Inclusive Pedestrian Routing Through Personalization and Real-Time Feedback in Smart Cities

Sammanfattning

As cities work to become smarter and more sustainable, the need for inclusive mobility solutions grows. While traditional navigation tools focus on efficiency, they often neglect individual needs related to accessibility and comfort. This thesis explores how personalized routing systems can better support diverse pedestrian groups in urban environments. By building on previous work, a mobile application was developed and adapted to the city of Lund. The application allows users to input their own mobility preferences, such as minimizing elevation, avoiding poor pavement or walking through greener and quieter areas, and generates custom pedestrian routes accordingly. A real-time feedback system was also integrated, enabling users to rate individual segments and influence future route suggestions. The system was evaluated through field testing and simulations. The results suggest that even a simple feedback loop can make routing systems more adaptive and aligned with real-world experiences. Users preferred routes that reflected their own priorities, and the application adjusted over time based on feedback. This shows the potential of combining user input and environmental data to support more inclusive pedestrian mobility. The methodology and system developed in this thesis can serve as a foundation for further research and practical implementation in other cities aiming to promote accessibility and user-centered urban design.