By Ines Aviles-Spadoni, M.S., UFTI Research Coordinator
Sangung Park is a new postdoctoral associate at the University of Florida Transportation Institute (UFTI). His work focuses on transportation and infrastructure systems engineering. Park is from South Korea. He attended the University of Seoul where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Park attended Purdue University for his doctoral studies, where he focused on developing innovative, resilient, and sustainable transportation systems and infrastructure, an area he is passionate about.
“We are living in an era that is characterized by climate shifts with frequent and intensive natural disasters,” he said. “These climate disasters threaten transportation systems and make it difficult for passengers and goods to move in an emergency.”
At UFTI, Park is working on a study that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify and analyze land areas based on their physical features, such as buildings, roads, parks, and public spaces. Urban planners traditionally carry out this process by conducting field/land surveys, using GIS and maps, gathering census data to help them understand population density, and more. This process is usually labor intensive, but Park’s research has the potential to help urban planners do their job effectively.
“Urban planners can quickly assess the vulnerability and accessibility of physical facilities for transit-oriented developments,” he said.
The study, “A Deep Learning Approach for Detecting Built Environment in Transit-Oriented Developments,” is funded by the Center for Equitable Transit-Oriented Communities (CETOC), which is a U.S. Department of Transportation grant-funded University Transportation Center (UTC), a consortium led by the University of New Orleans. The consortium includes the University of Florida, Florida Atlantic University, the University of Colorado in Denver, and the University of Utah. The CETOC focuses on transit access, multimodal infrastructure, compact and efficient land use patterns, resilience, and climate adaptation.
Park is not new to the area of sustainable infrastructure and disaster resilience. Before joining UFTI, his work included modeling post-hurricane situations, especially during recovery. To do this, he gathered cell phone location data to track when people returned to their homes after a natural disaster. By modeling these scenarios, Park’s work can help first responders, city officials, and policymakers make better decisions for a better recovery process.
Through his work utilizing AI-based methods and systems modeling, Park hopes to create more resilient and sustainable transportation systems.
“With quick and automatic assessments of the built environment, it will be easier to identify the necessary physical facilities for transit-oriented development,” he said. “In the early stages after natural disasters, urban planners can easily identify the recovery needs of the physical facilities and develop policy that is evidence based.”
Grant-funded work such as the type that Park is undertaking will ensure a future in which people and goods are moved quicker, safer, and more efficiently, especially during the early stages of a natural disaster.