Abstract:The emergence of fully Automated Vehicles (AVs) is expected to occur in the next 10 to 30 years. The uncertainties related to AVs pose a series of questions about what the societal consequences of such technology are. Mainly, what are the consequences of AVs regarding accessibility? This paper uses Geurs and Van Wee's definition of accessibility to give an exploratory answer to this question. Using a scenario-based approach which allows identifying critical decisions that will emerge shortly (or are already emerging) concerning automated travelling, this paper proposes that AVs have great potential to both seriously aggravate and considerably alleviate accessibility problems. A great deal will depend on how these critical decisions will be approached and the choices that will be made. This debate is most needed because existing research on AVs tends to focus on how to make them a commercially viable and safe technological enterprise, and on what their benefits and drawbacks are regarding variables such as carbon emissions, energy consumption, and total miles travelled. Narratives of this nature can be problematic, as they are unlikely to promote sufficient awareness about the real disruptive potential of AVs. It is crucial that stakeholders realise the extent to which-if the governance of AVs implementation processes is not taken very seriously, and the identified critical decisions are not carefully approached-these machines can materialise a dystopian mobility future.
The world is currently witnessing its largest surge of urban growth in human history; a trend that draws attention to the need to understand and address health impacts of urban living. Whilst transport is instrumental in this urbanisation wave, it also has significant positive and negative impacts on population health, which are disproportionately distributed.In this paper, we bring together expertise in transport engineering, transport and urban planning, research and strategic management, epidemiology and health impact assessment in an exercise to scope and discuss the health impacts of transport in urban areas. Adopting a cross-disciplinary, coproduction approach, we explore the key driving forces behind the current state of urban mobility and outline recommendations for practices that could facilitate positioning health at the core of transport design, planning and policy.Current knowledge on the health-related impacts of urban transport shows that motor vehicle traffic is causing significant premature mortality and morbidity through motor vehicle crashes, physical inactivity and traffic-related environmental exposures including increases in air pollution, noise and temperature levels, as well as reductions in green space. Trends of rapid and car-centred urbanisation, mass motorisation and a tendency of policy to favour car mobility and undervalue health in the transport and development agenda has both led to, and exacerbated the negative health impacts of the transport systems. Simultaneously, we also argue that the benefits of new transport schemes on the economy are emphasised whilst the range and severity of identified health impacts associated with transport are often downplayed. We conclude the paper by outlining stakeholders recommendations for the adoption of a cross-disciplinary co-production approach that takes a health-aware perspective and has the potential to promote a paradigm shift in transport practices.
Worldwide volume production and consumption of engineered composite materials, namely fiber reinforced polymers (FRP), have increased in the last decades, mostly in the construction, automobile, aeronautic and wind energy sectors. This rising production and consumption have also led to an increasing amount of FRP waste, either end-of-life (EoL) products or manufacturing rejects. Taking into account the actual and impending EU framework on waste management, in which clear targets are set with concrete measures to ensure effective implementation, landfill and incineration will be progressively unavailable as traditional end-routes for this kind of waste. Recycling techniques and end-use applications for the recyclates have been investigated over the past twenty years, but even so, more cost-effective and feasible market outlets for the recyclates should be identified that meet both the economic and the environmental points of view. This paper is aimed at enclosing and summarizing an update overview regarding all these issues: current legislation, recycling techniques and end-use applications for the recyclates. Additionally, as a case study, the assessment of the potential improvements that could be made on the eco-efficiency performance (sustainability) of a typical FRP composite materials' industry by recycling and re-engineering process approaches is also reported.
This paper critically examines the idea that planning theory experiences major theoretical shifts. Through a consideration of contributions from several academics, it is shown that different theoretical standpoints in planning persist and coexist. A model is proposed to aid understanding of this situation: the Hydra Model. This model views planning as a discipline in which several standpoints maintain a competitive interaction. This is positive: it is the best way to promote lively dialogue and to develop new understandings. However it is considered negative for planners to adopt a single standpoint. Theories are presented as tools for good practice, not as something to which planners should commit. In aiming for the emergence of this type of planner -an individual capable of flowing from one theory to another according to a discretionary view of particular situations -some suggestions for planning education are presented.
Planners typically conceptualise themselves as professionals not emotionally engaged with their work.However, in planning practice, there are many discretionary decisions to make and these are easily affected by emotions. The uncomfortable truth is that planning practice is emotionally loaded, but scepticism about emotions discourages research on the topic. Academic research based on psychoanalytical theory has been developed in response to this. This research seems, however, to have little power to provide high quality practical tools for professional planners. Mindfulness theory and training is presented here as a better alternative to equip practitioners with resources to deal with emotions at work.
Contemporary transport systems lack resilience. They are prone to congestion, vulnerable to multiple threats, constitute a great financial burden and are environmentally unsustainable. Research and policies have been developed aimed at solving these problems by means of improving transport technologies and governance; however, success has been limited. This paper asks whether resilience can be increased also by means of promoting localism, slowness and stillness, or what we synthetically term "immotility". This is a valuable enterprise because in the recent past the focus has been on the highly mobile and the global. The highlighted knowledge gap is problematic because it reduces the perceived value of development models which are not based on high-speed, long distance and high-frequency mobility.
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