Evaluating the effectiveness of urban growth boundaries using human mobility and activity records

We proposed a methodology to evaluate the effectiveness of Beijing’s Urban Growth Boundaries (UGBs) using human mobility and activity records (big data). The research applied data from location check-in, transit smart card, taxi trajectory, and residential travel survey. We developed four types of measures to evaluate the effectives of UGBs in confining human activities and travel flows, to examine the conformity of urban activities with the planned population, and to measure the activity connections between UGBs. With the large proportions of intra- and inter-boundary travel flows and an overwhelming majority of check-ins inside the UGBs, the research concluded that Beijing’s UGBs were effective in containing human mobility and activity. However, the connections between UGBs, indicated by the spatial differentiation of the travel flows, were not consistent with the plan’s intention and strategy. It indicated the potential underdevelopment of the public transit serving several new cities.     

Smart Cities and Mobility: Does the Smartness of Australian Cities Lead to Sustainable Commuting Patterns?

ABSTRACT

Smart cities have become a popular concept because they have the potential to create a sustainable and livable urban future. Smart mobility forms an integral part of the smart city agenda. This paper investigates “smart mobility” from the angle of sustainable commuting practices in the context of smart cities. This paper studies a multivariate multiple regression model within a panel data framework and examines whether increasing access to broadband Internet connections leads to the choice of a sustainable commuting mode in Australian local government areas. In this case, access to the Internet is used as a proxy for determining urban smartness, and the use of different modes of transport including working at home is used to investigate sustainability in commuting behavior. The findings show that an increasing access to broadband Internet reduces the level of working from home, public transport use, and active transport use, but increases the use of private vehicles, perhaps to overcome the fragmentation of work activities the Internet creates. How to overcome the need for car-based travel for fragmented work activities while increasing smartness through the provisioning of broadband access should be a key smart city agenda for Australia to make its cities more sustainable.     

“May the Force move you”: Roles and actors of information sharing devices in urban mobility

The innovation recently brought into the market for mobility innovation (by apps, social networks and sharing economy practices) impacts upon the economic appeal of urban areas and strongly influences the preferences of individuals in happiness, lifestyles and related aspect of urban consumption. Several sharing devices are nowadays producing such effects, offering innovative solutions to support the availability of mobility supply. They do so by conveying useful tools to the whole community of users, by proposing new ways of producing knowledge and services, and by favoring symmetric information in the urban mobility market. The paper aims to discuss the impact of these innovation devices in shaping individual’s mobility preferences, by drawing on a wide set of experiences that have introduced new technologies and shared mobility practices that provide significant information related to mobility. Drawing on a literature review referred to a wide set of new technologies and shared mobility practices based on significant information related to mobility, the paper draws its discussion on three analytical dimensions: the role that information has in shaping individual mobility choices, and how it may interact with individual preferences and needs; the varied forms of relevant mobility information made available by information-sharing devices; the many actors (corporations, public administrations, community groups…) who produce information collecting data and making them available in different forms. Drawing on these elements, a policy framework is discussed, to define suitable operational approaches to urban mobility that are more attentive to individual needs and more effective in terms of sustainability.     

Are multimodal travelers more satisfied with their lives? A study of accessibility and wellbeing in the Denver,Colorado metropolitan area

In this study, we ask how the ability to use multiple transportation options affects one's subjective wellbeing (SWB), including aspects such as physical health, financial security, standard of living, and personal relationships. A clearer understanding of these associations can inform investments in multimodal infrastructure. We draw on 232 surveys from a diverse set of residents in the Denver, Colorado metropolitan area and find that having more transportation choices can improve standard of living for low- and middle-income residents. Multimodal middle-income residents are also more satisfied with their health and what they are achieving in life. Vehicle owners report higher levels of satisfaction with their standard of living, health, and achievements, compared to non-owners, unless auto is their only travel mode. Only low-income respondents had significant differences in standard of living by where they lived, with greatest satisfaction in the urban core. These results confirm the relationship between public transit and SWB, and contribute to our understanding of how the concept of motility (social and spatial mobility) shapes one's quality of life. The findings have implications for investments in transportation modes across neighborhood types and populations, so that people have a range of travel options to meet their needs and increase their satisfaction with their goals through improved daily travel.     

