Reducing the ecological footprint of urban cars

This study develops the policy-making capabilities of the Ecological Footprint. The new capabilities we introduce in our Ecological Footprint model allow us to clarify policy options in the face of the increasing management complexity due to a more interconnected and uncertain world. We investigate the effectiveness of three illustrative policy options for reducing the Ecological Footprint of urban car transport: (1) improvements in efficiency/technology, (2) substitution with alternate fuel mixes, and (3) the reduction in demand by altering urban form. We investigate the success of policy options for a subnational case study jurisdiction in Australia, but in the uncertain global context. We use a resilience framework that considers critical social, economic, and environmental variables, multiple scales, and multiple possible futures. We find that delaying policy options to mitigate CO₂ emissions from the transport sector will increase the risks borne by society as a result of future global uncertainty, the uncertain timing of globally coordinated action on climate change and the timing of peak oil. We also find that the success of local policy is affected by the global future which prevails. The use of the Ecological Footprint allows policy to be informed by the consequences of both CO₂ emissions and increasing demand for land. The study provides a decision-making framework that allows local decision makers to make robust policy despite global uncertainty. This framework has wider applicability to other nations and/or subnational jurisdictions worldwide.     

Integrated transportation and energy sector CO2 emission control strategies

This paper analyses the mutual benefits of integrating strategies for future energy and transport CO₂ emissions control. The paper illustrates and quantifies the mutual benefits of integrating the transport and the energy sector in the case of Denmark. Today this issue is very relevant in Denmark due to the high share of fluctuating renewable energy produced in the country. In the future, such issue will apply to other countries who plan to use a high share of renewable energy. In short, the energy sector can help the transport sector to replace oil by renewable energy and combined heat and power production (CHP), while the transport sector can assist the energy system in integrating a higher degree of intermittent energy and CHP. Two scenarios for partial conversion of the transport fleet have been considered. One is battery cars combined with hydrogen fuel cell cars, while the other is the use of biofuel (ethanol) and synthetic fuel (methanol) for internal combustion cars. An increase in the fraction of electricity delivered by fluctuating sources like wind power will lead to excess electricity production and the two aforementioned scenarios have a substantial effect on the decrease of the excess production.     

Interplay between ethanol and electric vehicles as low carbon mobility options for passengers in the municipality of São Paulo

The Brazilian cities as well as many of the large urban centers in the world continue to expand, increasing the demand for mobility and transport, while, at the same time, the same cities are investing in greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation to avoid climate change. Brazil's urbanization rate increased from 26% in 1940 to almost 70% in 1980. During this period, the Brazilian population tripled and the urban population multiplied by seven. In 2010, the transport sector in São Paulo accounted for 71% of the total emissions released by the energy sector. Ethanol has been considered a fuel with less greenhouse gas emissions, when compared with fossil fuels. However, ethanol production would have to double to meet the expected demand. Electric vehicles (EVs) market is expanding around the world, and is also an option to reduce the transport emissions, if powered by clean electricity. To assess whether the adoption of EVs might bring more benefits than the current ethanol, we develop prospective scenarios supported by the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning (LEAP) simulation tool, taking a bottom-up tank-to-wheel approach to consider the CO₂ emissions of car in São Paulo. The scenario considering a substitution of 25% of gasoline-powered cars by EV in 2030 showed a reduction in energy consumption and CO₂ emissions, around 15% and 26% respectively in that year in comparison with 2015. We discuss the interplay between ethanol and EV, also considering emission coefficients from life cycle analysis conducted in Brazil, and concluded EV will have higher positive impact on climate change mitigation than ethanol.     

Livelihoods in motion: Linking transport,mobility and income-generating activities

During the past decade, there has been an increased focus on mobility in the social sciences linked to the so-called ‘mobility turn’, which claims that as mobility is so pervasive it should not be viewed as a rupture in society but as a normal way of life. This is certainly the case in urban contexts of sub-Saharan Africa where mobility forms an integral part of livelihood and income-generating activities. Drawing on in-depth qualitative research conducted in Accra, the capital of Ghana, this paper explores the mobility of urban residents in differing parts of the city in relation to their livelihood strategies. Through illustrating the ways in which the mobility of urban residents is aided or hindered by Accra's transport system, and by examining how this in turn influences their livelihood strategies, the paper contributes to an alternative new mobilities paradigm that is more considerate of, and builds upon insights from, the global South where such research has a longer pedigree than in the global North.     

