scholarly journals Smart-Mobility Services for Climate Mitigation in Urban Areas: Case Studies of Baltic Countries and Germany

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4127
Author(s):  
Gabriele Cepeliauskaite ◽  
Benno Keppner ◽  
Zivile Simkute ◽  
Zaneta Stasiskiene ◽  
Leon Leuser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Transportation ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Baltic Countries ◽  
Smart Mobility ◽  
Negative Environmental Impact

The transport sector is one of the largest contributors of CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases. In order to achieve the Paris goal of decreasing the global average temperature by 2 °C, urgent and transformative actions in urban mobility are required. As a sub-domain of the smart-city concept, smart-mobility-solutions integration at the municipal level is thought to have environmental, economic and social benefits, e.g., reducing air pollution in cities, providing new markets for alternative mobility and ensuring universal access to public transportation. Therefore, this article aims to analyze the relevance of smart mobility in creating a cleaner environment and provide strategic and practical examples of smart-mobility services in four European cities: Berlin (Germany), Kaunas (Lithuania), Riga (Latvia) and Tartu (Estonia). The paper presents a systematized literature review about the potential of smart-mobility services in reducing the negative environmental impact to urban environments in various cities. The authors highlight broad opportunities from the European Union and municipal documents for smart-mobility initiatives. The theoretical part is supplemented by socioeconomic and environmental descriptions, as well as experience, related to smart-mobility services in the four cities selected.

scholarly journals Development of a biking index for measuring Mediterranean cities mobility

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
L. Ros-McDonnell ◽  
M.V. De-la-Fuente ◽  
D. Ros-McDonnell ◽  
M. Cardós
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Field Data ◽  
Survey Methodology ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Urban Transport ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Sustainable Mobility ◽  
Mobility Index ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Motorized Vehicles

<p>The European Union, its member states and local authorities have been working for long time on the design of solutions for future sustainable mobility. The promotion of a sustainable and affordable urban transport contemplates the bicycle as a mean of transport. The reasons for analysing the cycling mobility in urban areas, has its origin in the confrontation with motorized vehicles, as a sustainable response to the environment. In this context of sustainable mobility, the research team has studied the use of bicycles in Mediterranean cities, specifically in coastal tourist areas.  The present work shows the development of a mobility index oriented to the bicycle, transport that competes with the private vehicle. By means of a survey methodology, the research group proceeded to collect field data and the subsequent analysis of them, for the development of a mobility index adapted to bicycle mobility, and with possibilities to adapt to urban environments.</p>

scholarly journals Analysis of the Reduction of CO2 Emissions in Urban Environments by Replacing Conventional City Buses by Electric Bus Fleets: Spain Case Study

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edwin R. Grijalva ◽  
José María López Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Urban Transport ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Cost Of Energy ◽  
Electric Bus

The emissions of CO2 gas caused by transport in urban areas are increasingly serious, and the public transport sector plays a vital role in society, especially when considering the increased demands for mobility. New energy technologies in urban mobility are being introduced, as evidenced by the electric vehicle. We evaluated the positive environmental effects in terms of CO2 emissions that would be produced by the replacement of conventional urban transport bus fleets by electric buses. The simulation of an electric urban bus conceptual model is presented as a case study. The model is validated using the speed and height profiles of the most representative route within the city of Madrid—the C1 line. We assumed that the vehicle fleet is charged using the electric grid at night, when energy demand is low, the cost of energy is low, and energy is produced with a large provision of renewable energy, principally wind power. For the results, we considered the percentage of fleet replacement and the Spanish electricity mix. The analysis shows that by gradually replacing the current fleet of buses by electric buses over 10 years (2020 to 2030), CO2 emissions would be reduced by up to 92.6% compared to 2018 levels.

scholarly journals Devising Urban Biodiversity Habitat Provision Goals: Ecosystem Services Analysis

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maibritt Pedersen Zari
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Urban Habitat ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Analysis Methodology ◽  
Negative Environmental Impact

