Designing innovative mobility and transport strategies for a next-generation, multidisciplinary hub

One of the most ambitious national initiatives promoted by the government of Armenia is Academic City—a next-generation, multidisciplinary hub planned in the north-western area of Yerevan.

Conceived as a fully integrated urban district, Academic City will consolidate 26 universities into a single, cohesive campus, serving a projected population of over 170,000 daily users, including approximately 20,000 on-site residents at full capacity. The development is designed to merge education, research, housing, and shared services into a sustainable, accessible, and highly connected urban ecosystem.

The scale and environmental context of the project present significant challenges in terms of mobility and livability. In fact, the arid climate requires careful water resource and energy efficiency management, while advanced seismic energy dissipation technologies were incorporated into the masterplan to ensure resilience given the region’s high seismic risk.

During the Schematic Design phase, Systematica joined the design team led by gmp Architekten. The goal was delivering a comprehensive mobility and transport strategy to ensure accessibility, safety, efficiency, and long-term resilience.

The scope of work covered strategic, analytical, and design-oriented activities, including:

• The mobility master plan
• Traffic analysis and modelling
• Road design
• Railway pre-feasibility studies

The key objectives were to ensure efficient and safe access to the campus at both local and regional scales, to promote sustainable mobility and reduce car dependency, and to support long-term adaptability.

To support the development of the Academic City mobility master plan, Systematica conducted many analyses at multiple scales.

Core activities included:

• In-depth analysis of the campus transportation hub, in order to identify its strengths, weaknesses, and feasible improvements
• Right-of-Way (ROW) assessments to optimize street design
• Development of a target population distribution map to forecast demand patterns
• Parking demand and distribution
• Traffic modelling at macroscopic and microscopic scales to evaluate the mobility performance at the project’s horizon year

Systematica provided a robust analytical and strategic framework to guide mobility-related decisions for Academic City.

Key achievements are:

• Supporting future investment choices
• Enabling informed planning and design development
• Ensuring alignment between transport infrastructure and the academic, public, and metropolitan role of the campus

Between late 2025 and early 2026, the project entered its operational phase, marked by the launch of initial on-site activities and preliminary infrastructure works, thus laying the foundation for one of the region’s most transformative urban developments.