scholarly journals The Marginal Cost of Traffic Congestion and Road Pricing: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Beijing

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 418-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Yang ◽  
Avralt-Od Purevjav ◽  
Shanjun Li
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Road Pricing ◽  
Traffic Density ◽  
Traffic Data ◽  
City Center ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Restriction Policy ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

Severe traffic congestion is ubiquitous in large urban centers. This paper provides the first causal estimate of the relationship between traffic density and speed and optimal congestion charges using real-time fine-scale traffic data in Beijing. The identification relies on plausibly exogenous variation in traffic density induced by Beijing’s driving restriction policy. Optimal congestion charges range from 5 to 39 cents per km depending on time and location. Road pricing would increase traffic speed by 11 percent within the city center and lead to an annual welfare gain of ¥1.5 billion from reduced congestion and revenue of ¥10.5 billion. (JEL H23, O18, P25, R41, R48)

scholarly journals Identification of New Urban Centers by Using Taxonomic Methods

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-72
Author(s):  
Anita Makowska
Keyword(s):  
Private Life ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
City Center ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Applied Approach ◽  
Density Measure ◽  
New City ◽  
Taxonomic Methods ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

Abstract Research background: In recent years, the return of city and suburbs dwellers to city centers has been observed. This phenomenon is caused in particular by the growing costs of transport and time spent on commuting. From this point of view, it seems interesting to observe the prices of properties located in the suburbs in relation to the prices of properties located around city centers and to examine their similarity. The center, however, should not be identified solely as the Old Town but rather as a certain area in which the professional, cultural and private life of the citizens is concentrated. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to find a method of identifying new city centers that allow developers to create a pricing map and, consequently, to determine the appropriate price level on the primary market. At the same time, it should help appraisers to capture the relationship between values of the properties located in different parts of a city. Research methodology: The purpose of this study is achieved by deploying a taxonomic method (the modified density method) to identify new (or created) urban centers. The analysis is applied to the city of Wrocław. Results: The findings reveal that it is clearly possible to identify visually clusters constituting new city centers by using the applied method. It is also possible to indicate in an analytical way the central location of a given center. The main advantage of the applied approach is that it is of universal use, suitable both for cities where one city center dominates, and for those where the dominant center is not present and is represented, for example, by the coastline of a sea. Novelty: The density measure presented in the paper allows identifying city centers in an analytical way, based on given conditions. Habitants usually feel where the local center is, but it is not obvious how the prices of residentials might spread out in space according to those centers. The measure can be easily modified by introducing new features that characterize the centers.

scholarly journals The Contribution of Urban Morphology to the Formation of the Microclimate in Compact Urban Cores: A Study in the City Center of Thessaloniki

Urban Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Georgios-Rafail Kouklis ◽  
Athena Yiannakou
Keyword(s):  
Field Study ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Simulation Method ◽  
Urban Morphology ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
City Center ◽  
Outdoor Spaces ◽  
Microclimatic Conditions ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the contribution of urban morphology to the formation of microclimatic conditions prevailing within urban outdoor spaces. We studied the compact form of a city and examined, at a detailed, street plan level, elements related to air temperature, urban ventilation, and the individual’s thermal comfort. All elements examined are directly affected by both the urban form and the availability of open and green spaces. The field study took place in a typical compact urban fabric of an old city center, the city center of Thessaloniki, where we investigated the relationship between urban morphology and microclimate. Urban morphology was gauged by examining the detailed street plan, along with the local building patterns. We used a simulation method based on the ENVI-met© software. The findings of the field study highlight the fact that the street layout, the urban canyon, and the open and green spaces in a compact urban form contribute decisively both to the creation of the microclimatic conditions and to the influence of the bioclimatic parameters.

scholarly journals Socioeconomic inequalities and exposure to traffic-related air pollution in the city of São Paulo, Brazil

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mateus Habermann ◽  
Míriam Souza ◽  
Rogério Prado ◽  
Nelson Gouveia
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Air Pollutants ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Sao Paulo ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Traffic Density ◽  
São Paulo ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

Air pollution is a leading public health concern. In addition, poor populations have been reported as showing increased exposure to such pollution. The current study thus aimed to evaluate the socioeconomic status of the population exposed to vehicle-related air pollution in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The study used data from the 2010 Census on head-of-household’s mean monthly income and the percentage of households connected to the sewage system. Exposure to air pollutants was estimated according to traffic density in the census tract plus a 200m surrounding buffer. The relationship between exposure and socioeconomic variables was analyzed by the Kruskal-Wallis test. Exposure increased with increasing socioeconomic status (p < 0.001). The population with the highest socioeconomic status lives in the most polluted areas of the city. However, place of residence alone is not capable of measuring exposure. The study suggests that future epidemiological studies include other indicators of vulnerability.

Understanding the Shared E-scooter Travels in Austin, TX

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junfeng Jiao ◽  
Shunhua Bai
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Operation Time ◽  
Street Connectivity ◽  
Travel Patterns ◽  
City Center ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

This paper investigated the travel patterns of 1.7 million shared E-scooter trips from April 2018 to February 2019 in Austin, TX. There were more than 6000 active E-scooters in operation each month, generating over 150,000 trips and covered approximately 117,000 miles. During this period, the average travel distance and operation time of E-scooter trips were 0.77 miles and 7.55 min, respectively. We further identified two E-scooter usage hotspots in the city (Downtown Austin and the University of Texas campus). The spatial analysis showed that more trips originated from Downtown Austin than were completed, while the opposite was true for the UT campus. We also investigated the relationship between the number of E-scooter trips and the surrounding environments. The results show that areas with higher population density and more residents with higher education were correlated with more E-scooter trips. A shorter distance to the city center, the presence of transit stations, better street connectivity, and more compact land use were also associated with increased E scooter usage in Austin, TX. Surprisingly, the proportion of young residents within a neighborhood was negatively correlated with E-scooter usage.

