Urban Digital Twins and Transportation

Urban Digital Twins and Transportation research connects human mobility, transit policy, and microscopic traffic simulation in scalable computational environments.

Overview

We develop digital-twin workflows that represent travelers, transportation services, road networks, and policy choices within a common simulation environment. Current work examines socioeconomic-aware public-transit fare policies and the artifacts that parallel execution can introduce into micro-traffic simulation. The goal is not only faster simulation, but also credible interpretation of outcomes.

Research Questions

• How do fare and service policies affect travelers across socioeconomic groups?
• Which parallelization choices alter traffic outcomes or introduce artifacts?
• How can digital twins express uncertainty and remain useful for policy comparison?

Methods

• Activity-based travel demand and transit assignment
• Microscopic traffic simulation
• Parallel and distributed simulation experiments
• Equity-aware scenario and sensitivity analysis

Applications

• Transit fare and accessibility policy
• Large-scale transportation planning
• Urban digital twins
• Performance and validity assessment of simulation systems

Selected Outputs

• NYC public-transit fare policy simulation
• Understanding artifacts of parallel micro-traffic simulation
• Human mobility network simulation frameworks