CityX Lab @UNSW

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CityX is a research lab led by Dr. Meead Saberi at University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney, under the Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation (rCITI). Our research focuses on improving scientific understanding of smart cities through development and application of data-model driven methods to better plan, manage and operate urban transport systems.
Recently Published

A simple contagion process describes spreading of traffic jams in urban networks

Nature Communications, volume 11, Article number: 1616 (2020)
​https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-15353-2
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Abstract. The spread of traffic jams in urban networks has long been viewed as a complex spatio-temporal phenomenon that often requires computationally intensive microscopic models for analysis purposes. In this study, we present a framework to describe the dynamics of congestion propagation and dissipation of traffic in cities using a simple contagion process, inspired by those used to model infectious disease spread in a population. We introduce two macroscopic characteristics for network traffic dynamics, namely congestion propagation rate β and congestion dissipation rate μ. We describe the dynamics of congestion spread using these new parameters embedded within a system of ordinary differential equations, similar to the well-known susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) model. The proposed contagion-based dynamics are verified through an empirical multi-city analysis, and can be used to monitor, predict and control the fraction of congested links in the network over time.
Tweets by meeadsaberi

Urban data visualization, analytics,
​modeling, and simulation

SELECTED PROJECTS

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Large-Scale Dynamic Transportation Network Modeling
We develop advanced dynamic models of large-scale networks, specifically simulation-based dynamic traffic assignment with advanced features such as road pricing and perimeter control.
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Mapping Traffic Noise and Urban Greenery in Sydney
This project maps urban greenery and traffic noise in the Sydney CBD using emerging crowd-sourced and mobile phone-based data.
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Changing Sydney
Changing Sydney uses visual analytics to demonstrate how population and job densities has been changing in Sydney over a decade using data from ABS Census 2006 and 2016.
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Melbourne Congestion Pricing
This project builds modeling tools to evaluate the impact of different congestion pricing schemes on Melbourne network traffic to inform transport pricing policies.
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Stuck in Traffic: Macroscopic Dynamics of Network Traffic
Here, we describe the science behind urban network traffic jams, known as network traffic flow theory using our Melbourne DTA model.
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Places by Metro
​Places by Metro is an interactive application reinventing public transport users experience, connecting businesses to travelers across Melbourne.
To learn more about our ongoing and completed projects, please visit the Research page.

PhD Positions

We are continuously​ looking for talented and young students to join our research group to do a PhD in Transportation. UNSW offers postgraduate research scholarships to competitive applicants covering tuition fees and an annual stipend of $27,082 plus a possible top up and conference travel grant. If you are interested, please email us your resume.

Our research is recognized and supported by

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We collaborate with

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Location

Tell us what you think. Join us to innovate.

Whether you are a prospective student, a research fellow, or a professional working in public/private sector, you are more than welcome to work with us on exciting projects. We love innovative ideas and teamwork.

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