Vexing Visibilities

2020 ◽  
pp. 139-172
Author(s):  
Bretton White
Keyword(s):  
Central City ◽  
City Center ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Private Spaces ◽  
Physical Spaces ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

Chapter 4 investigates the relationship between fear and perceptibility in the play Chamaco (2006) by Abel González Melo. Using works by queer theorist José Esteban Muñoz, it explores how gay and transvestite characters travel through and manipulate the central city spaces of Havana, most notably the Parque Central, transforming official, celebratory spaces of the nation into concealed meeting places that reveal the true, queer nature of the city. This chapter argues that this play is concerned with the ethereal, and that the transformative possibilities of queer sex—which in this play occur at the periphery of the city center—can encourage a multiplicity of citizenships that extend from the queer throughout the city, and not just at its edges. In Carlos Celdrán’s direction of Chamaco the physical spaces of stage and city are reconstructed by playing with what is visible to the audience and other characters via lighting. Celdrán makes previously “invisible” queer bodies visible by utilizing light as an inclusionary tactic. Further, he challenges ideas about utopia and dystopia, center and margin, hetero- and homonormative by collapsing the public and private spaces of street and home in his staging of the work.

Tourism in European cities

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luigino Baldassin ◽  
Massimo Gallo ◽  
Elena Mattevi
Keyword(s):  
Estimation Procedure ◽  
Price Effect ◽  
City Center ◽  
European Cities ◽  
New Information ◽  
Single Room ◽  
Price Determinants ◽  
Two Step Estimation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

The article provides new information on hotel prices and services in 26 European cities and investigates hotel price determinants. In a two-step estimation procedure, the authors first quantify the price effect of single room and hotel services and then examine the relationship between accommodation prices and city characteristics. They find that hotel services differ significantly from city to city and that room characteristics such as size, breakfast, air conditioning, and free-cancellation options are services for which customers are willing to pay a significant markup. Moreover, the service content of accommodation is negatively correlated with the value of the city center where the hotel is located: increasing competition on the European market seems to be producing partial price convergence via adjustment of service and quality content, so that cities with higher factor costs tend to cut service quality while “cheaper” towns improve it.

scholarly journals What the City Has to Offer: Urbanization and Women's Empowerment in Turkey

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kursat Cinar ◽  
Meral Ugur-Cinar
Keyword(s):  
Urban Women ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Survey Analysis ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
Impact Of Urbanization ◽  
Turkish Case ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

AbstractThis article examines the relationship between urbanization and women's empowerment through the Turkish case. The article first tests statistically the overall impact of urbanization on women's empowerment by tapping into educational, economic, and political indicators at the province level. The results yield a positive relationship between urbanization and women's empowerment. We argue that these empowerment indicators demonstrate the necessary conditions of women's empowerment, yet whether these are sufficient for women to feel empowered needs to be further tested. To do so, the article utilizes an extensive original survey of 334 well-educated urban women in 43 out of 81 provinces of Turkey to examine the extent to which the results found in the quantitative section are paralleled by the actual experiences of women. The survey analysis reveals prospects and obstacles that well-educated women face in old and new urban centers. This nonrandom, purposive sample of seemingly empowered urban women shows that the barriers faced by these women would easily multiply when lower strata of society are reached. The Turkish case demonstrates that societal transformations such as urbanization have an imprint on the fates of women, yet further women's empowerment needs collective action at the political, legal, and societal levels.

scholarly journals Comparison of Logistics Time of R3A and R3B for Transportation of Lychee Product

2021 ◽  
pp. 15-25
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
Road Traffic ◽  
Prediction Method ◽  
Transportation Safety ◽  
Traffic Density ◽  
Traffic Data ◽  
Management Application ◽  
Heavy Burden ◽  
Chinese Markets ◽  
Local Farmers

This research presents the logistics management information system (LMIS) for the supply chain of lychee products of Phayao Province, Thailand. The main aim of this research is to develop a management application for Phayao’s agricultures to improve their competitive abilities on Chinese markets by utilizing a prediction method for traffic congestion based on both real-time and anticipated road traffic. The loss of productivity caused by traffic congestion has become a huge and increasingly heavy burden on Phayao farmers. Therefore, the prediction of urban road network traffic flow and the rapid and accurate evaluation of traffic congestion is of great significance to solve this problem. By using traffic data obtained by distance, road conditions, transportation safety, traffic density, and customs clearance, the local farmers in Phayao can deliver lychee products on time and reduce the loss of high emissions and environmental pollution caused by traffic congestion effectively.

scholarly journals Effects of Smart City Policies on Green Total Factor Productivity: Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment in China

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (13) ◽  
pp. 2396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin ◽  
Qu
Keyword(s):  
Total Factor Productivity ◽  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
Smart City ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Population Expansion ◽  
Factor Productivity ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Development Patterns ◽  
City Policy ◽  
The City

When cities develop rapidly, there are negative effects such as population expansion, traffic congestion, resource shortages, and pollution. It has become essential to explore new types of urban development patterns, and thus, the concept of the “smart city” has emerged. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the links between smart city policies and urban green total factor productivity (GTFP) in the context of China. Based on panel data of 200 cities in China from 2007–2016 and treating smart city policy as a quasi-natural experiment, the paper uses a difference-in-differences propensity score matching (PSM-DID) approach to prevent selection bias. The results show: (a) Smart city policies can significantly increase urban GTFP by 16% to 18%; (b) the larger the city, the stronger and more significant this promotion.

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