Energy use in Urban Transport sector within the Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs) of three Italian Big Cities

Promising Renewable Energy solutions could be installed in cities, but they require specific morphological conditions as well as architectural integration. Transport sector is still neglected from a strong policy initiative. A first attempt along with a defined framework to attract economic resources as well as interested stakeholders is the Covenant of Mayors (CoM). Within this agreement, the Municipality has to design a plan, the so-called Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP). The plan must contain a clear outline of the strategy and relative actions to be taken by the local authority to reach its commitments in 2020, in terms of sustainability goals set by EU 20-20-20. The aim of this paper is to discuss and evaluate the differences of fuel usage and transport sector interaction in Italian urban scenarios, taking into account geographical and morphological constraints, and to compare the forecasts for 2020 and 2030scenarios, in accordance with European and National laws in force

The Critical Role of Public Charging Infrastructure

Editors: Peter Fox-Penner, PhD, Z. Justin Ren, PhD, David O. JermainA decade after the launch of the contemporary global electric vehicle (EV) market, most cities face a major challenge preparing for rising EV demand. Some cities, and the leaders who shape them, are meeting and even leading demand for EV infrastructure. This book aggregates deep, groundbreaking research in the areas of urban EV deployment for city managers, private developers, urban planners, and utilities who want to understand and lead change

Planning for Density in a Driverless World

Automobile-centered, low-density development was the defining feature of population growth in the United States for decades. This development pattern displaced wildlife, destroyed habitat, and contributed to a national loss of biodiversity. It also meant, eventually, that commutes and air quality worsened, a sense of local character was lost in many places, and the negative consequences of sprawl impacted an increasing percentage of the population. Those impacts led to something of a shift in the national attitude toward sprawl. More people than ever are fluent in concepts of “smart growth,” “new urbanism,” and “green building,” and with these tools and others, municipalities across the country are working to redevelop a central core, rethink failing transit systems, and promote pockets of density. Changing technology may disrupt this trend. Self-driving vehicles are expected to be widespread within the next several decades. Those vehicles will likely reduce congestion, air pollution, and deaths, and free up huge amounts of productive time in the car. These benefits may also eliminate much of the conventional motivation and rationale behind sprawl reduction. As the time-cost of driving falls, driverless cars have the potential to incentivize human development of land that, by virtue of its distance from settled metropolitan areas, had been previously untouched. From the broader ecological perspective, each human surge into undeveloped land results in habitat destruction and fragmentation, and additional loss of biological diversity. New automobile technology may therefore usher in better air quality, increased safety, and a significant threat to ecosystem health. Our urban and suburban environments have been molded for centuries to the needs of various forms of transportation. The same result appears likely to occur in response to autonomous vehicles, if proactive steps are not taken to address their likely impacts. Currently, little planning is being done to prepare for driverless technology. Actors at multiple levels, however, have tools at their disposal to help ensure that new technology does not come at the expense of the nation’s remaining natural habitats. This Article advocates for a shift in paradigm from policies that are merely anti-car to those that are pro-density, and provides suggestions for both cities and suburban areas for how harness the positive aspects of driverless cars while trying to stem the negative. Planning for density regardless of technology will help to ensure that, for the world of the future, there is actually a world

Comprehensive development area (CDA) zoning in Hong Kong a probit analysis of planning application statistics /

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2006.published_or_final_versio

Housing and Mobility Toolkit for San Mateo County

Since the end of the Great Recession, San Mateo County has attracted new workers at a record rate without building anywhere near enough housing. This jobs-housing imbalance drives the cost of housing up and forces many moderate and lower-income employees and their families out of the County. A lack of access to quality affordable housing in the County and the entire Bay Area along with limited transportation options means that an increased number of employees drive in and out of the County every workday. The resultant congestion, gridlock, and long commutes along with other negative environmental, social, and economic impacts create a major concern for communities in the County and beyond. Clearly, this problem has two distinct but interrelated dimensions: housing development and transportation planning. A select group of Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) Research Associates worked closely with representatives from the San Mateo County Home for All initiative to help address this challenge by developing a toolkit of successful case studies with a holistic approach to housing development and transportation planning