The imbalance between car and public transport use in urban Australia: why does it exist?

Public transport in urban Australia is dominated by the automobile. As we approach the end of the 20th century, there is much renewed interest in revitalising urban public transport as one way of combating the increasing levels of traffic congestion, deterioration in air quality and global warming. This paper takes stock of the situation in Australia, identifying the challenges that the urban public transport sector faces in redressing the imbalance between car and public transport market share. Particular emphasis is given to the role of buses and busways in contrast to rail, and strategies to reduce the attractiveness of the car.     

The dynamics of modal shifts in (sub)urban commuting: An empirical analysis based on practice theories

A modal shift away from the private car onto low-carbon transport modes is an essential part of decarbonising the transport sector. The dynamics of modal shifts are, however, not yet well understood. In particular the interrelations between structural and individual dynamics require further investigation. Furthermore, a better understanding is needed of how new transport modes become integrated into existing mobility practices. In this article, we address these questions in a qualitative study of modal shifts in (sub)urban commuting in three major Swiss cities. We analysed the interview data by means of a qualitative content analysis informed by practice theories. We found that modal shifts can arise i) from dynamics related to the conditions of use of different transport modes, ii) the coordination of everyday mobility with other people, iii) the coordination of resources between different daily practices, and iv) from dynamics related to the intrinsic motivation of everyday mobility. We found that these different dynamics are intertwined and that to understand how modal shifts arise, they must be analysed conjointly, rather than in isolation. And we identified three patterns in how modal shifts play out, and which describe different ways in which the new transport mode becomes integrated into everyday mobility practices. The first pattern describes modal shifts which require no adaptation of existing commuting practices. The second pattern describes modal shifts after which a new everyday mobility routine must be built. And the third pattern describes modal shifts that coincide with a lifestyle change. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for decarbonising everyday mobility.     

Introducing a transport carbon dioxide emissions vulnerability index for the Greater Dublin Area

Energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions from the transport sector have continued to rise, adding to growing concerns about the environmental impacts caused by transport systems and related land-use patterns. The transport sector in Ireland is a significant fuel consumer, accounting for 36% (5771 kTOE3) of Ireland’s primary energy demand in 2007. The sector was responsible for 36% (17,014 kt5 CO₂) of Ireland’s energy-related CO₂ emissions, higher than any other sector. Energy use in the transport sector grew by 181% (6.3% per annum on average) between 1990 and 2007. A key characteristic that distinguishes energy use in transport is the almost total dependence on imported oil as a fuel – over 99%, EPA (2009).Given the levels and growth of energy demand in transport, there is a clear imperative for policymakers to develop and implement measures and programmes that maximise energy efficiency and renewable-energy penetration. In this paper we develop a transport carbon dioxide emissions vulnerability index, using the Census of Population of Ireland 2006 Place of Work – Census of Anonymised Records (POWCAR) Dataset. The transport carbon dioxide emissions vulnerability index will be developed for the Greater Dublin Area to represent spatially in terms of transport carbon emissions the regional differentiations in commuting distances and modal shares. The results of this research can then be used to assess the transport carbon dioxide emissions of future development plans and therefore allow greater transport sustainability to be achieved through improved design of the location and form of major new development.     

Unintended trajectories: liberalization and the geographies of private business flight

The global commercial aviation industry has undergone significant regulatory reform during the last 30 years. This paper explores something of the relationship between air transport liberalization and the growth of private business aviation and suggests that the sector’s development is largely an unintended consequence of the increasingly deregulated operating environment in that it has developed to overcome some of liberalization’s negative impacts, including delays, congestion, and perceptions of poor customer service. We argue that liberalization has created innovative market opportunities for private business aviation and illustrate how the sector’s operating models are facilitating new, as yet largely undocumented, forms of aerial mobility. The paper examines: the advantages of private business aviation over scheduled services; business strategies in the sector, especially the idea of fractional jets; the impact of new technologies, particularly the Very Light Jet (VLJ); and, finally, employs Europe as an example of the spatialities of private business aviation.     

