High-Tech Lego Model Provides Interactive Transit Planning Test Bed

"MIT researchers unveiled something earlier this month that will please toddlers and serious urban planners alike," reports Linda Poon. "It’s a model of Dudley Square—a neighborhood in the greater Boston area—about the size of a kitchen table. The roads, sidewalks, bus stations, and buildings are all made out of Lego blocks. Wee Lego figures represent pedestrians. Laid over it all is a computer-generated projection of the actual neighborhood, filling in the details of current green space and traffic in Dudley Square."

The model is a collaborative project between the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, the Changing Places group at the MIT Media Lab, and the Barr Foundation, according to Poon, designed to test ideas for a bus rapid transit system in the city.

The Lego model is only one of three interactive components, each at different scales, to the project. Also included are a second 3-D model, also made of Legos, of a Boston street, "and a touchscreen interface to illustrate the potential effects of different plans on a regional scale—such as how changes to public transit might affect people’s access to jobs."

Moving the Lego pieces around on the models produces feedback about how those changes would play out through the system.