This paper employs a unique ecosystem services analysis methodology to evaluate how cities could support or generate ecosystem services. Ecosystem services analysis can provide quantifiable goals for urban ecological regeneration that are determined by the site-specific ecology and climate of an urban area. In this research, the ecosystem service of habitat provision is the key focus. The role of urban green space and urban forests is crucial within this. Setting ambitious targets for urban ecological performance and ecosystem services provision is of great importance due to the large negative environmental impact that cities currently have on ecosystems and, therefore, ecosystem service provision, and because healthier ecosystems enable humans to better adapt to climate change through creating potentials for increased resilience. A comparative case study analysing the ecosystem service of habitat provision in two existing urban environments with similar climates (Cfb according to the Köppen Climate Classification System) but in different parts of the world, namely Wellington, New Zealand and Curitiba, Brazil, was conducted to examine how the ecosystem services analysis concept can used to devise urban habitat provision goals. The paper concludes that, although achieving habitat provision goals derived from ecosystem services analysis in urban areas is likely to be difficult, determining quantitative site- and climate-specific staged goals could enable urban design professionals to increase the effectiveness of conservation and regeneration efforts in terms of ecosystem service provision from urban green and blue spaces.

scholarly journals On the Environmental and Social Sustainability of Urban Bus Transport Practices: The EU Case

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina López ◽  
Rocío Ruíz-Benítez ◽  
Carmen Vargas-Machuca
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Life Quality ◽  
Hierarchical Structures ◽  
Social Sustainability ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Urban Bus ◽  
Bus Transport

Logistics in urban areas are currently suffering a radical transformation due to increasingly population concentration and the massive use of cars as the preferred transport mode. These issues have resulted in higher pollution levels in urban environments and traffic congestion impacting the world globally. Facilitating the use of sustainable transport modes is widely regarded as a necessity to cope with these adverse effects on citizens&rsquo; life quality. Hence, some regions, as the European Union, are encouraging bus transport firms to make their business models more environmentally and socially sustainable. The aim of this research is thus to explore how practices adopted by urban bus companies can improve cities&rsquo; sustainability. With this in mind, a combined Importance Performance Analysis (IPA)-Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was applied. In this way, both environmental and social sustainability effects of developed practices were represented through hierarchical structures separately. Subsequently, importance and performance ratings of practices in each sustainability dimension were estimated, and thus two IPA grids were generated. These grids support managers in the establishment of more effective action plans to improve logistics sustainability in cities. Findings also provide guidance to governments on the practices that should be promoted in future urban mobility plans.

scholarly journals Going carless in different urban fabrics: socio-demographics of household car ownership

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. E. Karjalainen ◽  
M. Tiitu ◽  
J. Lyytimäki ◽  
V. Helminen ◽  
P. Tapio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Transportation ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
National Level ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Neighborhood Density ◽  
Car Ownership ◽  
Sustainable Mobility ◽  
Demographic Profiles ◽  
Residential Distance

AbstractDiverse physical features of urban areas alongside socio-demographic characteristics affect car ownership, and hence the daily mobility choices. As a case of sustainable mobility, we explore how various urban environments and socio-demographics associate with the spatial and social distribution of household car ownership and carlessness in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland. Three urban fabrics characterizing the study area are established based on the transportation mode (walking, public transportation, or automobile) the physical urban environment primarily supports. The national level Monitoring System of Spatial Structure and Urban Form database, and the National Travel Survey (2016) are utilized to further include spatial and socio-demographic variables into our analysis across these fabrics. Our results show that households with and without cars differ in terms of residential distance to the city center, neighborhood density, house type, and socio-demographic profiles. Single pensioners and students are most likely to be carless, whereas families represent the opposite. Within the carless households the differences are also evident between different groups. For the more affluent households residing in dense and well-connected areas, and mostly possessing driver’s licenses, carlessness is presumably a choice. Contrarily, many other carless households represent the less affluent often located in the more distant, low-density, and less accessible areas, while also possessing less driver’s licenses, making carlessness more of a constraint, as the local urban fabric does not support such lifestyle. Consequently, carless households should be increasingly recognized as a focus group in sustainable urban planning in terms of identifiable best practices and potential vulnerability.

Transport and Health

Urban Health ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 52-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Nieuwenhuijsen ◽  
Haneen Khreis
Keyword(s):  
Urban Health ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Autonomous Vehicles ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Urban Residents ◽  
Vehicular Pollution ◽  
Traffic Jams ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Improve Health

Densely populated urban areas afford an enormous opportunity for their residents to have access to a range of salutary resources, thus avoiding some of the challenges that characterize less dense communities. However, transportation often bedevils urban areas, with limited opportunities offered for urban residents to get around cities. Traffic jams and vehicular pollution are associated with poor health of urban residents even as the data are clear that investments in public transportation are both cost beneficial and can improve health. Emerging solutions, including autonomous vehicles, stand to transform urban environments and health in these environments. This chapter discusses transportation as a determinant of health in cities, outlining challenges and opportunities for efficient and effective transportation with an eye toward emerging solutions that can improve urban health.