Analysis of greenhouse gas emissions of freight transport sector in China

Due to the increasing commercial activities in China, the rapid growth of energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the freight transport sector has alarmed the Chinese central government. However, there is a lack of standard measure for evaluating GHG emissions generated from freight transport operations. To improve this situation, Chinese policy makers need to evaluate GHG emissions for energy saving and pollution reduction. This background leads us to examine the GHG emission trajectories and features of Chinese freight transport patterns in the last decade, i.e. between 2000 and 2011. In this study, we examine different regions’ freight turnover and energy consumption by various transport modes (i.e. railway, highway, waterway, aircraft, and oil pipeline) in China. Our results show that the total amount of GHG emissions caused by the Chinese freight transport sector reached 978 million tons in 2011, indicating an average annual growth of 74 million tons CO₂e for the last decade. Shandong, Anhui, and Henan are the main provinces producing GHG emissions, representing 11.7%, 10.3%, and 10% of total emissions generated from the freight transport sector in China, respectively. This study also compares the regional GHG emissions from different freight transport modes including railway, highway, waterway, air transport, and oil pipeline. Based on the findings, policy implications are provided on how to mitigate freight transport emissions among different Chinese regions.     

Research agenda for low-carbon mobility: Issues for New World cities

ABSTRACT

Low-carbon mobility (LCM) features strongly in debates about the sustainability of cities and their resilience in the face of demographic, economic, and climate change. Transport is a major source of carbon emissions and there are indications that these continue to increase, despite the considerable recent advances in vehicle, engine, and fuel technologies. Reducing carbon emissions from transport may become more difficult, not easier. A particular issue relates to the New World cities, typified by those of North America and Australasia, which largely developed from the latter half of the nineteenth century onward and whose transportation systems were largely based around private vehicle ownership and usage. These cities are typically composed of low-density, dispersed suburbs, which are highly car dependent and resource and carbon emission intensive. This article develops a research agenda directed at determining and testing policy and planning measures relevant to the quest for low carbon mobility in New World cities. It suggests a rich agenda for essential research on LCM. Much of this agenda falls within the realm of the integration of transport and land use, with attention to urban design details to enhance the perceptions of and opportunities to use low carbon transport alternatives. Research topics identified for LCM research include (1) urban design and land use–transport integration (LUTI), (2) low carbon mobility policies directed at achieving widespread behavior change, (3) opportunities for new technology and its application, including requirements for systems and infrastructure, and (4) analysis and tools for informed decision making, including modeling, measurement, visualization, and especially assessment.     

Access to the city: Mobility patterns,transport and accessibility in peripheral settlements of Dar es Salaam

This paper is concerned with access to the city for urban residents living in the periphery of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The paper presents an analysis of the mobility practices of residents and investigates the mobility constraints they experience in relation to the limited accessibility provided by the urban transport system. The paper draws upon qualitative interviews with residents in the periphery as well as recently collected travel speed data and offers a unique combination of testimony with GIS-based modelling of overall accessibility. A central finding is the overall importance of regular mobility and access to the city for residents in the periphery. Regular mobility is an ingrained part of residents' livelihood strategies. The majority of households rely on one or more members regularly travelling to central parts of the city in relation to their livelihood activities. The analysis reveals a widespread, near-to-universal, dependence on motorized transportation, with the vast majority depending on public transport. Raster-based modelling of overall accessibility provides an indication of the very high travel times endured by residents in the periphery. The analysis identifies and distinguishes between three overall mode types: 1) Private car, 2) public transport and 3) motorcycle/car combined with public transport. While private cars appear marginally faster, differences in travel times are actually limited. This suggests that travel times are less influenced by mode of transport than by road and traffic conditions and highlights how accessibility problems of peripheral settlements are not easily understood separately from the general dysfunctions of the overall mobility system of city.     

Urban structure,commuting burden,and employment status of labour forces in an Australian city

Understanding the productivity effects of worker commuting burdens is essential for appraisals of urban planning and investment strategies designed to improve urban productivity. However, the extant urban planning literature lacks systematic analysis of the influence of commuting costs on labour mobility, employment engagement, and productivity. This paper provides the first ever detailed analysis of mobility and commuting burdens for workers in a range of industries and occupational groups in Melbourne, Australia. Linking commuting burdens and measures of employment status in urban areas, this paper finds that the labour force in areas experiencing high commuting burdens exhibit lower levels of engagement with job markets. This research further reveals important variations in such relationships across diverse industry and occupation groups. The results provide urban policy makers with better information about urban transport and employment patterns, thus enabling them to investigate alternative approaches to investing in housing and transport infrastructure to reduce worker commuting burdens and improve economic performance.     