补贴视角的城市交通发展导向性分析

政府和社会在城市交通发展中的导向性非常重要。文章从补贴这一独特的视角出发,试图论证当前政府对不同交通方式的补贴差异。从运营环节和基础设施建设两个角度,分别测算和对比对公交和小汽车的补贴,最后得出结论:目前全社会对小汽车的补贴远高于公交,与公交导向的城市交通发展方向相悖,并使市民的出行方式更偏向小汽车。最后,指出需去福利化和形成市场主导的停车建设和收费机制,并用补贴和税费的"正负效应"促使形成公交导向的城市交通发展模式。     

Housing location choices of the poor: does access to jobs matter?

Abstract

This research investigates whether access to jobs affects poor households’ residential location choices using data from individual households in the Chicago Metropolitan Area. Our results, based on discrete choice models, show that the effects of job accessibility on household location choices are contingent upon households’ automobile ownership and employment status. Places with higher job accessibility by public transit mode are more likely to attract poor households that do not own cars but have at least one employed worker or one labour force participant, while job accessibility by automobile travel mode has no positive effect on the location choices of poor households who own automobiles. The results stress the importance of job accessibility for those poor households with limited transportation mobility but strong needs for access to jobs.     

基于蒂博特公共产品最优供给理论的城市人居环境经济学分析

城市人居环境的变迁影响了城市化进程的推进,经济学理论在解释城市经济活动的同时,也对城市人居环境变迁进行了解释。在城市化进程中,城市人口迁移的背后隐含着人们对不同利益的追求,运用蒂博特公共产品最优供给理论可以解释城市人居环境作为公共物品在全球城市化进程中起到的作用。基于此,研究以蒂博特公共产品最优供给理论作为理论支持,对全球城市化进程中的城市人居环境质量进行了经济学分析,得出了城市人居环境变迁对城市化进程走向的重要指导作用。     

THE DUAL CITY AS POLITICAL CHOICE

ABSTRACT: This paper examines the proposition that the dual social character of urban America is mostly a product of US political choices during this century. In responding to the emerging imperatives of economic restructuring and racial transformation, federal, state, and local officials pursued a Jeffersonian notion of urban politics. The author argues that this response has diminished the nation's political capability for achieving community-building solutions to public problems in local politics, thereby creating more polarized metropolitan areas.     

Develop first,make amends later: accessibility within residential neighbourhoods in Ghana

Accessibility is frequently reported in transportation and urban planning studies as an important factor in the location or design of residential neighbourhoods. But, to what extent does accessibility influence residential location decisions of households remains unknown in urban Ghana. This paper uses household surveys and agency consultations to examine the relative importance of accessibility (i.e. street connectivity, motorability and mobility) in households’ residential location choices in the Adenta Municipality, Ghana. The experiences described by urban households indicate a strong association with accessibility in their location decisions. This implies that areas with poor street connectivity, motorability and mobility will possibly tend to be less attractive to would-be residents. The study further revealed that household respondents do not merely locate in areas just for the sake of it, rather, they are informed by a variety of accessibility attributes among them include cost of travel, proximity to road, street type, distance to work, travel time, proximity to work and traffic-related nuisance. As a result, although many household respondents (59.74%) developed their residential units in areas with limited or no accessibility, they expressed strong appreciation of the importance of, and the need for accessibility in residential neighbourhoods to ensure effective functionality of the municipality, in relation to connecting activity zones such as work places, shopping and recreational areas. Planning implications are further presented.     

淮安市城市快速路规划因素研究

随着中国城市化的发展,城市面积和城市人口日益增加,为了满足城市扩大带来的长距离出行需求,建设城市快速路成了许多城市解决该问题的有效手段。在研究了常州及南通等城市的快速路基础上,总结了城市快速路规划建设中值得关注的问题。结合淮安城市快速路的规划,提出了城市快速路规划中,在城市布局、城市发展、城市对外交通系统、城市公共交通系统等方面需要考虑的因素。为今后的城市快速路规划提供了有效的规划思路和规划方法。     

Travel Demand Management (TDM) case study for social behavioral change towards sustainable urban transportation in Istanbul

