UrbanAccess 2024

📣 Paper notifications are out. Congrats to all accepted authors! 🎉🥳

The workshop will be held virtually over Zoom on Oct 24th starting at 7AM Pacific (GMT -7) / 3PM London (GMT +1). See schedule. And don't forget to register! All attendees/speakers must register.

About

The Future of Urban Accessibility Workshop: The Role of AI.

Welcome 👋 to the workshop website for "The Future of Urban Accessibility: The Role of AI", which will be held virtually via Zoom in October as part of the ASSETS'24 conference.

Our goal is to bring together leading experts in human mobility, urban design, disability, and accessible computing to discuss pressing urban access challenges across the world and emerging role of AI in the design of equitable and accessible cities, transportation systems, and interactive tools for mapping and navigation. We invite contributions from practitioners, transit officials, disability advocates, and researchers.

See our Call for Participation below. Have a question? Please email us at urbanaccess2024@cs.uw.edu.

-Your UrbanAccess'24 organizers

PS: Check out the proceedings from our UrbanAccess'22 workshop here!

Workshop Organizers

Jon Froehlich is a white man with brown hair wearing a purple Makeability Lab t-shirt and a gray sports coat

Jon E. Froehlich

Professor
Computer Science
University of Washington

Chu Li

PhD Student
Computer Science
University of Washington

Maryam Hosseini

Incoming Assistant Professor
City and Regional Planning
University of California, Berkeley

Fabio Miranda

Assistant Professor
Computer Science
University of Illinois, Chicago

Andres is a caucasian man white brown hair and eyes. He is wearing a checkered-collared shirt.

Andres Sevtsuk

Associate Professor
Urban Science and Planning
MIT

Yochai Eisenberg

Associate Professor
Disability & Human Development
University of Illinois, Chicago

Timeline

Important dates for the workshop

Mon, Aug 12, 2024: Website launch and CFP published
Fri, Sep 27, 2024 (11:59PM AoE): Workshop submission deadline (submission link)
Fri, Oct 8, 2024: Acceptance notifications out. You can register here.
Wed, Oct 16, 2024: Workshop camera ready deadline
Fri, Oct 18, 2024: Accepted workshop content posted online. See schedule
Thurs, Oct 24, 2024: The virtual workshop will take place via Zoom at 7AM Pacific (GMT -7) / 3PM London (GMT +1). You must register to attend.

Call for Participation

We welcome your contributions on Urban AI + disability!

Upload your submissions 📄 to the Microsoft CMT system.
You need to make an account first. See instructions here.

How will AI transform urban infrastructure for people with disabilities—from public transportation and sidewalks to the design and use of buildings, housing, parks, and transit stations? What new mobility tools and techniques will AI enable from autonomous vehicles and micro-mobility solutions to personalized routing and accessible interactive maps? How can AI be used to effectively and ethically solve urban accessibility problems and improve the quality of life for all? How can and should people with disabilities be involved with decisions about how AI is used in cities? In this workshop, we examine the emerging role of AI in the design of equitable and accessible cities, transportation systems, and interactive tools for mapping and navigation.

We invite short papers (broadly construed), including experience reports, position papers, vision pieces, demonstrations, pictorials, or research summaries up to approximately 2,000 words on this topic (approximately 3 pages of formatted, two-column output). See example topic areas below. For the word count, you can exclude figures, tables, captions, and the reference list. As we aim for a broad representation of viewpoints, disciplines, and work practices, please choose a format that you feel best conveys your work (e.g., single column, double column, ACM template).

Submitted artifacts should not be anonymized and, in addition to their primary content, should include a bio of each author and rationale for attending the workshop. PDF submissions should be accessible following the ASSETS'24 Accessibility Guidelines. Artifacts will be reviewed and selected by the co-organizers to balance topics, geographies, and communities of focus. Accepted authors will be required to register and virtually attend the workshop via Zoom on Thurs, Oct 24th, 2024.

Our overarching goals are to identify open challenges in Urban AI + disability, share current work across disciplines, and spur new collaborations in Urban AI + disability. As a secondary goal, we aim to synthesize and publish our discussions together in a jointly authored report perhaps to the SIGACCESS Newsletter or beyond.

Please join us. We welcome your contributions! Email questions to: urbanaccess2024@cs.uw.edu

PS: Please see the diverse set of papers from our UrbanAccess2022 workshop!

Example Topics Areas

To ground and foster rich discussion, we invite short paper submissions around key Urban AI + disability themes, including but not limited to the following.