Shaping urban transport policies in China: Will copying foreign policies work?

After decades of rapid economic growth, Chinese cities now face serious urban transport challenges, such as congestion, air pollution, energy shortage, and global climate change. Efficient and equitable urban transport policies are essential to China’s sustainable development, in which urbanization plays a critical role. Can Chinese cities solve these challenges by copying or modeling the policies of other nations? This paper argues that understanding the unique contexts of Chinese cities is necessary for predicting whether policies implemented elsewhere will perform well in China. The study explores four examples of hotly contested urban transport policies. The previous experience of each policy is compared with its likely efficiency and distributional consequences in China. Specific attention is paid to how the policy context – the spatial and institutional characteristics of the Chinese cities – can affect the adoption of foreign urban transport policies in China. Suggestions regarding the four policies are proposed to policy makers, followed by conclusions and discussions.     

Towards inclusive transport landscapes: Re-visualising a Bicycle Sharing Scheme in Santiago Metropolitan Region

Bicycle Sharing Schemes (BSS) are re-emerging as promising components of urban mobility solutions worldwide. However, the lack of consistent collaboration strategies between different actors and institutions, which have been tested in a wide range of cities and contexts regarding their design, tender, operation and expansion, raises significant social and governance implications. Urban transport features as a melting pot for diverse policy objectives, ranging from business model innovation, public tendering, and accessibility increase to the equity and social justice agenda.By employing a Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) framework and by introducing alluvial diagrams and circular dendrograms to BSS planning through a mixed-methods approach, this article illustrates an innovative tool in managing BSS in the context of the Global South. The strength of such diagrams has been underestimated to date since they can be particularly useful for public and private urban transport planners and policy-makers. Visualising user flows in such a manner, particularly in near-live time, may offer valuable insight on the operational challenges of BSS. Findings of the cross-sectional survey in Santiago de Chile confirm that maintenance is significant for user satisfaction levels. Furthermore, decisions regarding BSS expansion and modification could be based on such analysis and diagrams due to the precise identification of both the busiest and those under-represented BSS stations based on revealed preferences.     

Towards sustainable mobility indicators: application to the Lyons conurbation

This paper applies the theme of sustainable development to the case of urban transport and daily mobility of the inhabitants of a city. A set of indicators which simultaneously takes the three dimensions of sustainability—environmental, economic, and social—into account is suggested. We present here the results of exploratory research funded by Renault Automobile Manufacturers, carried out to verify the feasibility and the usefulness of elaborating such sustainable mobility indicators. Values of the economics, environmental and social indicators are presented for the Lyons case. These estimations are mainly based on the household travel survey held in this city in 1994–1995. In the end, this set of indicators should allow the comparison of different urban transport strategies within an urban area, but also between different urban contexts, and through time. The conditions of generalization of these measurements of indicators are then discussed.     

Global city regions and the location of logistics activity

The aim of this paper is to extend and develop research surrounding the links between transport and urban regions. An understanding of transport activity has long involved the use of spatial frameworks, seen in the idea of a gateway city (with its surrounding hinterland) and in the identification of hubs or nodes. The particular framework used here is the global city region, a build-out from the much researched global city, and acknowledged as the most prominent feature of spatial development in the global economy. As these areas can accommodate important sea and airport infrastructure, the global city region can be expected to play a significant role in global logistics. Whether that significance extends just from the physical realm, as reflected in the infrastructure, or whether it is embedded in the scale and complexity of the advanced business services sector within the global city, is the issue that lies at the heart of the research. The research has set out to answer the question: “How important are these regions in logistics activity?”. The question has relevance in the context of transport geography as it provides an urban structure perspective on what is commonly seen as separate port or airport activity. Its relevance is enhanced as its answer relies upon a simultaneous analysis of both sea and air freight activity. Results show these regions counted for a substantial and growing share of sea and air freight between 1996 and 2006. In accounting for that outcome the research explores the particular effect of infrastructure (showing that global city regions with multiple seaport and airports play a special role) and also isolates the links with global city functions. The paper concludes with some insight on the special challenge these places create for strategic urban planning policy.     