In order to realize sustainable cities, it is vital to achieve and maintain social behavioral change for shifting our modes of mobility from inefficient, wasteful and motorized means to cleaner, greener, healthier and more economic means such as walking, cycling and public transportation in addition to smart use of land, intelligent transportation systems, and clean and green vehicles. This study is based on a critical review of literature in order to establish a framework of social behavioral change policies, particularly developed and tested for urban mobility and traffic congestion. First, various mega cities were compared on different sustainability indicators to better understand the case of Istanbul. Then, selected policy potentials, namely Travel Demand Management (TDM), were evaluated for Istanbul following a set of personal interview surveys aiming to reveal travel patterns of residents, their perceptions and attitudes on current transport system performance, and their opinions for possible TDM interventions in the future. We proposed a multiplicative model to process data from these surveys as inputs, which would then be used to determine travel demand. A simulation model was constructed using PTV-VISSIM tool and validated with current traffic congestion metrics obtained from field measurements in a selected district of Istanbul. Based on this validated simulation model, projections of traffic conditions in the future under different TDM scenarios were predicted with the help of determined TDM potentials obtained from the survey results. As a result of this study, it was revealed that the traffic congestion levels in Istanbul tend to become worse year by year under existing conditions, but it was also found that the TDM policies offer significant potential for reducing congestion, hence its consequent hazards, via increased use of sustainable mobility modes without the need for new infrastructure investments.     

Segregation and conflict in post-modernist Caracas: from Pérez’s Gran Venezuela to Chávez’s Bolivarian Revolution*

Reviewing political and economic changes underwent since the so-called Gran Venezuela, characterized by the nationalization of oil and mammoth projects during the first presidency of Carlos Andrés Pérez (CAP, 1974–1979), the article focuses on the socio-spatial segregation and urban conflict staged in Caracas until Hugo Chávez’s Bolivarian Revolution (1999–2013). It is a timespan when, at an urban scale, the oil-booming and modernist capital of the 1950s – initial episode of the article’s review – gave way to a less progressive and more deteriorated metropolis, which has become one of Latin America’s most polarized and conflictive arenas. Drawn from a research project about ‘The City in the Thought of Urban Venezuela’, the article outlines, from a methodological standpoint, an urban overview throughout some images, which intertwines the political and intellectual discourse about the city with its changing structure and perception. In this respect, the article’s approach is arguably inscribed within the urban cultural history in Latin America. For decades after CAP’s second government (1989–1993), the article intends as well a closer examination of segregation in the public space, considering that Caracas has become Latin America’s testbed of political and spatial polarization, fuelled by the unrest characteristic of Chávez’s neo-populist revolution.     

城市建成环境对儿童独立出行能力的影响因素及规划对策研究

儿童是城市未来的主人,研究建成环境对儿童独立出行能力的影响问题意义重大,这不仅关系到儿童的身心健康问题,而且关系到未来城市发展。近几十年来,随着城市的发展,儿童独立出行能力在急剧下降,最终影响儿童出行安全及儿童发展,造成育儿家庭的社会成本不断增加。本文在国内外文献综述基础上整理了居住环境、学校环境、城市环境这三类建成空间环境对儿童独立出行能力的影响因素,同时通过对岳阳市中心两所小学儿童的独立出行能力的实证调查,探索适合当前我国国情的改善儿童独立出行能力的规划对策,为创建儿童友好城市环境提供理论支撑。     

Digital Technology in a Smart Tourist Destination: The Case of Porto

Given that information and communication technologies (ICT) have become increasingly integrated into the tourism industry, this article aims to emphasize the growing importance of ICT for smart tourism destinations. As a city, Porto has been consolidating its position as a smart tourism destination by emphasizing tourists’ experiences that are evaluated through innovation, communication, and interactivity with tourists/visitors. A survey of 423 tourists visiting the city provided the data for this study. The analysis focuses on the availability of ICT in Porto and its influence on tourists’ decisions to visit the city. This information helps to determine whether the application and information available on the Internet had positively contributed to tourists’ satisfaction in their visits to Porto. In particular, this article focuses on the influence of ICT accessibility on tourists’ choices of destination, their experiences, and their satisfaction. The results obtained can serve as insights for others to understand how tourists’ behavior and experiences, their planning stages and their demand for information are affected by the availability of ICT, in the context of smart tourism destinations.     

Towards Post-Anthropocentric Cities: Reconceptualizing Smart Cities to Evade Urban Ecocide

ABSTRACT

This short piece acts as a coda to this journal’s special issue on “Smart Cities and Innovative Technologies.” First, it provides a retrospective view of the origins of the smart city concept. The paper, secondly, presents the most recent perspectives on the new interpretations of the smart city notion. It then provides a commentary on the potential directions for a better reconceptualization of smart cities to evade a most likely urban ecocide. Lastly, the short communication concludes by asking two critical questions: (a) Will urban scholars, planners, designers, and activists be able to convince urban policymakers and the general public of the need for a post-anthropocentric urban turnaround? (b) How do the public, private, and academic sectors along with communities pave the way for post-anthropocentric cities and more-than-human futures?     

