Measuring changes in regional competitiveness: The effects of international infrastructure investments

The paper has two major aims, to review traditional approaches to the measurement of regional competitiveness and to outline possible problems in applying these to cases where international comparisons are involved and major changes in competitiveness are likely. This is based on research on a case study of the effects of building the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France. This raises particular questions about the impact of new transport infrastructure, especially in the context of the attempts to reduce the effects of national frontiers within the European Community. The main conclusion concerns the need to adopt a more dynamic model of the effects of transport cost changes. The paper notes the extreme practical difficulties in making precise forecasts of these effects, but highlights the need to recognise the substitutability of transport for other factors of production, the importance of subjective factors and the likely changes in the spatial organisation of production.     

Economic impacts of transportation network changes: Implementation of a combined transportation network and input-output model

This article estimates and evaluates the economic impacts from a catastrophic earthquake within regional and national contexts, emphasising the inter-industry relationship in conjunction with regional commodity flows and the assessment of seismic damages on a transportation network. The analytical methods employed are twofold: a multi-regional input-output model and a regional commodity flow model. Using the above analytical framework, the economic impacts from a catastrophic earthquake are estimated and evaluated based on hypothetical scenarios of the event, by analysing the magnitude and extent of direct and indirect impacts. Furthermore, as possible extensions, the models developed here can be used as tools for strategic management of the recovery and reconstruction efforts after the event. Received: 24 September 2000 / Accepted: 23 May 2001     

Network effect of transportation infrastructure: a dynamic panel evidence

This study examines the effects of transportation infrastructure (motorways) on economic growth by using a dynamic model for panel data of 19 OECD countries. The results indicate a significant nonlinear network effect of motorway extensions. Specifically, motorway construction has an increasingly positive effect as the network expands.     

The multiplicity of value in the front-end of projects: The case of London transportation infrastructure

There is growing interest in the ways that value is understood in the context of projects and within project-based settings. Recent studies emphasise the multiplicity of project value in various project settings as perceived by different project actors. Drawing on previous work on project value and project front-end, this study expands on the idea of multiplicity of project value in the early project definition phase. To this end, the study draws from empirical data on infrastructure projects provision, including semi-structured interviews with a set of highly experienced and senior level informants with extensive knowledge and familiarity of infrastructure project planning and front-end decision making. The study is bounded with a focus on London, UK as an example of a complex, highly established global city with a great reliance on its infrastructure and a well-established projects ecology. Through inductive qualitative data analysis the study explores the role of infrastructure projects as solutions to policy problems, the multiple and complex nature of value in project definition and identifies three value levels, which are instrumental for project definition: local value, sector value and user value. The multi-level value framework in the project front-end extends and complements early decision making in planning and setting up of infrastructure projects.     

Fire hazard in transportation infrastructure: Review,assessment, and mitigation strategies

This paper reviews the fire problem in critical transportation infrastructures such as bridges and tunnels. The magnitude of the fire problem is illustrated, and the recent increase in fire problems in bridges and tunnels is highlighted. Recent research undertaken to address fire problems in transportation structures is reviewed, as well as critical factors governing the performance of those structures. Furthermore, key strategies recommended for mitigating fire hazards in bridges and tunnels are presented, and their applicability to practical situations is demonstrated through a practical case study. Furthermore, research needs and emerging trends for enhancing the “state-of-the-art” in this area are discussed.     

Spatial analysis of the relationship between housing values and investments in transportation infrastructure

The relationship between residential location, location value and accessibility has been of long interest to regional scientists. Studies investigating the relationship between house price and changes in accessibility, however, have been fewer in number, and predominantly have centered upon the house price impact of fixed rail investments. Neglected have been the impacts of smaller road investments made on a regular basis by municipalities and state departments of transportation. This research therefore reports on the spatial relationship between house price and investment in road-based transportation infrastructure by combining two spatial databases, both centered on Columbus, OH. The first contains information on all single-family detached houses sold in 1990. The second contains detailed spatial and temporal information on all accessibility-changing road investments in the same area, since 1978. Results indicate that while moderate, past, current and approved (but not begun) road investments have distinct and significant impacts on house price.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 40th Annual Meeting of the Western Regional Science Association in Palm Springs, California, February 2001, and was awarded The Charles M. Tiebout Prize in Regional Science. Randall Jackson, Morton OKelly, W. Randy Smith, Donald Haurin, Frank Mittlebach, the editor and an anonymous reviewer all provided valuable comments on previous drafts. Research funding was provided by the E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller Fellowship and through the Committee on Urban Affairs at Ohio State.Received: March 2001/Accepted: November 2003     

