Modeling Concepts for Mixed Traffic: Steps Toward a Microscopic Simulation Tool for Shared-Space Zones

Many urban planners see shared space as an appropriate design concept for busy urban roads or through roads in villages to limit the domination of motorized individual transport. As a result, there are a growing number of cities interested in experimenting with shared space zones. However, there is a general reluctance to realize these projects as there is little knowledge about the actual consequences and a lack of instruments in order to investigate the changes during the he discussions evolve around safety issues but also the effectiveness of the design (capacity restrictions). The conditions under which a shared space is reasonable are not known precisely. While relatively mature simulation tools exist for conventional road designs, no such tool is available for shared space designs as there are added degrees of freedom in movement as well as more complex social interactions. In order to support the planning, such simulation tools are needed that allow assessing the issues in question during the planning stage. This paper presents a first step towards a simulation tool for shared space. The main modeling concepts of the simulation are presented here. These are an infrastructure model incorporated into a microscopic traffic simulation. Furthermore, we present a vehicle model and an underlying game theoretic tactical model that can deal with the social interactions happening in a shared space environment. Lastly, first model calibration results are presented to give a preliminary assessment of the functionality of such a model.