The physics of traffic and regional development

Abstract

This contribution summarizes and explains various principles from physics which are used for the simulation of traffic flows in large street networks, the modelling of destination, transport mode, and route choice, or the simulation of urban growth and regional development. The methods stem from many-particle physics, from kinetic gas theory, or fluid dynamics. They involve energy and entropy considerations, transfer the law of gravity, apply cellular automata and require methods from evolutionary game theory. In this way, one can determine interaction forces among driver – vehicle units, reproduce breakdowns of traffic including features of synchronized congested flow, or understand changing usage patterns of alternative roads. One can also describe daily activity patterns based on decision models, simulate migration streams and model urban growth as a particular kind of aggregation process.

Notes

Dirk Helbing is the Managing Director of the Institute for Economics and Traffic at Dresden University of Technology. Originally, he studied Physics and Mathematics in Göttingen, Germany, but soon he became fascinated in interdisciplinary problems. Therefore, his Master's thesis dealt with physical models of pedestrian dynamics, while his PhD thesis at the University of Stuttgart focused on modelling interactive decisions and behaviours with methods from statistical physics and the theory of complex systems. After his habilitation on the physics of traffic flows, he received a Heisenberg scholarship and worked at Xerox PARC in Silicon Valley, the Weizmann Institute in Israel and the Collegium Budapest—Institute for Advanced Study in Hungary. He gets excited when physics meets traffic or social science, economics, or biology, and if the results are potentially relevant for everyday life.

Kai Nagel is Professor for Transport Systems Analysis and Transport Telematics at the Institute of Land and Sea Transport Systems at the Technical University Berlin in Germany. He studied physics and meteorology at the University of Cologne and the University of Paris, with one Master's thesis in the area of cellular automata models for cloud formation and another one in the area of large scale climate simulations. His PhD, in computer science at the University of Cologne, was about cellular automata models for large scale traffic simulations. He then was postdoc, staff member, and research team leader at Los Alamos National Laboratory, working on the TRANSIMS (Transportation ANalysis and SIMulation System) project. In 1999 – 2004, he was assistant professor for computer science at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. His interests are in large scale simulation and in the simulation and modelling of socio-economic systems.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dirk Helbing

Dirk Helbing is the Managing Director of the Institute for Economics and Traffic at Dresden University of Technology. Originally, he studied Physics and Mathematics in Göttingen, Germany, but soon he became fascinated in interdisciplinary problems. Therefore, his Master's thesis dealt with physical models of pedestrian dynamics, while his PhD thesis at the University of Stuttgart focused on modelling interactive decisions and behaviours with methods from statistical physics and the theory of complex systems. After his habilitation on the physics of traffic flows, he received a Heisenberg scholarship and worked at Xerox PARC in Silicon Valley, the Weizmann Institute in Israel and the Collegium Budapest—Institute for Advanced Study in Hungary. He gets excited when physics meets traffic or social science, economics, or biology, and if the results are potentially relevant for everyday life. Kai Nagel is Professor for Transport Systems Analysis and Transport Telematics at the Institute of Land and Sea Transport Systems at the Technical University Berlin in Germany. He studied physics and meteorology at the University of Cologne and the University of Paris, with one Master's thesis in the area of cellular automata models for cloud formation and another one in the area of large scale climate simulations. His PhD, in computer science at the University of Cologne, was about cellular automata models for large scale traffic simulations. He then was postdoc, staff member, and research team leader at Los Alamos National Laboratory, working on the TRANSIMS (Transportation ANalysis and SIMulation System) project. In 1999 – 2004, he was assistant professor for computer science at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. His interests are in large scale simulation and in the simulation and modelling of socio-economic systems.