Prof. Dr. Hilmi Berk Çelikoğlu, a faculty member of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Istanbul Technical University, led an ambitious research project in his scientific career that aims to find a solution to air pollution, one of the biggest side effects of urban transportation, through engineering and optimization methods. In the project titled "Environmentally Friendly Optimization of Transportation Networks", it implemented a vision that focuses on environmental costs in transportation planning by managing both meso-scale dynamic traffic assignment modeling and simulation-based solution methods processes.

Within the scope of the project, the transportation network of a small-scale real settlement was re-optimized to minimize emissions caused by traffic flows. For this purpose, the problem, which was formulated as a dynamic network loading problem, was addressed with simulation-based and problem-specific definitive solution methods. One of the most innovative aspects of the project was the development of a new cost function that includes aspects such as energy efficiency, environmental factors and sustainability, in addition to traditional costs such as journey time.

"When designing transport networks, we must consider not only the 'fastest' route, but also the 'cleanest' route. Making the environmental cost of traffic part of our engineering equations has taken my scientific vision and sense of social responsibility to the next level. Making the computational load manageable with mesoscale models and performing comparative analyses with microscale simulations have solidified my researcher identity in the direction of establishing a balance between theory and practice," says Çelikoğlu.

Prof. Dr. Hilmi Berk Çelikoğlu and his team, who led the project, not only developed an academic model but also analyzed the effects of different traffic management and infrastructure improvement scenarios on emissions. In this way, critical data for cost-benefit analyses was provided to decision-makers. The developed models had the flexibility to integrate with different emission models thanks to application programming interfaces (API).

While ITU offers a tool for sustainable cities by integrating transportation engineering with environmental sciences, it also provides our pioneering academics such as Prof. Dr. Hilmi Berk Çelikoğlu with the opportunity to make a lasting impact in the scientific world and society. This project of Çelikoğlu is the product of an environment where our university produces engineering solutions for the future of the planet.