As in other countries of the world, the Turkish government is implementing many preventive partial and total lockdown practices against the virus’s infectious effect. When the first virus case has been detected, the public authorities have taken some restriction to reduce people and traffic mobility, which has also turned into some positive affect in air quality. To this end, the paper aims to examine how this pandemic affects traffic mobility and air quality in Istanbul. The pandemic does not only have a human health impact. This study also investigates the social and environmental effects. In our analysis, we observe, visualize, compare and discuss the impact of the post- and pre-lockdown on Istanbul’s traffic mobility and air quality. To do so, a geographic information system (GIS)-based approach is proposed. Various spatial analyses are performed in GIS with the statistical data used; thus, the environmental effects of the pandemic can be better observed. We test the hypothesis that this has reduced traffic mobility and improved air quality using traffic density cluster set and air monitoring stations (five air pollutant parameters) data for five months. The results shows that there are positive changes in terms of both traffic mobility and air quality, especially in April–May. PM10, SO2, CO, NO2 and NOx parameter values improved by 21.21%, 16.55%, 18.82%, 28.62% and 39.99%, respectively. In addition, there was a 7% increase in the average traffic speed. In order for the changes to be permanent, it is recommended to integrate e-mobility and sharing systems into the current transportation network.
The most important protective measure in the pandemic process is a vaccine. The logistics and administration of the vaccine are as important as its production. The increasing diffusion of electronic devices containing geo-referenced information generates a large production of spatial data that are essential for risk management and impact mitigation, especially in the case of disasters and pandemics. Given that vaccines will be administered to the majority of people, it is inevitable to establish vaccination centres outside hospitals. Site selection of vaccination centres is a major challenge for the health sector in metropolitan cities due to the dense population and high number of daily cases. A poor site selection process can cause many problems for the health sector, workforce, health workers, and patients. To overcome this, a three-step solution approach is proposed: (i) determining eight criteria using from the experience of the advisory committee, (ii) calculating criterion weights using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and performing spatial analysis of criteria using Geographic Information System (GIS), (iii) assigning potential vaccination centres by obtaining a suitability map and determining service areas. A case study is performed for Bağcılar, Istanbul district, using the proposed methodology. The results show that the suitable areas are grouped in three different areas of the district. The proposed methodology provides an opportunity to execute a scientific and strategic vaccination programme and to create a map of suitable vaccination centres for the countries.
One of the solutions to reduce environmental emissions is related to the deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) with sustainable energy. In order to be able to increase the number of electric vehicles in circulation, it is important to implement optimal planning and design of the infrastructure, with particular reference to areas equipped with charging stations. The suitable analysis of the location of current electric vehicle charging stations (EVCSs) is the central theme of this document. The research focused on the actual location of the charging stations of five major EVCS companies in the province by selecting Istanbul as the study area. The study was conducted through a three-step approach and specifically (i) the application of the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method for creating the weights of the 6 main and 18 secondary criteria that influence the location of EVCSs; (ii) a geospatial analysis using GIS considering each criterion and developing the suitability map for the locations of EVCSs, and (iii) application of the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) to evaluate the location performance of current EVCSs. The results show that the ratio between the most suitable and unsuitable areas for the location of EVCSs in Istanbul and the study area is about 5% and 4%, respectively. The results achieved means of improving sustainable urban planning and laying the basis for an assessment of other areas where EVCSs could be placed.
Intersections are the most important regions in terms of urban traffic management. The intersection areas on the corridor should be analyzed together for consistency in traffic engineering. To do so, three intersections on the Vatan Street corridor in İstanbul, the most crowded city of Turkey, were examined. Various geometric and signal designs were performed for intersections and the most suitable corridor design was analyzed. The corridor designs were modeled with the PTV VISSIM microsimulation software. The most suitable corridor design was evaluated by using the results obtained from the microsimulation via analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) from multi criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods. The evaluation criteria in the study are vehicle delay, queue length, stopped delay, stops, travel time, vehicle safety, CO emission, fuel consumption, and construction cost. As a result, the current and the most suitable alternative corridors were compared according to the comparison parameters and up to 80% improvements were observed. Thus, some advantages were obtained in terms of energy, environment, time, and cost.
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