Simulate the traffic in your town with SUMO

Overview

Goals

The learning activity aims to encourage students to create a basic network of their town road network and to simulate traffic using the software availability of the Simulation of Urban MObility (SUMO) tool. The activity will encourage students to engage in urban design activities and to reflect on potential enhancements in traffic models, building critical thinking.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of the activity learners will: - Be able to design a basic road network for their town including multilane streets, right-of-way riles, traffic lights, and more - Be able to simulate traffic through time-continuous and time-discrete vehicle movement - Reflect on effective urban design for managing traffic - Think critically towards suggesting potential enrichments to existing networks for smoothing traffic

Context

The proposed learning activity may be deployed in formal educational contexts on urban design to facilitate vehicle traffic simulation. It may be deployed as a digital activity that helps build hands-on practical skills on urban design in experiential learning settings. Given that students cannot experiment with traffic design in real-life contexts, the activity offers an opportunity for exploration that would not be otherwise available to students. The activity and proposed digital tool may also be used individually by students at home for additional practice on urban design.