Transport modelling: Where human behaviour, linear algebra and Operations Research meet

Speaker: Pedro Camargo
Affiliation: Outer Loop Consulting

Abstract

Transport modelling is a multi-disciplinary field focused on understanding human behaviour and their interactions with the built environment. The models we develop enable planners and policymakers to evaluate infrastructure, policy, and technological change through a lens that connects human choices with system-level outcomes, allowing for informed decisions on infrastructure investments and public policy.

This talk explores how our work seeks to represent and predict how people and goods move through space, combining behavioural theory with rigorous quantitative tools. We will explore how elements from linear algebra and operations research underpin many of the modelling techniques we use, such as the random utility models that capture individual travel decisions and the methods used to compute network equilibrium in congested situations.

Finally, we will explore the opportunities for mathematicians and physicists that this field presents.

Biography

Pedro is a transportation scientist and researcher with over 20 years of experience developing modelling tools and models on three continents. His project AequilibraE has become the premier Open-Source alternative in the transport modelling space, having been adopted by agencies, universities and consultancies around the world, including DTMR.

Pedro co-leads Outer Loop Consulting, a Brisbane-based company focused on transport modelling, and holds a research appointment at Argonne National Laboratory, in Chicago.