The future of airports post COVID-19

COVID-19 pandemic has hit most sectors of the world and has led to many industries coming to a standstill. It has led to restrictions of movement and travel ban. As a result of these restrictions, transport sector especially in aviation has impacted badly.With the uncertainty of further impact of the current situation, there is a likelihood of the aviation business rebounding at a slower pace bringing V-shape and U-shape recovery as per analysis of economic impacts on civil aviation by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO (2020). Currently, airline capacity is down 70 to 80 percent in April 2020 compared to April 2019, and multiple large airlines have temporarily ceased operations. Largely, almost 60 percent of the global fleet was grounded in early April 2020 as per McKinsey report (Curley et al., 2020).In order to support the sinking capacities and revenues, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) calls on the European governments to provide relief to their airlines to sustain their operations. Furthermore, this document highlights the future of airport and air transport industry based on revenue generation sources, cost control strategies and integration of innovations with respect to variable demand and capacity during and post COVID-19.     

Using the car in a fragile rural tourist destination: a social representations perspective

The visitor experience of place is inextricably linked to our ability to travel around an area at will, yet this mobility creates many problems especially in scenic rural areas of the UK. The study presented here attempts to unravel visitors’ experiences of mobility using Moscovici’s social representations approach. Travel diaries were employed to explore visitors’ transport choices and mobility patterns during the peak season in Purbeck, Dorset, UK. Analysis focuses on how such patterns reflect a social representation of mobility and the implications this has for visitor travel at destinations.     

Alternative railway futures: growth and/or specialisation?

Recent centuries have seen a succession of transport technologies, each offering improvements in speed, carrying capacity and/or operational flexibility. Having overcome many physical barriers to freedom of movement, humanity now faces two major, related challenges: dwindling reserves of fossil fuels, and anthropogenic climate change. In these circumstances, rail transport has significant potential advantages over the more energy-intensive modes of road and air.Railways dominated 19th century land transport, peaking in importance in the early 1900s. Market share then declined in the face of competition from road transport and aviation, although rail retained significant passenger and freight transport roles. Major improvements in railway operating efficiency were introduced later in the 20th century, including: the switch from steam to diesel and electric traction; containerisation and focus on long-haul, unit-train freight operations; and the development of high-speed passenger rail services in Japan and Europe, enabling rail to compete successfully with air travel over distances of up to 800 km.The UK Government’s Foresight Programme commissioned a report entitled Intelligent Infrastructure Futures, for which four scenarios were developed of how society might be in 2055. These scenarios are: ‘Perpetual Motion’, ‘Urban Colonies’, ‘Tribal Trading’ and ‘Good Intentions’, each having its own implications for the future of transport. This paper considers the implications of each scenario, and of the underlying/overriding issues of peak oil and climate change, for the possible role and significance of rail transport in meeting our transport needs in the mid-21st century and beyond.     

Decoupling transport from economic growth: Extending the debate to include environmental and social externalities

The concept of decoupling embraces both immaterialisation and dematerialisation, by referring to the general delinking of environmental harm from economic production. This paper extends the theoretical debate and methodology on decoupling in transport to cover environmental (e.g. carbon) and social (e.g. fatalities) issues as well as the economic dimensions (e.g. income growth and transport activities). The typology developed here details the concepts of absolute and relative decoupling in a strong and weak version. This typology is then applied to explore the potential and the reality of transport decoupling in 15 major countries over the period since 1990, when concerns over the global environment and social issues have become a central part of the sustainable development agenda, through the measurement of changes in all three of the elements of sustainable development (economic, environmental and social). Two key transport externalities, carbon dioxide emissions and traffic fatalities, are studied, as these represent examples of environmental and social costs associated with increased levels of mobility. These 15 key countries included both developed and developing countries, and they together account for the majority of the global economy, carbon emissions and a substantial proportion of transport fatalities. The results show that decarbonisation of the transport sector has proved more difficult to achieve in the 15 countries over the 22 years than the reduction in the levels of transport-related fatalities. Nevertheless, there is progress being made. Decoupling has taken place in both developed and developing countries, though the experiences vary in terms of timing (earlier vs more recent), consistency (stable vs variable), form (absolute vs relative) and magnitude (strong vs weak). Recoupling effects are limited. Transport has proved to be the most difficult sector to make more sustainable, as it is growing so fast and as it is necessary to support economies and lifestyles. Yet through combining measures of economic (e.g. income), environmental (e.g. carbon) and social (e.g. fatalities) wellbeing, it has been possible to identify positive trends in decoupling transport at the national level, as measured through relative decoupling. The much harder objective of an absolute decoupling is only just beginning to take place, but this must be seen as the primary objective in moving towards sustainability in the transport sector.