UCalgary researcher looks to build smarter cities using game theory and technology

A Schulich School of Engineering researcher’s interest in transportation systems has bloomed into a broader passion for creating smarter cities and communities.

For the last decade, Dr. Seiran Heshami, MSc’16, PhD’21, has used co-operative game theory approaches to help solve major transportation infrastructure issues.

Recognizing the parallels between transportation networks and complex urban systems, Heshami says she wanted to take a more holistic approach to community-building.

“I came to the realization that the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are interconnected calls for systemic solutions that are holistic and integrated,” Heshami says. “For instance, addressing poverty is not just about economic upliftment, but it also connects to education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, and economic growth.”

Her hope is help redefine the design, planning and operation of urban environments to make cities more livable, sustainable, equitable and resilient.

Infrastructure management through game theory

Heshami’s approach to smart cities was built on the foundation she created with her work in transportation infrastructure management.

After arriving at the University of Calgary in 2014 as a master’s student before earning her PhD, her research first focused on more equitable freeway-management solutions.

“Sitting in a traffic jam on a highway is a frustrating daily experience for most of us,” Heshami says. “Often, these jams occur without any accidents or road closures, mainly due to a surge in demand at (on- and off-) ramps acting as bottlenecks and vehicles forcing their way onto the freeway.” 

Often, she says, the solutions improve the conditions in one location, but can make it worse further down the road. This is where game theory comes into play.

“Game theory is the mathematical modelling of strategic interaction among rational (and irrational) players,” Heshami says. “Beyond what we call ‘games’ in common language — such as chess, poker and soccer — it includes the modelling of conflict among players while trying to achieve a balanced payoff for everyone.”

Her solution was found in dynamic bargaining “games,” where the ramp controllers are able to “talk” with each other and exchange information to find solutions that balance the traffic situation at each ramp.

She says the idea of co-operative games was popularized in movies like A Beautiful Mind, a 2001 film about mathematician John Nash, a Nobel laureate in economics whose concepts are now considered central to game theory and its applications in various sciences.

Focus on the future

While focusing on transportation infrastructure, Heshami says she started to see how her approaches could be used in a much larger context.

Her postdoctoral research has focused on “coalition game theory” — a branch of game theory that focuses on understanding how groups of players can work together to achieve common goals.

“In these games, players form alliances because they believe they can achieve better outcomes by collaborating rather than competing against each other,” Heshami says. “The theory examines how these coalitions form, how the benefits from co-operation are distributed among the members and how stable these alliances are.”

She says the benefits are numerous, including equitable benefit distribution, enhanced co-operation, decision-making flexibility, and improved stability and predictability in co-operative endeavours.

Starting as an assistant professor in sustainable systems engineering, Heshami says she is inspired to help build communities with high-functioning smart urban systems and more equitable and sustainable urban infrastructure.

“I aim to push the boundaries of my research towards the future of smart cities, integrating the social and environmental with the technological and physical elements,” she says. “I hope to see this all brought together in every aspect of smart urban systems design, development and operation.”