Mapping and assessing accessible pedestrian pathways, including sidewalk location and network topology, sidewalk accessibility barriers, and sidewalk surface material inference.
Using AI methods to infer and analyze travel behavior of people with unique mobility needs, including wheelchair users, the elderly, the young, and comparing travel behavior outcomes for people who use mobility aids vs. not
Techniques for the large-scale computation and assessment of spatiotemporal urban conditions that impact accessibility, such as shadows and outdoor comfort.
Autonomous vehicles and the perceptions by and opportunities for people with disabilities.
Indoor accessibility assessment and accessible indoor navigation.
Semi-automatically tracking and visualizing accessibility changes in the built environment (e.g., how do intersections change over time in cities to support people with disabilities).
Intelligent wheelchairs (e.g., semi-autonomous wheelchairs) and assistive human-robotic interaction.
The impact of environmental burdens and climate change on urban accessibility, with a particular focus on environmental and climate justice.
Making personalized, accessible maps and geo-visualizations.
Using AI-derived data for equitable urban planning and analytics.
AI challenges and opportunities related to housing and employment access and support
Perceptions of Urban AI by people with disabilities, policymakers, and transportation officials.
Overarching challenges and considerations related to ethics, bias, policy and laws, the digital divide, and data privacy and security.
And more! We welcome your ideas and contributions.

You could also build on ideas from the diverse set of papers presented at our UrbanAccess2022 workshop!

Submitting

To submit, the lead author should create an account on Microsoft CMT. Then, you can create a new submission here. On that page, click the "Create new submission" link.

The submission page will ask for the title, abstract, authors, and then a field for you to upload the PDF (one per submission). When adding an author, it will first ask for their email address—if the author is not found in the CMT system, you just need to manually add their name and affiliation (no need to ask them to create a CMT account).

Registration

You must register to attend UrbanAccess 2024. You can register here. But please read the following first.

Our workshop is part of the ASSETS'24 conference. You do not have to register for the full conference to attend the workshop. The registration prices are set by ASSETS'24 organizers and include accessibility services and staffing support.

ASSETS is an ACM conference. ACM stands for the the Association for Computing Machinery and is the largest scientific and educational computing society in the world. If you are not yet an ACM member, but publish at ACM venues, it often makes financial sense to become one. See ACM’s membership options.

	ACM/SIG Member	Non-member	Student	Student Non-member
Cost	$55	$65	$40	$55

We also encourage you to register and attend the full ASSETS'24 conference!

Workshop Schedule

Our workshop will occur on Thurs, Oct 24th at 7AM-13:30 PDT (GMT-7) / 15:00-21:30 BST (GMT+1). Our goal is to maximize interactivity and discussion together and to help build connections and forge collaborations. The workshop is roughly six hours and more than half the time is dedicated to interactive breakout sessions and full group discussions. Talks are ~5 mins each.

Scheduling a synchronous international workshop across timezones is challenging. We selected the best time that balanced availability with convenience based on authorship location.

Here's the workshop timing across selected timezones:

Thurs, Oct 24th 7AM-1PM PDT (GMT-7) | Los Angeles/Seattle
Thurs, Oct 24th 10AM-4PM EDT (GMT-3) | New York
Thurs, Oct 24th 3PM-9PM BST (GMT+1) | London, England
Fri, Oct 25th 1AM-7AM AED (GMT+11) | Melbourne, Australia

Here's the full schedule with 00:00 marking the beginning of the workshop:

Time	Description	Type
00:00-00:10	Opening remarks 👋 10 mins Starts at 07:00 PDT \| 10:00 EDT \| 15:00 BST	Talk
00:10-00:40	Introductions + Ice breaker 🧊 30 mins	Interactive
00:40-01:10	1st talk session: AI for Accessing Urban Spaces 🎤 30 mins Tactile Path Guidance via Weakly Supervised Visual Attention Suayder M. Costa, University of São Paulo, Brazil Rafael J. P. Damaceno, University of São Paulo, Brazil Henrique Morimitsu, University of Science & Tech, Beijing, China Roberto M. Cesar Jr., University of São Paulo, Brazil Making Urban Art Accessible: Current Art Access Techniques, Design Considerations, and the Role of AI Lucy Jiang, University of Washington Leah Findlater, University of Washington Jon E. Froehlich, University of Washington Exploration of Social Media Data to Understand the Perceived Accessibility in Transportation Infrastructure Steven Tanner McCullough, University of Texas at Arlington June Young Park, University of Texas at Arlington Towards a Method for Evaluating Bus Stop Infrastructure with Street Level Images and Large Language Models Artur André Oliveira, University of São Paulo Mateus Espadoto, University of São Paulo Roberto Hirata Jr., University of São Paulo Rafael J. P. Damaceno, University of California, Berkeley Roberto M. Cesar Jr., University of São Paulo	Talk
01:10-01:35	1st breakout discussions 💬 25 mins	Interactive
01:35-01:55	Full group shareout + synthesis 💬 20 mins	Interactive
01:55-02:05	1st break ☕ 10 mins Starts at 08:55 PDT \| 11:55 EDT \| 16:55 BST	Break
02:05-02:25	2nd talk session: Robotics and Autonomous Vehicles 🎤 20 mins Integrating Urban Accessibility into Human-Robot Interaction Evaluation Howard Han, Carnegie Mellon University Sarah Fox, Carnegie Mellon University Nik Martelaro, Carnegie Mellon University Lessons Learned from Developing a Human-Centered Guide Dog Robot for Mobility Assistance Hochul Hwang, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Ken Suzuki, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Nicholas A Giudice, University of Maine Joydeep Biswas, University of Texas, Austin Sunghoon Ivan Lee, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Donghyun Kim, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Visually Impaired People’s Perceptions on How Autonomous Vehicles Will Impact Everyday Life Peter A. Hayton, Newcastle University	Talk
02:25-02:45	2nd breakout discussions 💬 20 mins	Interactive
02:45-03:05	Full group shareout + synthesis 💬 20 mins	Interactive
03:05-03:20	2nd break ☕ 15 mins Starts at 10:05 PDT \| 13:05 EDT \| 18:05 BST	Break
03:20-03:40	3rd talk session: Accessible Networks and Pathways 🎤 30 mins Decoding Pedestrian Safety In Florida: Integrating Computer Vision And Network Analytical Approaches Into Discrete Regressions Ryan Lester, University of Florida Yuebing Liang, The Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology Jaehyun Ha, University of Southern California Meiqing Li, University of Central Florida Shenhao Wang, University of Florida SideSeeing: A Multimodal Dataset and Tools for Sidewalk Assessment Rafael J. P. Damaceno, University of São Paulo Lenardo Ferreira, University of Illinois Chicago Fabio Miranda, University of Illinois Chicago Maryam Hosseini, University of California, Berkeley Shenhao Wang, University of Florida Roberto M. Cesar Jr., University of São Paulo A Multi-Modal Dataset for Urban Navigation by Blind Individuals Hee Jae Kim, Boston University Kathakoli Sengupta, Boston University Masaki Kuribayashi, Waseda University Hernisa Kacorri, University of Maryland Eshed Ohn-Bar, Boston University	Talk
03:40-04:00	3rd breakout discussions 💬 20 mins	Interactive
04:00-04:20	Full group shareout + synthesis 💬 20 mins	Interactive
04:20-04:30	3rd break ☕ 10 mins Starts at 11:30 PDT \| 14:30 EDT \| 19:30 BST	Break
04:30-05:00	4th talk session: Interactions Between Urban Actors 🎤 20 mins Towards Data-Informed Interventions: Opportunities and Challenges of Street-level Multimodal Sensing Joao Rulff, New York University Giancarlo Pereira, New York University Marcos Lage, Universidade Federal Fluminense Maryam Hosseini, University of California, Berkeley Claudio Silva, New York University Signal-Vehicle Coupled Control with Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, Pedestrian and Cyclists Shakiba Naderian, University of Washington Qiangqiang Guo, University of Washington Xuegang (Jeff) Ban, University of Washington Simulating Diverse Urban Environments for AI-Driven Mobility and Accessibility Studies Wayne Wu, University of California, Los Angeles Honglin He, University of California, Los Angeles Bolei Zhou, University of California, Los Angeles Mapping, Modeling, and Measuring Walking and Walkability: The Role of AI in Enhancing Urban Pedestrian Networks Meead Saberi, University of New South Wales Tanapon Lilasathapornkit, footpath.ai Fatemeh Nourmohammadi, University of New South Wales Ahmad Emami, University of New South Wales Moloud Damandeh, University of New South Wales	Talk
05:00-05:20	4th breakout discussions 💬 20 mins	Interactive
05:20-05:40	Full group shareout + synthesis 💬 20 mins	Interactive
05:40-06:00	Wrap-up & closing thoughts 👋 20 mins Starts at 12:40 PDT \| 15:40 EDT \| 20:40 BST	Break
06:00-06:30	Optional Project Sidewalk Activity 🧑🏽‍🦽🧑🏽‍🦼🩼 30 mins Starts at 13:00 PDT \| 16:00 EDT \| 21:00 BST	Break

Don't forget to register to attend here!

