Projects

I address a wide range of urban challenges through innovative methods that involve analyzing and predicting the built environment and multimodal mobility systems. My projects combine industry, academic and policy stakeholders to develop systemic solutions with an impact in the real world. 

Sharing is Caring

The "Sharing is Caring" project aims to enhance carpooling in rural areas to improve resource utilization, reduce costs, and mitigate environmental impacts. The project will analyze carpooling's effects and challenges, focusing on user profiles, obstacles, and incentive systems. The project seeks to foster a sustainable mobility culture by reducing reliance on private cars and filling public transportation gaps, supported by targeted communication activities to promote behavior change. 

City Tourism Flow Management

This project develops a tourist management system to increase visitor's and resident's comfort in collaboration with TSG-Tourismus Salzburg GmbH. It will enable to plan tourism such that the added value for the City of Salzburg can grow while the city as an economic and living space is enhanced.

DOMINO

People's mobility behaviour is changing - new services and technologies are needed. The DOMINO project developed and demonstrated new solutions for Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) that are easily accessible by all users and contribute to the mobility and climate goals of the public sector.

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SHOW

The SHOW project aims to support the deployment of shared, connected and electrified automation in urban transport, to advance sustainable urban mobility. During the project, real-life urban demonstrations taking place in 20 cities across Europe will see the integration of fleets of automated vehicles in public transport, demand-responsive transport (DRT), Mobility a Service (MaaS) and Logistics as a Service (LaaS) schemes.

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perceiving:spaces

How do people move in public space? We explored this question using a variety of new techniques as part of a collaboration between Carlo Ratti Associati, Austrian Institute of Technology, BRIMATECH and ÖBB-Infrastruktur. A better understanding of human perception will allow to increase walkability and to develop technologically-enhanced and responsive urban infrastructure for pedestrianized environments. This project has created new planning tools to support architects, real estate developers and public transport providers. 

(C) Wiener Linien

auto.Bus - Seestadt 

This project developed technologies for autonomous minibuses intended for the use in local public transport to further increase their efficiency and operational safety. This includes the robust recording of the vehicle's surroundings, a trust-building interaction between the bus and the passengers or road users in the road space as well as planning tools for the optimal design of the vehicle, the stops and the line layout. The project was coordinated by Wiener Linien in collaboration with the Austrian Institute of Technology, KFV, TÜV Austria, Siemens AG Austria and Navya.

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Metro Delhi: Passenger Flows

The project performed pedestrian behavior research in public transport infrastructures in New Delhi (India). Through data collection, simulations and tool-based evaluations, different metro train layout configurations were investigated. On-site real world validation experiments in cooperation with Metro Delhi have brought new insights for the optimization of passenger flows.

Ukraine Impact Assessment

This project was performed in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC). It explored revitalization strategies for the rearrangements of street design and developed plans for the implementation of electric trolley bus systems for the City of Lviv (Ukraine).

Urban Transport in Tbilisi

This project at the Austrian Institute of Technology is embedded in the Future Cities Program of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). It focuses on pedestrian and traffic flow simulations for planning and optimization of multi-modal transport hubs, multi-modal transport data collection and capacity building by bringing together experts from the Technical Universities and Municipal Departments of Tbilisi and Vienna.

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Future Stations

Transit stations in our cities, such as tram or bus stops, serve as connections for public transport and are a key element of a neighborhood's public realm. Researchers at the Austrian Institute of Technology, in collaboration with Vienna’s public transit authorities Wiener Linien, work on future station designs for transit stops and stations to better integrate transit functions, pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure and individual traffic lanes. By collecting and analyzing data on passenger flows and their interactions with the urban realm and its different users, new planning tools for quick assessments of station designs and multi-modal simulations were developed. This gives planning authorities the ability to better communicate complex planning processes and to create more comfortable and efficient stations for our future cities. 

VR-Planning

The project "VR-Planning [we’re planning]" enhances participatory planning processes by including Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR and AR) technologies resulting in innovative interaction approaches that provide the flexibility to be used by experts as well as citizens. This allows to experience design choices of public spaces on a highly immersive level even in early planning phases and supports policy development and engaging the community.

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(C) S. Moritsch, F. Pernkopf

Transport Buddy

How can the recent developments in automation support footpaths and improve accessibility? This research project develops an autonomous vehicle that allows for transporting small goods or freight (e.g. purchases). The TransportBuddy shares the space with pedestrians and autonomously navigates its user to a certain destination. This personal assistant is applicable in public spaces and major infrastructures such as sidewalks, public spaces, shopping areas, railway stations, airports or shopping centers.

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Perception Based Modelling

This research collaboration between the Austrian Institute of Technology and the MIT Senseable City Lab focuses on closing the gap between individual decisions based on context-related perception and the integration of this individual knowledge and preconceived expectations into mobility simulations.

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Persuasive Urban Mobility

In this research study we examined how persuasion technologies can be utilized to encourage positive modal shifts in mobility behavior in cities. We are particularly interested in studying the key persuasive strategies to enable, motivate and trigger users to shift from high energy to low energy modes. This project is a collaboration between the MIT Media Lab and the Austrian Institute of Technology.

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KINECT KINETICS

This project at MIT Senseable City Lab demonstrates how inexpensive, accessible 3D sensors can provide accurate pedestrian tracking even in congested spaces. Multiple sensors can be linked to easily scale up to study larger spaces. With this kind of sensing, we can better understand how pedestrians navigate space, and optimize the hallways, sidewalks, and plazas of our cities for their safety and comfort.

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Sense and the City

In this workshop held by the MIT Senseable City Lab, in collaboration with the BMW Guggenheim Lab, participants experimented with changing public spaces with the help of image processing, environmental sensors, and social media analysis. The workshop provided an introduction to theories and models of how people move, talk and interact in public space, and how this information can lead to a better design for public spaces.

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