Achilleas Psilidis

Co-ordinated and led by Assistant Professor Achilleas Psyllidis, a team of academics and researchers at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Netherlands, developed the online interactive platform for social distancing “Social Distancing Dashboard”, prompted by the imposed social distancing due to COVID-19.

The platform offers interactive maps of cities – at street and neighborhood level – that show whether it is possible or not to conform to the social distancing measures while being out in an urban public space. Specifically, it visualizes a series of factors that can affect complying with social-distancing measures: for instance, the width of pavements and public transport stops. At the same time, it contributes to the decision-making procedures regarding local interventions for containing the spread of COVID-19 in urban centers, which have proven to be most vulnerable.

The platform is freely accessible to all through the Internet. It is already used by the main municipalities of the Netherlands (for instance, Amsterdam and Rotterdam) for developing policy and for the spatial design of local interventions in the urban public space. The platform also aims at bringing awareness to citizens, particularly those belonging to the so-called high-risk groups, wishing to move through the city as securely as possible with regard to the new corona virus.

The platform is currently being expanded to include such information as commercial and other services (for instance, supermarkets, offices, schools and restaurants, among others) that attract a lot of people. Also included will be data concerning pedestrian movement, topology of road networks, and other demographic factors, aiming to recognize high-risk COVID-19 urban areas in the Netherlands and other European cities. During this expansion phase, a group of researchers from MIT Senseable City is participating in the team, also under Dr Achilleas Psyllidis. Social Distancing Dashboard has been discussed in more than 25 articles in Dutch and international newspapers and news websites. Also, it recently featured in an article by the United Nations.