Fusion of Strategic Modelling and Microsimulation: Integrated Modelling of Transport Policy Decisions at Strategic and Micro Levels

This paper will discuss that many planning and policy decisions have both a regional and local level impact on surrounding areas. For example, a change of land use pattern in an area, such as the regeneration of abandoned or neglected sites in the city center, not only calls for a micro-level investigation but also a macro-level analysis to evaluate the effects at a city level or a district level. While policy makers are concerned with economic returns at the higher strategic level, traffic engineers are engaged in the design and implementation of the schemes at a micro operational level. Traditionally these two elements have been addressed separately using quite distinct modeling approaches. In order to improve the evaluation of a transport scheme, both macro and micro level effects should be modeled, quantified and analyzed. This paper presents research into the development of an integrated modeling approach that examined the impact of policy decisions at a strategic level and was also used to understand the effects of the scheme at a detailed intersection level.