智慧交通基础设施交叉方向研究生培养模式探索与实践

“交通强国”国家战略背景下，交通基础设施建设迫切需要以“两新一重”为指导，以适应新时代智慧交通发展要求。高校作为专业人才培养的主体，应紧密贴合国家战略和行业需求，鼓励交通运输工程各二级学科与其他学科交叉，推进交通运输工程专业向智能化、信息化方向发展，推进研究生培养模式系统性改革。以现行培养体系存在的问题为切入点，从行业和高校两个角度出发，围绕理论知识、实践能力、创新思维和国际视野四个方面，归纳总结了交通基础设施方向研究生应具备的四项核心能力：知识迭代能力、工程实践能力、技术创新能力和国际适应能力。针对智慧交通基础设施交叉方向研究生特点，紧扣研究生培养质量这一核心目标，以课程体系、培养模式、学科交叉为主要措施；以支撑培养体系的可行性和科学性；以管理办法、导师团队、实践平台为坚实后盾，保障改革措施能够切实落地。“三支撑”与“三保障”互相有机联系，共同致力于提升专业研究生培养质量，构建了智慧交通基础设施交叉方向研究生培养模式。以哈尔滨工业大学交通科学与工程学院的实际探索案例为依托，介绍了该案例在国际教育、学科交叉和校企合作方面取得的系列成效，指出了培养模式探索中可能存在的问题，为智慧交通基础...     

城镇基础设施综合评价模型及应用

针对城镇基础设施建设的评价,采用多层次灰色评价方法,建立具有递阶层次的城镇基础设施综合评价指标体系,以重庆市某县县城镇为例对城镇的基础设施发展水平进行评价,以便于制定城镇基础设施的远景发展规划。     

Power in news media: Framing strategies and effects in infrastructure projects

During the construction and operation phases, infrastructure projects face social unrest, such as community protests, boycotting of services as well as negative press reports of these events and other aspects of the project. There is a need to consider the concerns and moral issues of the community throughout the lifecycle and not just at the inception phase. From an organizational power perspective, we use frame analysis as a suitable lens to understand how projects shape community perceptions to try and construct sustainable legitimacy. The research reports on a case study of a metro rail project in India. 166 daily news articles, 446 user comments and 30 semi-structured interviews with the project team were analysed. We observed framing strategies used in practice, such as need framing, pride framing, community-centric framing and blame framing. These framing strategies observed in the project community had impacts labeled as the solution frame, the trend-setter frame, the important frame and the own-up frame. The relationship between the framing strategies and their effects are theorized through four propositions. We argue that through these framing strategies some issues were strategically hidden while some were strategically promoted, thereby influencing the perception of the project. An improved perception of the project can reduce resistance and conflicts during the construction and operation of the project.     

Simulation of a gravity model

Conclusions Three conclusions have come from this research. First, the elements of the gravity model, its three variables (distance, population and per capita income) and one parameter (), cannot be separated and investigated independently. Secondly, to say more about how the model predicts and the number of grid divisions for a desired accuracy depends on empirical investigation of actual income density gradients.The final conclusion, while tentative and subject to empirical verification is the feeling that perhaps the usefulness of a very fine grid system has been over emphasized. This conclusion in no way obviates concern by location practitioners of grid size as a source of error, but highlights the possibility that the costs associated with smaller grid divisions may be out of proportion to any increase in predictive accuracy which may or may not accrue.Use of the facilities of the Computing Centre at the University of British Columbia is gratefully acknowledged.     

