Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes special study report entitled : Design evolution of interior pedestrian space. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes special report study entitled : Perception of space in motion. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes special report study entitled : Internalizing the exterior urban space. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Thesis (M.P.P.P.A.)--Concordia University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-86)

People with vision impairment have various challenges in wayfinding, navigation, and crossing signalized intersections. They often face physical and information barriers that impede their mobility and undermine their safety along a trip. Visually impaired people usually use a white cane as their primary aid when crossing urban traffic intersections. In order to improve their mobility, safety and accessibility, it is important to provide an assistive system to help them in intersection navigation and to provide information regarding the surrounding environment. While assistive systems have been developed to help visually impaired pedestrians to navigate and find their way, using these systems may be inconvenient. Furthermore, none of the currently available systems provide communication between the users and traffic signal controller that can help them request pedestrian crossing signal timing. Emerging connected vehicle technologies can provide a solution to assist visually impaired people and address their challenges. Conflicts between vehicles and vulnerable road users (VRUs) often result in injuries and fatalities. A situational awareness system could be based on wireless communications between vehicles and VRUs for the exchange of situational awareness information. Compared to the radar-based and vision-based systems, the wireless-based system. can improve VRUs’ safety, especially in non-line-of-sight (NLOS) situations. In particular, it can be very helpful when drivers are making a right or left turn where there is a pedestrian in a crosswalk and visibility conditions are poor. The Smart Walk Assistant (SWA) system was designed, developed, and tested during the research of this dissertation. It includes two wireless communication pathways; pedestrian-to-infrastructure (P2I) and pedestrian-to-vehicle (P2V). The first communication pathway enables users to send a pedestrian signal request to the traffic signal controller and receive traffic signal status. The second communication pathway enables pedestrians and vehicles to exchange information, including location, speed, and heading, that can be used to detect possible conflict between pedestrian and vehicles and provide conflict alerts. The SWA system may be especially beneficial to pedestrians with disability (e.g., blind or visually impaired pedestrians) who would benefit from active support to safely cross streets at signalized intersections. Developing a reliable situational awareness system for pedestrians is much more challenging than for vehicles because a vehicle’s movement is more predictable and usually remains in the lane in the road. In order to provide better location-based services for pedestrians, a position accuracy is needed of, at most, the width of a crosswalk or sidewalk. The SWA system includes a method to estimate a pedestrian’s position. The algorithm is based on integrating Map-Matching and an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) in a connected vehicle environment to provide precise location information. The system architecture for the SWA application was developed to be applicable for both a simulation environment and a real world traffic system. Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation environment is developed and calibrated to mimic the real world. Comprehensive testing and assessment of the system and algorithms are conducted in simulation as well as field test networks.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is a bus-based public transport system that increase the effectiveness of public transportation through dedicated lanes with busways and independent stations. However, the low capacity at the stations and the high demand of the system increases the respiratory diseases risk caused by the interaction between pedestrians. This article proposes to make the main access point an entrance only and the access point at the opposite end of the platform an exit only, allowing one-way walking paths. This research is focused on the reduction of conflict points between pedestrians generated by walking flows in opposite directions. A BRT station located in the city of Lima was used as a case study for the investigation. It was identified for the peak hour that the area with the highest pedestrian interaction occurs in the station platform and boarding areas. The efficiency of the proposal is validated by using the Viswalk software. The results obtained show that the conflict points decreased by 68.5% and the pedestrian density by 45%. From that perspective, the pedestrian flows were optimized, and the risk of respiratory diseases was reduced.

Fully Autonomous Vehicles (FAVs) have the potential to provide safer vehicle operation and to enhance the overall transportation system. However, drivers and vehicles are not the only components that need to be considered. Research has shown that pedestrians are among the most unpredictable and vulnerable road users. To achieve full and successful implementation of FAVs, it is essential to understand pedestrian acceptance and intended behavior regarding FAVs. Three studies were developed to address this need: (1) development of a standardized framework to investigate pedestrians’ behaviors for the U.S. population; (2) development of a framework to evaluate their receptivity of FAVs; and (3) investigation of the influence of the external interacting interfaces of FAVs on pedestrian receptivity toward them. The pedestrian behavior questionnaire (PBQ) categorized pedestrian general behaviors into five factors: violations, errors, lapses, aggressive behaviors, and positive behaviors. The first four factors were found to be both valid and reliable; the positive behavior scale was not found to be reliable nor valid. A long (36-item) and a short (20-items) versions of the PBQ were validated by regressing scenario-based survey responses to the fiveactor PBQ subscale scores. The pedestrian receptivity questionnaire for FAVs (PRQF) consisted of three subscales: safety, interaction, and compatibility. This factor structure was verified by a confirmatory factor analysis and the reliability of each subscale was confirmed. Regression analyses showed that pedestrians’ intention to cross the road in front of a FAV was significantly predicted by both safety and interaction scores, but not by the compatibility score. On the other hand, acceptance of FAVs in the existing traffic system was predicted by all three subscale scores. Finally, an experimental study was performed to expose pedestrians to a simulated environment where they could experience a FAV. The FAV in the simulated environment was either equipped with external features (audible and/or visual) or had no external (warning) feature. The least preferred options were the FAVs with no features and those with a smiley face but no audible cue. The most preferred interface option, which instilled confidence for crossing in front of the FAV, was the walking silhouette.

Pedestrian traffic monitoring is in its infancy, and the volatility of pedestrian traffic creates a need for guidance on site selection in traffic monitoring programs. A robust knowledge base surrounding pedestrian traffic patterns and the degree to which a single counting station is representative of a larger area are essential in developing an accurate program for estimating pedestrian traffic volumes. This research analysed long term hourly data from automated pedestrian counting devices on four consecutive blocks along an entertainment area corridor to determine the shifts in temporal pedestrian traffic characteristics and volumes along a corridor. Features of the built environment were identified that can aid in estimating pedestrian traffic patterns along a corridor. Results indicate daily pedestrian traffic volumes can vary significantly between consecutive city blocks, limiting the applicability of a single count location to represent a larger area. Additionally, shifts in temporal traffic patterns occur over short distances. / May 2016

This study considers the dynamic pedestrian detection system and the static pedestrian detection system with a single camera. In the static detection system, this study reconstructs the static database. As to feature extraction, HOG combining with SVM classifier is used in this study. Experimental results show the database can detect people by this algorithm in several scenes. In the dynamic detection system, because the population of older persons and disabled persons increases gradually nowadays, cross the intersection is a challenge for older persons and disabled persons, so this study researches in dynamic pedestrian detection system by a single camera for assisting autonomous transport robots, and this system detects people at the intersection for assisting older persons and disabled persons when they cross the intersection. As to the algorithm this study uses the foot detection algorithm to detect dynamic pedestrians. According to the experimental results, the light and clothes effect on the experimental results both in the dynamic pedestrian system and the static pedestrian system. The dynamic pedestrian system still shows real-time performance not only in the longitudinal direction but also in the lateral direction.

Thesis (M.C.E.)--University of Delaware, 2009. / Principal faculty advisor: Earl E. Lee, II, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering. Includes bibliographical references.