Shaping safer streets in South Korea with UCL-KOTI urban mobility collaboration

As cities worldwide shift to decarbonise transport, the explosion of ‘micromobility’ solutions – including electric scooters and e-bikes – has outpaced infrastructure planning. In South Korea, where personal mobility devices frequently share footways with pedestrians, this has created a complex safety challenge.

To address this, KOTI commissioned a pioneering study at the UCL Person-Environment-Activity Research Laboratory (PEARL), a facility capable of simulating life-sized urban environments under controlled conditions. The project, facilitated by UCL Consultants, aimed to determine the optimal lane dimensions and separation methods to reduce conflict and stress for all road users.

In South Korea, approximately 75% of cycle pathways are situated on footways alongside pedestrians. With the rapid uptake of e-scooters since 2020, these shared spaces have become potential flashpoints for accidents. Current design standards often lack empirical data on how narrow lanes or the presence of physical barriers affect human behaviour. 

KOTI needed rigorous, scientific evidence to update their national design guidelines, specifically regarding the minimum width of lanes and if physical separation between riders and pedestrians is necessary.

Recreating the Korean urban environment

The experiments were carried out by a team led by Professor Nick Tyler, Director of UCL PEARL – a unique environment designed to explore how people interact with their environment at a neurological and physiological level.

Unlike traditional traffic studies that rely on observation or questionnaires, the PEARL team used biometric sensors to measure the “preconscious” responses of riders. Participants rode e-scooters and bicycles through a variety of lane configurations – ranging from narrow 0.7m strips to wider 1.2m lanes – while navigating past mannequins positioned to simulate pedestrians.

The team measured speed, lane position and Heart Rate Variability (HRV), a key indicator of stress.

Professor Tyler comments: “Infrastructure is often designed around the vehicle, but at PEARL, we design around the person. For this project, we didn’t just want to know if a rider could fit in a narrow lane; we wanted to know how their brain and body reacted to it.

“By measuring heart rate variability, we could see that even if a rider stayed within the lines, a narrow lane without a barrier caused a significant spike in physiological stress. That stress is a hidden danger; it affects decision-making and safety. Our goal was to find the ‘sweet spot’ where infrastructure intuitively makes people feel safe.”

Data-driven design recommendations

The findings offered a nuanced blueprint for safer shared spaces. The study confirmed that a 1.2-metre lane width is the optimal standard for rider comfort and safety, whereas narrow 0.7-metre lanes forced riders to slow down and hug the lane edge furthest from the footway to avoid perceived conflict with pedestrians. Furthermore, in narrow two-way lanes (1.4m total width), participants reported marked discomfort as they were squeezed between the ‘pedestrians’ on one side and oncoming cyclists or scooters on the other. This ‘double threat’ forced riders to slow down significantly to manage their position safely.

The study also uncovered a critical distinction regarding separation methods. Introducing a physical barrier alongside the footway offered effective protection for pedestrians, and it also led riders to adjust their position away from the barrier, pushing them toward the centre of the lane and effectively narrowing their usable path.

In contrast, wide (0.5m) horizontal ‘buffer’ separation spaces gave riders the confidence to utilise the full width of the cycle path, resulting in the highest recorded travel speeds and lowest discomfort scores. The report suggests that these open buffers allow riders to see the entire situation ahead, reducing the stress of being enclosed while still providing a clear safety zone.

Seung Kook Wu, The Korea Transport Institute:

“Collaborating with UCL PEARL allowed us to access unique experimental capabilities that simply aren’t available elsewhere. The biological data provided a new layer of insight, moving us beyond simple traffic observation to understanding the human experience of safety. This evidence is vital as we update our national standards to accommodate the future of mobility.”

Beyond the street: The wider capabilities of PEARL

This project represents just one facet of UCL PEARL’s unique ability to simulate the world to understand human interaction. The facility’s expansive 44,000m3 space allows researchers to control every environmental variable – including lighting, acoustics, smell, and even ground texture – to test designs before they are built.

Recent work has extended far beyond traditional transport infrastructure. The team has, for instance, examined how immersive digital advertising and video projections in tunnels affect passenger stability and spatial perception, providing critical safety data for transit operators. Other studies have explored the acoustic signatures of e-scooters to improve pedestrian detection. By combining life-sized simulation with neuroimaging and physiological tracking, PEARL provides a safe, controlled sandbox for cities and companies to explore wider ranges of options and de-risk innovation.