scholarly journals General scores for accessibility and inequality measures in urban areas

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (8) ◽  
pp. 190979 ◽  
Author(s):  
Indaco Biazzo ◽  
Bernardo Monechi ◽  
Vittorio Loreto
Keyword(s):  
Public Transportation ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Transport Systems ◽  
Scenario Simulation ◽  
Inequality Measures ◽  
To Come ◽  
Simulation Engines ◽  
Significant Effort

In the last decades, the acceleration of urban growth has led to an unprecedented level of urban interactions and interdependence. This situation calls for a significant effort among the scientific community to come up with engaging and meaningful visualizations and accessible scenario simulation engines. The present paper gives a contribution in this direction by providing general methods to evaluate accessibility in cities based on public transportation data. Through the notion of isochrones, the accessibility quantities proposed measure the performance of transport systems at connecting places and people in urban systems. Then we introduce scores ranking cities according to their overall accessibility. We highlight significant inequalities in the distribution of these measures across the population, which are found to be strikingly similar across various urban environments. Our results are released through the interactive platform: www.citychrone.org , aimed at providing the community at large with a useful tool for awareness and decision-making.

Urban Transport

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
José van
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Transport ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Transport Services ◽  
Ride Sharing ◽  
The World ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Selection Mechanisms

Platformization affects the entire urban transport sector, effectively blurring the division between private and public transport modalities; existing public–private arrangements have started to shift as a result. This chapter analyzes and discusses the emergence of a platform ecology for urban transport, focusing on two central public values: the quality of urban transport and the organization of labor and workers’ rights. Using the prism of platform mechanisms, it analyzes how the sector of urban transport is changing societal organization in various urban areas across the world. Datafication has allowed numerous new actors to offer their bike-, car-, or ride-sharing services online; selection mechanisms help match old and new complementors with passengers. Similarly, new connective platforms are emerging, most prominently transport network companies such as Uber and Lyft that offer public and private transport options, as well as new platforms offering integrated transport services, often referred to as “mobility as a service.”

Diversity of organisms

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip James
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Native Species ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
The Common ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Micro Organisms ◽  
Diversity Of Life

The focus of this chapter is an examination of the diversity of living organisms found within urban environments, both inside and outside buildings. The discussion commences with prions and viruses before moving on to consider micro-organisms, plants, and animals. Prions and viruses cause disease in plants and animals, including humans. Micro-organisms are ubiquitous and are found in great numbers throughout urban environments. New technologies are providing new insights into their diversity. Plants may be found inside buildings as well as in gardens and other green spaces. The final sections of the chapter offer a discussion of the diversity of animals that live in urban areas for part or all of their life cycle. Examples of the diversity of life in urban environments are presented throughout, including native and non-native species, those that are benign and deadly, and the common and the rare.

scholarly journals There Is No Place like Home! How Willing Are Young Adults to Move to Find a Job?

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7494
Author(s):  
Julia Weiss ◽  
Livio Ferrante ◽  
Mariano Soler-Porta
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Youth Unemployment ◽  
Rural Youth ◽  
The European Union ◽  
International Mobility ◽  
Persistent Problem ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Job Opportunities

The European Union (EU) has undergone significant economic crises in recent years. Therein, young people were amongst the hardest hit groups, with youth unemployment rising as high as 50% in some member states. Particularly high rates of youth unemployment were often observed in rural areas, where labour market supply in relation to demand were notably divergent. One of the core pillars of the EU’s agenda is to tackle the persistent problem of youth unemployment. Since the recent crisis, this has been via the “Youth on the Move” initiative, which involves the promotion of intra- and international mobility of young adults in order to gain access to job opportunities. However, what has received little attention so far is the question of what the general willingness of young adults to move is like, and to what extent this varies, for example, depending upon the area they live in. This paper therefore asks if rural youth differ from youth in urban areas in relation to their willingness to move for a job within their country or to another country. Moreover, what influences the general willingness to be mobile? Based on the Cultural Pathways to Economic Self-Sufficiency and Entrepreneurship (CUPESSE) Survey, which includes data on 18–35-year-olds in a sample of 11 European countries, it is shown that living in a rural area is strongly associated with the willingness to move. Furthermore, it shows that rural youth are more willing to move within the country but less willing to move to another country. Based on the presentation of the various factors, which promote or curb mobility readiness, the results make it clear that the success of EU initiatives depends on the preferences and willingness of the target group in question.

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