Researchers from our top-rated Engineering Department have used travel to cricket matches at Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham to test a new tool designed to help cut transport emissions in cities.
The study looked at how thousands of supporters travel to the stadium on match days and used this as a real-world case study for a new five-step framework for transport decarbonisation.
The framework helps planners design digital twins (digital versions of real places and transport systems) to explore ‘what if’ scenarios before making changes in the real world.
The research, published in Urban Science, was led by researchers from our Engineering Department and will support the development of a prototype passenger transport digital twin for the West Midlands.
Up to 25,000 spectators can travel to Edgbaston on match days, with these journeys accounting for as much as 80 per cent of the event’s emissions.
Although the stadium has regular bus links from Birmingham city centre, it is described as a transport desert because it is not well connected to other parts of the city.
Nearby railway stations are at least a 30-minute walk away, while local road closures can also disrupt journeys.
Using the new framework, researchers set out how a digital twin could help planners test options such as extra shuttle buses, improved rail-to-bus links, park and ride services, new active travel routes and changes to match day road access.
The digital twin would also use real-time data, including bus occupancy, parking demand and traffic conditions, to help improve journey planning and influence traveller behaviour.
The five-step framework was developed through a workshop with transport planners, local authorities, consultants and researchers.
It focuses on five key areas: impacts, interventions, location types, data sources and feedback mechanisms.
Lead author Dr Heather Steele from our Engineering Department and a TransiT researcher, said: “Decarbonising transport in cities is complex. Digital twins can help us understand this complexity.
“But we need to know how planners would practically use them, starting with what real-world scenarios they want to test.
“Our five-step framework is designed to start bridging that gap, and travel to Edgbaston Stadium is one of the case studies we used to test our approach.”
The work forms part of TransiT, a UK research hub using digital twins to find lower-cost, lower-risk ways to decarbonise transport.
Our Department of Engineering is ranked fifth in the UK in the Complete University Guide 2026. Visit our Engineering webpages for more information on our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.
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