CEE Seminar (ZOOM): Collaborative Mobility Systems and Travel Behavior Modeling

Abstract: The emergences of (a) the concepts of collaborative consumption in the context of shared mobility, and (b) technology are opening a wide spectrum of research opportunities that are necessary to improve our understanding of the future of cities, transportation and travel behavior. Our cities are moving toward a collaborative environment in which shared and collaborative systems can be viable solution that would benefit users and societies. It can support sustainable, resilient initiatives where residents within communities can collaboratively play a role in improving livability of urban areas. In this presentation, two forms of collaborative systems in the context of transportation will be presented: collaborative crowdshipping model (a system where people can outsource some of their tasks to others) and shared autonomous vehicles (a set of vehicles co-owned by different households, where not only the mobility patterns of the individuals should match but also their preferences over other co-owners and over the vehicles should be considered in the study). Rooted in understanding the mobility patterns and activity participation behavior of households, these models present the key aspects that have to be considered in the design of such systems. Furthermore, the broader impacts of shifts in mobility patterns in the shape and formation of future cities are discussed.

Bio: Mahdieh Allahviranloo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the City College of New York, CUNY, with special focus on transportation systems. Her research is focused on travel behavior analysis, activity pattern recognition, urban forms and its impacts on travelers' choices, transportation networks modeling and system resiliency analysis. Mahdieh has a doctorate in civil engineering from the UC Irvine.