Accepted Papers

Congratulations to all accepted authors! We look forward to your presentations and the subsequent discussions.
Below is a draft grouping of talk sessions.

Talk Session 1: AI for Accessing Urban Spaces

Tactile Path Guidance via Weakly Supervised Visual Attention

Suayder M. Costa, Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, University of São Paulo
Rafael J. P. Damaceno, Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, University of São Paulo
Henrique Morimitsu, Computer & Communication Engineering, University of Science & Tech, Beijing, China
Roberto M. Cesar Jr., Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, University of São Paulo

Making Urban Art Accessible: Current Art Access Techniques, Design Considerations, and the Role of AI

Lucy Jiang, Human-Centered Design and Engineering, University of Washington
Leah Findlater, Human-Centered Design and Engineering, University of Washington
Jon E. Froehlich, Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington

Exploration of Social Media Data to Understand the Perceived Accessibility in Transportation Infrastructure

Steven Tanner McCullough, Civil Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington
June Young Park, Civil Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington

Towards a Method for Evaluating Bus Stop Infrastructure with Street Level Images and Large Language Models

Artur André Oliveira, Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, University of São Paulo
Mateus Espadoto, Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, University of São Paulo
Roberto Hirata Jr., Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, University of São Paulo
Rafael J. P. Damaceno, City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkeley
Roberto M. Cesar Jr., Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, University of São Paulo

Talk Session 2: Robotics and Autonomous Vehicles

Integrating Urban Accessibility into Human-Robot Interaction Evaluation

Howard Han, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
Sarah Fox, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
Nik Martelaro, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University

Lessons Learned from Developing a Human-Centered Guide Dog Robot for Mobility Assistance

Hochul Hwang, Computer Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Ken Suzuki, Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Nicholas A Giudice, Computing and Information Science, University of Maine
Joydeep Biswas, Computer Science, University of Texas, Austin
Sunghoon Ivan Lee, Computer Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Donghyun Kim, Computer Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Visually Impaired People’s Perceptions on How Autonomous Vehicles Will Impact Everyday Life

Peter A. Hayton, Open Lab, Newcastle University

Talk Session 3: Accessible Networks and Pathways

Decoding Pedestrian Safety In Florida: Integrating Computer Vision And Network Analytical Approaches Into Discrete Regressions

Ryan Lester, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida
Yuebing Liang, The Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology
Jaehyun Ha, Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California
Meiqing Li, School of Public Administration, University of Central Florida
Shenhao Wang, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida

SideSeeing: A Multimodal Dataset and Tools for Sidewalk Assessment

Rafael J. P. Damaceno, Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, University of São Paulo
Lenardo Ferreira, Computer Science, University of Illinois Chicago
Fabio Miranda, Computer Science, University of Illinois Chicago
Maryam Hosseini, City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkeley
Roberto M. Cesar Jr., Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, University of São Paulo

A Multi-Modal Dataset for Urban Navigation by Blind Individuals

Hee Jae Kim, Computer Science, Boston University
Kathakoli Sengupta, Computer Science, Boston University
Masaki Kuribayashi, Waseda University
Hernisa Kacorri, College of Information, University of Maryland
Eshed Ohn-Bar, Computer Science, Boston University

Talk Session 4: Interactions Between Urban Actors

Towards Data-Informed Interventions: Opportunities and Challenges of Street-level Multimodal Sensing

Joao Rulff, Computer Science, New York University
Giancarlo Pereira, Computer Science, New York University
Marcos Lage, Instituto de Computação, Universidade Federal Fluminense
Maryam Hosseini, City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkeley
Claudio Silva, Computer Science, New York University

Signal-Vehicle Coupled Control with Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, Pedestrian and Cyclists

Shakiba Naderian, Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Washington
Qiangqiang Guo, Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Washington
Xuegang (Jeff) Ban, Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Washington

Simulating Diverse Urban Environments for AI-Driven Mobility and Accessibility Studies

Wayne Wu, Computer Science, University of California, Los Angeles
Honglin He, Computer Science, University of California, Los Angeles
Bolei Zhou, Computer Science, University of California, Los Angeles

Mapping, Modeling, and Measuring Walking and Walkability: The Role of AI in Enhancing Urban Pedestrian Networks

Meead Saberi, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales
Tanapon Lilasathapornkit, footpath.ai
Fatemeh Nourmohammadi, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales
Ahmad Emami, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales
Moloud Damandeh, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales