Finding sustainable mobility solutions for shrinking cities: the case of Toyama and Kanazawa

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Osman Balaban ◽  
Jose Antonio Puppim de Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Urban Transportation ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
Urban Transport ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Shrinking Cities ◽  
Sustainable Mobility ◽  
City Center ◽  
Content Type

Purpose Shrinking population can have significant negative impacts on the social and economic fabric of a city. This paper aims to understand different urban transportation policies to respond to population decline in shrinking cities by examining two case studies of urban interventions in mid-size cities in Japan. Design/methodology/approach The paper analyzes the implementation of sustainable mobility strategies in the urban transport sector in the Japanese cities of Toyama and Kanazawa, which risk having their populations significantly reduced in the next decades. The analysis is based on case study research that uses the data and information collected through desk and field research. Interviews with local actors, as well as published policy and academic documents on the case studies provided critical data and information to analyze the case studies. Findings Both cities have tried to make urban mobility more sustainable via different strategies. Toyama used more structural changes, called the “sticks and dumplings” approach, having land use incentives and the Light Rail Transit reinforced by bus routes as the backbone of its strategy. Kanazawa relied on a city center revitalization plan to densify residential use in the city center. Practical implications More structural interventions are necessary to change the declining of shrinking cities, mitigating some of the negative effects. City administrations need to have clear policy priorities and should not allocate their limited resources to competing policy agendas. Originality/value The study is unique as it is one of the first efforts to analyze urban transportation interventions in shrinking cities in Japan.

scholarly journals Developing a system dynamics approach for CNG vehicles for low-carbon urban transport: a case study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nima Shamsapour ◽  
Ahmad Hajinezhad ◽  
Younes Noorollahi
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
System Dynamics ◽  
Diesel Fuel ◽  
Co2 Emission ◽  
Urban Transportation ◽  
Urban Transport ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
High Emission

Abstract Today both the economic growth and expansion of urbanization have increased community access to private cars. Thus, the urban transportation has become a critical part of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The excessive dependence of urban transportation on high-emission fuels is the main obstacle to develop a low-carbon transport. Meanwhile, natural gas is a bridge fuel to develop a low-emission transport. To the best of our knowledge, there has been little attention towards the association between the development of natural gas-fueled vehicles and the CO2 emission. Therefore, the problem we studied is the role of compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles in replacing high-emission fuels. In this study, we aimed to study this association by selecting the system dynamics approach due to the complexities of the social-economic system of transportation. In this modeling, different subsystems of the transport fleet were employed including CNG vehicles and urban transportation subsystems. Iran has used CNG as an alternative fuel in the transportation sector, making it one of the three leading countries in the use of natural gas in the urban transportation system. Our case study is focused on Tehran, which is the capital and the largest city of Iran. In this paper, we considered several scenarios to replace the gasoline fuel in the private car sector and taxis and diesel fuel in the bus fleet with natural CNG fuel. The results show that the replacement of CNG fuel with high-emission fuels can have a significant effect on reducing CO2 emissions. In the synthetic scenario, CO2 emission will be decreased by 11.42% in 2030, as compared to the business as usual (BAU) scenario in this year. According to Iran’s commitment to the Paris Agreement, the emission of CO2 in Iran should normally be reduced by 4% in 2030, as compared to its amount in the BAU scenario. Therefore, Iran can easily fulfill its obligations in the urban transport sector only by replacing gasoline and diesel fuel with CNG.

scholarly journals Covid-19 impact in Transport, an essay from the Railways' system research perspective

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessio Tardivo ◽  
Celestino Sánchez Martín ◽  
Armando Carrillo Zanuy
Keyword(s):  
Rebound Effect ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Urban Transport ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Sustainable Mobility ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
New Normal ◽  
Research Perspective ◽  
Containment Measures

<p>This essay analyses the possible impact that COVID-19 will have on the transport sector. It also gives the prospect on how the sector should approach the “new normal” which will follow the current health emergency and be resilient in case of future outbreaks. </p><p>The paper identifies several impacts that are already taking place in different instances such as the global consumers’ behaviour. Due to the current lockdown situation interaction between producers and consumers has changed radically, and the supply chain had to adapt to cover necessities of citizens. The effects of the outbreak have been profound in consumption, however a growth in eCommerce and digital services have gained in importance and it is supposed to continue growing. </p><p>The pandemic also had effects on the transport sector, to the point that a new paradigm of mobility will be necessary to meet environmental demands. The crisis halted passengers’ mobility and limited air and sea freight capacity significantly. On the contrary, long-distance trans-Eurasian rail lines have been untouched. </p><p>The pandemic had positive impacts on the environment as well. However, the trend of low production of GHG emission is expected to reverse course once containment measures are lifted. Transport will have an important role in the predicted rebound effect of GHG emissions; thus, the development of green new mobility is essential.</p><p>Analysing the forecast of the transport sector, railways will have distinct advantages over other transport modes both during the acute phase of the pandemic and the “new normal”. On the other hand, underuse of the rail sector can lead to a collapse of the urban transport system. Lastly, this paper introduces the concept of 5 “R” as the necessary steps the rail sector needs to undertake to play a significant role in tomorrow’s mobility. These steps are Resilience, Return, Reimagination, Reform, and Research. In particular, the paper highlights research needs which are considered essential in enhancing rail competitiveness. </p><p>In conclusion, this paper reminds that this historic event must be considered as an opportunity to truly establish rail as the backbone of the European sustainable mobility.</p>

The quality of service in urban public transport in Algeria

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 559-575
Author(s):  
Bencherif Houria ◽  
Boubakour Farès
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Public Transport ◽  
Urban Transport ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Urban Bus ◽  
The City ◽  
Bus Transport

Purpose The Algerian transport sector has undergone profound changes in recent decades with its privatization. Transport sector liberalization has achieved its primary objectives aimed at increasing public transport supply, but it has been accompanied by travel conditions deterioration because of public regulation insufficiency. For this, the Algerian State has put regulatory and institutional mechanisms to improve urban transport service quality. These mechanisms directly impose on operators and managers of transport means reception stations to meet the expectations of road users. The purpose of this study is to draw a portrait of the service quality of the Algerian urban transport. For this, a fieldwork was carried out in Batna city to know the degree of satisfaction of urban transport users toward the service offered. Design/methodology/approach In this work, the authors used questionnaires as a means of data collection. The study sample is composed of 102 users of the line. The questionnaire deals with personal data (age, sex, level of education, family and professional data), data on the nature of travel between the city of Batna and Tazoult (reasons for travel, travel time and the number of trips undertaken) and measure of user satisfaction on the Tazoult–Batna line according to the criteria of service offer, accessibility, information, duration, attention to the customer, comfort, security and environmental impact. In this work, participatory observation was also used to give a better understanding on how the urban network operates in the city. To this end, an observation grid with key questions has been prepared. It is concentrated on three axes: the actual organization of private operators providing urban bus transport, the state of buses, stations and stopping points and the practice of control by the services concerned. For this, trips were made on all urban lines during the study period. Discussions were conducted with some private operators to find out their positions and their roles in the operation of urban bus transport. Findings The results of this work show that satisfaction levels were average for transport supply, accessibility, duration, attention paid to customer, comfort and safety; however, they were low concerning information and environmental impact. The present work has made it possible to highlight the impacts of urban transport disorganization on the offered service. In addition, taking into account the expectations of users in terms of service quality should have positive impacts for the users themselves, for private and public operators and for urban transport managers. Originality/value This work presents a state of knowledge on the service quality in an urban environment and delivers information on the situation in Algeria without pretending to be exhaustive. However, the contribution of this study is not limited to the evaluation of the various criteria themselves, which are found in whole or in part in many studies devoted to this kind of evaluations. The real contribution of this work lies in highlighting the impacts of urban transport disorganization on the offered services quality. This disorganization is essentially characterized by a weakness or absence of an institutional framework and the multiplication of actors at different levels of intervention, which creates overlapping responsibilities or organizational gaps.

scholarly journals Covid-19 impact in Transport, an essay from the Railways' system research perspective

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessio Tardivo ◽  
Celestino Sánchez Martín ◽  
Armando Carrillo Zanuy
Keyword(s):  
Rebound Effect ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Urban Transport ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Sustainable Mobility ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
New Normal ◽  
Research Perspective ◽  
Containment Measures

