessible’
or ‘inaccessible’ spaces in their daily activities.
3.1.2 ‘Identification of ‘inclusive’ public urban spaces
In a second approximation, the system can recognize the ‘inclusive‘spaces that are highlighted
as magnificent integration environments in the city. These are spaces where people with and
without disabilities converge. Such spaces and their characterization – that is, which elements
define these spaces – interest us especially in order to reproduce models that are chosen by all
individuals and can be applied in the construction and redevelopment of cities.
3.1.3 Identification of other possible scenes
In more specific successive scales, the system can identify many other possible scenes. For
example, the existence of urban spaces to which, despite intense activity being developed,
people with disabilities can never obtain access; or spaces or urban areas where certain groups
associated with a particular form of disability feel especially attracted. Or even accessible
spaces that with certain frequency turn into inaccessible or just spaces that have permanently
lost their accessibility.
These three levels of approximation described are fundamental mechanisms for monitoring
and control to ensure continuous assessment and maintenance of effective accessibility in cities.
3.2 Decision-making in prioritizing actions to improve urban accessibility
The information recorded in the assessment and maintenance processes also allows addressing
a second objective, to support the decision-making to set priorities for improvement actions in
Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 5

the public space in the short, medium or long term. A depth analysis not only provides infor-
mation about the real situation of accessibility but also helps to identify priority elements on
which interventions should be carried out because of their influence on the other urban ele-
ments and their ability to contribute to improving accessibility in nearby environments.
4 AN INTEGRATED SYSTEM FOR URBAN DYNAMICS ANALYSIS
In order to address the assessment of urban accessibility and its maintenance, it is necessary
to have an accurate and updated awareness of its current condition. Therefore, the way this
information is transformed into specific data is currently a challenge faced by smart cities. In
this regard, this research implements an urban accessibility monitoring system based on the
urban dynamics analysis, i.e. the study of the movement habits of citizens and the knowledge
of their own experience. Specifically, the work is focused on pedestrian mobility, particularly
in the most vulnerable group of people with disabilities.
As a result, an integrated system has been designed, which covers the following aspects:
first, data collection, i.e. obtaining the citizens’ location and experience; secondly, structuring
and storage of the information collected; and finally, the collection, comparison and analysis
of the flow of citizens’ movement. The overall architecture of the proposed system is shown
in Fig. 1 and the design aspects of the system are described in the following sections.
4.1 Method for acquiring citizens’ location and experience
The method is based on the research works [32–34] previously carried out by this research
group. The different parts are listed in the following text.
The acquiring architecture corresponds to the distributed part of the overall architecture of
the system. The main objective of this infrastructure is to obtain the locations of citizens
when they are moving in indoor and outdoor environments of the city. For this purpose, two
complementary technologies are used: (1) GPS positioning technology to take advantage of
the wide park of phones and wireless devices that this technology incorporates. In this case,
the users´ collaboration, as well as permission to give their location is required. (2) RFID
communication technologies to track and trace citizens. These technologies have increasing
implementation and many devices can incorporate it.
The system is based on the automatic reading of citizens’ locations. It continuously obtains
individual locations through both RFID and GPS technologies. The contents of RFID tags or
GPS locations are received by the acquisition devices through the ‘Acquisition module’.
When a location is received, it is sent to the ‘Optimizer module’ that is responsible for indi-
cating if the data should be stored or discarded for being redundant. If the information is
valid, single locations are stored in the local database –‘Persistent module’. The ‘Generating
locations message module‘is responsible for monitoring and controlling the optimal number
of single locations that are reached to create a message. If so, a location message is created
and stored in the local database –‘Persistent module’. When ‘Location message sender‘detects
new messages it starts transmitting by connecting to the central system. When the message is
sent and stored in the central system, the system returns a message confirming the reception
and the original message is finally deleted from the local system. Finally, through the ‘Time
synchronization module’the synchronization problem of the system components is solved. In
addition, an application for mobile devices has been designed to let users report in real time
about their own experience [35]. It is possible to send comments, photos and reports anony-
mously through it.
6 Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

4.2 Method for structuring and analysing urban accessibility information
In the central part of the architecture is located the ‘Accessibility middleware‘that enables the
separation of the process of receiving and storing location messages from the process of
transformation and information processing included in the messages.
The analysing architecture implements the urban accessibility information service located
in the centralized part of the overall architecture of the system. The urban accessibility infor-
mation service is supported by the Enterprise Service Bus –ESB – integration infrastructure.
The results are shown in two ways: according to the paradigm Business to Customer –B2C –,
which allows the interaction of users with the system; and according to the paradigm Busi-
ness to Business –B2B – that connects consumers with the system using Web services to
improve decision-making. Both protocols can define search filters to supervise a specific
urban area.
When the system receives an information search, it begins the process of inference –‘Infer-
ence module’ – consisting of the following steps: (1) citizens’ location information,
the‘Persistent module,’ is structured and completed to build movement flows of citizens
–‘Citizens’ flow generation module’. (2) ‘Citizens’ flow classification module’analyses the
generated routes and creates patterns of behaviour classified by type of disability. To accom-
plish this, disability types must have been facilitated by people with disabilities –‘Persistent
module’. (3) These patterns are processed by the ‘Citizens’ flow comparison module,’which
compares the paths of citizens with and without disabilities. In this last step, the final addition
is the information of citizens’ experience of the application designed for mobile devices
–‘Persistent module’.
4.3 Experimentation
4.3.1 Technology and data processing validation
The capabilities of reading technology and data processing have been validated. The design
of RFID smart sensor was based on previous researches carried out by this research group
[33]. The functionalities to integrate different readings, both RFID and GPS, into the system
have been implemented in the cloud using JAVA language. In order to provide data persis-
tence, MySQL community version data base manager has been used. The B2C Presentation
Figure 1: Overall architecture of the system proposed.
Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 7

module has been developed through Web technologies such as CSS, HTML5 and JavaScript
using node JS framework. For GPS technology, the position messages are received in the
service provider through the Internet. There is no problem with simultaneous readings and
they are all processed correctly.
4.3.2 Testing scenario
Finally, as a first approach to users’ real experience, a testing scenario at the University of
Alicante has been proposed. However, it was preferred to run a pilot project in a controlled
environment, like a campus, before offering more diverse contexts. The aim is to show the
capacity of the proposed system to detect accessibility problems.
The cases studied are all outdoors, so the location data have been collected with GPS
devices. From this information, the system provides a range of spatial and temporal visualiza-
tions allowing the identification of areas with accessibility problems. To show the results, the
service uses a web-based user interface from a third-party application – Google Maps
JavaScript API v3.
Figure 2 shows one of the environments studied: the path from the concierge of the Poly-
technic IV building to the concierge of the Optics building (coordinates: 38.38288, −0.51063).
The blue line (A) is the route followed by people with disabilities who need a wheelchair, and
the green line (B) is the route followed by people without disabilities. The shortest way is not
accessible (A-route length: 196 m; B-route length: 66 m).
In the same way, Fig. 3 shows a second environment studied: the path from the concierge
of the Germán Bernácer building (coordinates: 38.38288, −0.51063) towards one of the park-
ing of the campus. There is a variation of 35 m in length between the (A) route in blue and
the (B) route in green. The shortest way is not accessible again. The materials used in the
construction of the pathway are not appropriate for easy access of people with disabilities
who need a wheelchair.
The results shown in Figs 2 and 3 have been obtained by analysing the GPS routes sent to
the server through the citizens’ mobile devices. The route that is finally shown is the diagram
resulting from the combination of the read routes during a period of time. For the purpose of
experimentation, it is necessary to count on the cooperation of students with and without dis-
abilities who voluntarily configure their mobile devices to communicate the paths followed
inside the campus to our server. Thus, the privacy issues are also avoided.
Figure 2: Different routes detected because of problems with movement (1).
8 Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

5 CONCLUSIONS
In the present work a method has been designed, based on the urban dynamics analysis,
which allows the evaluation of the effective accessibility in urban environments and the con-
trol of its maintenance over time systematically.
The proposed system provides support in making decisions to prioritize improvement
actions in public space. It also allows the collection, recording and analysis of spatial data
and information about the real state of accessibility. These are all accomplished from the
urban operation itself, by including mechanisms to give voice to people with disabilities. The
obtained data will enable better design for improving pedestrian mobility in cities.
In this sense, a challenge for future works is to develop this integrated system with chan-
nels of information and coordination towards different administrations, associations,
professionals, technicians and people with disabilities and society in general.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank the Association for Integration of Mentally Ill in Alicante and Province – AIEM –,
and the Association of People with Cerebral Palsy in Alicante – APCA – “Infanta Elena”
Centers, for their support as the Observing Promoter of this project.
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