上海外围大型社区居民属性和出行行为——基于嘉定江桥金鹤新城的实证研究

研究上海中心城以外大型居住社区的实际居住人群及其出行需求特征是提供公共设施配套和交通服务的依据。本文在实证研究中以随机抽样调查为主,辅以居委会访谈。老年人、本地就业者和外地来沪就业者三类人群构成了金鹤新城的实际主体居住人群。出行目的方面,除了上班、上学的日常通勤出行外,采购生活必需品出行也占相当大比例。出行方向,由区外出行和区内出行构成,区外出行具有往中心城的向心性,区内出行主要是往附近嘉定江桥镇区。居民的日常出行高度依赖公共交通,包括公交和轨道。单程出行时间在1小时以上的出行占总样本相当大比例,出行时间成为居民满意度较低的指标。总体来看,该社区具有低区域机动性、低个人机动性、低可达性的特征。     

城市个体机动交通出行的限制对策

随着国民收入水平的日益提高和汽车工业的发展,城市私人机动车拥有水平呈逐年上升趋势,个体机动交通工具的出行成为越来越多家庭的选择。机动车给城市生活带来便利的同时也给城市带来了诸如交通拥堵、环境污染、社会成本增加等问题。为了解决这些问题,借鉴国内外限制机动车出行的成熟经验和政策措施,从税费政策、区域限行措施和停车政策三方面加以分析,提出限制个体机动交通出行的相关对策。     

重庆主城区城市空间结构演变与优化——基于公共服务功能组织视角

城市空间结构与城市公共服务功能组织密切相关。重庆主城区作为典型的"多中心、组团式"城市,在城市公共服务功能的就近组织、公共服务需求的均衡化方面具有先天的优势。本文梳理重庆主城区空间结构的演进历程以及与公共服务需求变化的互动关系,辨识随着城市功能由生产向消费转型,空间面临的结构问题及其内在动因,借鉴马斯洛理论,提出顺应当前及未来公共服务需求层次的分异,城市空间结构应从"多中心、组团式"进一步向"分层多中心、组团式"优化,引导形成相对集中、功能综合的基层"小、微中心"体系,以有序组织公共服务功能,最大限度地减少非必要交通出行,降低居民出行的时耗,提升城市效率,并借鉴恩格尔系数构建衡量城市效率的评价框架,为破解山地城市空间结构问题,推动城市空间转型提供新的思考视角。     

Moving House,Creating Home: Exploring Residential Mobility

This paper begins with a review of the residential mobility literature that arose out of housing and planning policy aimed at decreasing the negative effects of urban transience. The literature identified the range of factors influencing residential mobility, but Rossi's (1955) claim that mobility was a 'natural' outcome of life stage changes became the basis for the majority of this work. Most of this literature arose out of quantitative research approaches but writers drew attention to the inability of these approaches to capture the increasing complexity of family life and residential mobility. Drawing on data from the Christchurch, New Zealand, house and home study, this study argues that the qualitative ethnographic method used provides a more holistic approach to, and understanding of, the events and issues which influence household mobility over time. Within this context, the paper presents excerpts from interview data framed as ontological narratives and related stories embedded in social and economic contexts. Some of the themes identified are those of identity, home and place attachment, change and social differentiation, and the impact of gender relations on mobility decisions and experiences. These findings, like those in previous literature, are relevant to housing and planning policy making given the increasing diversity of residential developments and issues of access to social, financial and environmental resources. Understanding how individuals and families establish relationships between themselves and the places in which they live is important given increasingly divided and differentiated experiences of contemporary urban life.     

Letter from London

There has been growing interest internationally in the development of comprehensive estimates of the costs of urban transport, fuelled by concerns over global warming, peak oil, road congestion, tolls and public transport subsidies. This article examines the internal and external costs of major modes in Sydney. In terms of total costs, trains are the cheapest, followed by buses, with cars the most expensive. However, the ‘out-of-pocket costs’ paid by motorists at the time of making a trip are less than one-sixth of total costs. This suggests rational individual travel choices do not add up to rational travel patterns for the city, and that we are paying heavily as a society for the convenience of cars. Governments need to give higher priority for public transport (particularly rail which has the lowest overall costs of any mode) and to change pricing for urban travel, if we are to develop more sustainable cities.