The telecommunication infrastructure: A model for optimum voice-data coverage

Since voice and data services can greatly enhance the quality of life of people in rural areas, the expansion of the telecommunication infrastructure is one of the most important planning activities for governments especially in developing nations. This study presents an analytical tool for policy makers to evaluate various alternatives that expand telephone and Internet services to underserved and unserved remote areas. Based on Geographic Information System (GIS) datasets of existing infrastructures, a computer model is developed to generate Telecom-and-Internet access maps of a defined region. The map presents the least-cost plan to provide telephony and Internet services to a given percentage of population in a specified area. A remote area of Bangladesh is selected as a case study. Several scenarios are simulated in order to explore the possibility of extending the reach of telecommunication services to the last-mile customers, and to evaluate pilot projects as building blocks of a nationwide infrastructure.     

New evidence on the specification and performance of neoclassical gravity models in the study of urban transportation

Gravity models with power and exponential resistance functions are derived using constrained neoclassical utility maximization. Both equations are then fitted to a set of weekday motor vehicle traffic data describing trips in the Los Angeles, California, area for the year 1966, using multiple linear regression analysis. The equation with the power resistance function gives the better fit for all twenty origin areas analyzed. This result ensues because the reciprocal of the power resistance function is more flexible; it can vary from concave to highly convex, but the exponential cannot. Analysis of estimated regression coefficients shows that the great majority of tripmakers was constrained by a convex time cost function rather than the concave money cost of travel in all but two of the poorest origin areas. The implications of these results for the understanding of automobile travel in urban areas are discussed.     

Productivity effects and determinants of public infrastructure investment

This study aims to investigate three important issues whether or not public infrastructure contributes to production in the private sector, whether or not political economy factors such as political situation affect the allocation of public infrastructure investment, and what the government’s investment behavior is. We estimate simultaneous equations by using a panel data set of 46 prefectures in Japan for five-time periods from 1975 to 1990. We conclude the following: (1) public capital contributes to productivity, (2) the investment behavior of both governments is efficiency-oriented for private productivity and for the capital stock level, (3) a substitute of public capital investment between the national and prefectural governments can be found, (4) there is a clear political factor in the national government’s public investment function, and (5) the availability of national government grants for the construction of infrastructure boosts investment among prefectural governments.     

线性回归模型在货运量预测中的应用

运用一元线性回归模型的特点,对多种曲线模型进行转化得到预测模型类,采用组合预测法建立组合预测模型,并将之运用于安阳市货运总量的预测中,得到了很好的应用效果。     

谈高校基建管理模式

阐述了高等学校基建管理部门的组织机构及其职能,介绍了高校基建管理工程比较常用的三种管理模式,并对高校基建管理模式选择的原则进行了分析,以期为高校基建管理者选择正确的管理模式提供依据。     

Build-operate-transfer model for infrastructure developments in Asia: reasons for successes and failures

In recent years, there has been a growing trend for governments in the Southeast Asian region to allow private participation in some major public investments, especially for infrastructure projects. Many large infrastructure projects, such as expressways and power plants, are being constructed or have been operated by private firms under a procurement system called build-operate-transfer (BOT). Under the system, the franchisee (project sponsor) is responsible for financing, construction, and operating a facility and he, in return, has been granted a right to generate revenue from the facility for a specific period. After the concession period, the facility will be transferred at no cost to the franchiser, who usually is the government. The major motivator for the BOT system is that the host government need not spend any public funding but still can provide a public facility to her people. Meanwhile, the franchisees can enjoy a high potential profit from a successful BOT project. Experience from Hong Kong has proven the benefits of the system. However, the system can be very risky potentially. The three transportation projects in Thailand, including the Second Expressway System, Don Muang Tollway and the Bangkok Elevated Transport System, have given investors a painful experience. Analyzing these successful and failing examples, this study has concluded the ingredients of a successful BOT project. They include an experienced, equitable and simple governing body and structure, an uncorrupted and honest political regime, an intact contractual agreement, a structured set of BOT regulations and legal system, a large and reliable consortium, an experienced construction organisation, and lastly, but most importantly, no intervention of politics.     

重力模型应用方法与问题探讨

从重力模型的应用流程入手,分析了模型形式与参数选择、参数标定与检验的主要方法,并介绍了模型在实际应用过程中常见的问题和解决方法,从而为相关问题的进一步研究与探讨奠定了基础。