Key-words : pedestrians and micromobility; statistical physics; modelling; urban design; adaptation to climate change
Place : Institut Lumière Matière (CNRS & Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne), near Lyon, France.
Context. Active modes of transportation, such as walking, cycling, and sometimes riding e-scooters, are being strongly promoted in France [1] and in Europe, to make cities more sustainable.However, these active modes highly vulnerable to:
hindrances on the road or on the pavement
accidents: pedestrians, bikes and e-scooters are major victims (and causes) of road accidents, with around 100 injuries per million bicycle or e-scooter trips, and the smooth coexistence between modes raises challenges
climatic conditions: cities must adapt to make active mobility more resilient against heat waves.
Hence the issue of how to best arrange public space and define good practices for smoother mixed flows .
Goals. The project aspires to gain insight into these major challenges by exploring them through the lens of physics-based modelling. Ultimately, it aims to guide urban redesign by proposing best practices for sustainable urban design
Missions. The PhD student will build on the agent-based models of pedestrian dynamics recently developed in the host team [2] and extend them to active modes in interaction. This modelling framework is based on a coupling between a decision-making layer and a mechanical layer and accounts for anticipation. Besides modelling, the project will also include the conduction of controlled experiments and the collection of field data, and the development of a platform to simulate the impact of cooling solutions on crowd flows.
Required competences:
* A Masters' Degree in Physics, Applied Maths, or a related field
* Strong programming skills
* The candidate must already show some level of autonomy in carrying out research and be intent on exploring new interfaces between fields
* Discussions and interactions with urban planners and stakeholders are to be expected; fluency in French would be an asset
Salary: around 2200 Euros gross salary per month. Social security is included.
Application process (no deadline -- until position is filled):
To apply, you should send a detailed CV including the contact details of 3 reference people (professors, supervisors, etc.) along with a cover letter to
Please specify "[PhD AcMod]" in the subject of the email. Informal enquiries are welcome!
References
[1] Guide du Cerema CEREMA “Promouvoir les modes actifs dans les plans de déplacements urbains", 2016.
[2] I. Echeverría-Huarte and A. Nicolas, “Body and mind: Decoding the dynamics of pedestrians and the effect of smartphone distraction by coupling mechanical and decisional processes,” Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, vol. 157, p. 104365, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2023.104365
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