<p>This essay analyses the possible impact that COVID-19 will have on the transport sector. It also gives the prospect on how the sector should approach the “new normal” which will follow the current health emergency and be resilient in case of future outbreaks. </p><p>The paper identifies several impacts that are already taking place in different instances such as the global consumers’ behaviour. Due to the current lockdown situation interaction between producers and consumers has changed radically, and the supply chain had to adapt to cover necessities of citizens. The effects of the outbreak have been profound in consumption, however a growth in eCommerce and digital services have gained in importance and it is supposed to continue growing. </p><p>The pandemic also had effects on the transport sector, to the point that a new paradigm of mobility will be necessary to meet environmental demands. The crisis halted passengers’ mobility and limited air and sea freight capacity significantly. On the contrary, long-distance trans-Eurasian rail lines have been untouched. </p><p>The pandemic had positive impacts on the environment as well. However, the trend of low production of GHG emission is expected to reverse course once containment measures are lifted. Transport will have an important role in the predicted rebound effect of GHG emissions; thus, the development of green new mobility is essential.</p><p>Analysing the forecast of the transport sector, railways will have distinct advantages over other transport modes both during the acute phase of the pandemic and the “new normal”. On the other hand, underuse of the rail sector can lead to a collapse of the urban transport system. Lastly, this paper introduces the concept of 5 “R” as the necessary steps the rail sector needs to undertake to play a significant role in tomorrow’s mobility. These steps are Resilience, Return, Reimagination, Reform, and Research. In particular, the paper highlights research needs which are considered essential in enhancing rail competitiveness. </p><p>In conclusion, this paper reminds that this historic event must be considered as an opportunity to truly establish rail as the backbone of the European sustainable mobility.</p>

Urban Transport

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
José van
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Transport ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Transport Services ◽  
Ride Sharing ◽  
The World ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Selection Mechanisms

Platformization affects the entire urban transport sector, effectively blurring the division between private and public transport modalities; existing public–private arrangements have started to shift as a result. This chapter analyzes and discusses the emergence of a platform ecology for urban transport, focusing on two central public values: the quality of urban transport and the organization of labor and workers’ rights. Using the prism of platform mechanisms, it analyzes how the sector of urban transport is changing societal organization in various urban areas across the world. Datafication has allowed numerous new actors to offer their bike-, car-, or ride-sharing services online; selection mechanisms help match old and new complementors with passengers. Similarly, new connective platforms are emerging, most prominently transport network companies such as Uber and Lyft that offer public and private transport options, as well as new platforms offering integrated transport services, often referred to as “mobility as a service.”

scholarly journals Projection of material flows and stocks in the urban transport sector until 2050 – A scenario-based analysis for the city of Vienna

2021 ◽  
pp. 127591
Author(s):  
Andreas Gassner ◽  
Jakob Lederer ◽  
Gerald Kovacic ◽  
Ursula Mollay ◽  
Christof Schremmer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Transport ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Material Flows ◽  
The City

scholarly journals Framing Electric Mobility for Urban Sustainability in a Circular Economy Context: An Overview of the Literature

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7786
Author(s):  
Walter Leal Filho ◽  
Ismaila Rimi Abubakar ◽  
Richard Kotter ◽  
Thomas Skou Grindsted ◽  
Abdul-Lateef Balogun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Urban Transport ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
Medium Term ◽  
Urban Quality Of Life ◽  
Electro Mobility

The development of electro-mobility is one of the centerpieces of European country attempts to reduce carbon emissions and increase the quality of life in cities. The goals of reducing emissions from the transport sector and phasing out fossil-fueled vehicles in (urban) transport by 2050 present unrivaled opportunities to foster electro-mobility. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the literature and provides a detailed analysis of the current development of electro-mobility in Europe, assessing social, economic, and environmental aspects under a circular economy (CE) context. It also examines the existing challenges and suggests ways of addressing them towards improving the environmental performance of electro-mobility and the urban quality of life. The paper argues that a narrow technology-only agenda in electro-mobility will be less successful without the imperative of the CE, including not just materials and resources but also energy, to unlock the medium-term co-benefits of de-carbonization of both the transport as well as the building and energy sectors. The paper critically reviews some of the anticipated future developments that may guide the growth of this rapidly growing field into a CE.

Negotiation and corporate strategy

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 4-6
Keyword(s):  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Corporate Strategy ◽  
Organizational Strategy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Pertinent Information ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Consistent Approach

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings Negotiation is a key tool in delivering competitive advantage but requires a clear and consistent approach closely linked to organizational strategy. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Blending global and regional planning in multinationals

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 16-18
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Regional Planning ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Cutting Edge ◽  
Central Planning ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Pertinent Information ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings Blending global and regional planning is important for multinationals. Within a central framework, local offices should have input. Different regions will approach this in different ways, but regional planning needs to be in-synch with central planning cycles. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives, strategists, and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

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