Locust behavior and city topology: A biodynamic approach for assessing urban flows

Moshe Guershon, Roee M. Francos, Amir Ayali, Tali Hatuka, Alfred M. Bruckstein

Abstract:

A city’s economic growth and the inhabitants’ wellbeing are highly affected by its topology and connecting
networks, which, in turn, influence movement and flows in the city. Flow relates to how a city is developed,
organized, managed, and built. The analysis of flow in cities is challenging but essential. In this
study, the fields of urban design and animal science are combined, and a new approach for exploring
the relationships between urban topology and physical flow is developed. Specifically, we establish an
interdisciplinary methodology to evaluate mobility performance in various urban settings, utilizing experimental
observations of the dynamic behavior of natural-biological agents, i.e., locusts, within physical city
models. Our novel approach enriches the currently available toolbox by using living organisms as indicators
for flow in physical city models. Our findings improve our understanding of the intricate flow interactions
in urban settings.