Chapter 5 How is consumption changing?

The unprecedented Covid-19 crisis revealed the scale and scope of a new type of economy taking shape in front of our very eyes: the digital economy. This book presents a concise theoretical and conceptual framework for a more nuanced analysis of the economic and sociological impacts of the technological disruption that is taking place in the markets of goods and services, labour markets, and the global economy more generally. This interdisciplinary work is a must for researchers and students from economics, business, and other social science majors who seek an overview of the main digital economy concepts and research. Its down-to-earth approach and communicative style will also speak to businesses practitioners who want to understand the ongoing digital disruption of the market rules and emergence of the new digital business models. The book refers to academic insights from economics and sociology while giving numerous empirical examples drawn from basic and applied research and business. It addresses several burning issues: how are digital processes transforming traditional business models? Does intelligent automation threaten our jobs? Are we reaching the end of globalisation as we know it? How can we best prepare ourselves and our children for the digitally transformed world? The book will help the reader gain a better understanding of the mechanisms behind the digital transformation, something that is essential in order to not only reap the plentiful opportunities being created by the digital economy but also to avoid its many pitfalls

Competitive strategies of mobile applications in online taxi services The cases of Snapp and Tap30 in Iran

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze competitive strategies implemented by two Iranian taxi service mobile apps – Snapp and Tap30 – in different domains by using the modified version of the generic strategies proposed by Porter and focusing on the online taxi market. Design/methodology/approach – Due to the in-depth nature of competitive strategies in ridesharing platforms, the study employs comparative case research to understand the dynamics of such businesses in terms of developing mobile applications. By comparatively investigating competitive strategies of two Iranian mobile apps in ridesharing business, it is possible to extract rich knowledge about the commonalities between cases and the specificities of each of them to reach success in this market. Findings – Although Snapp has made significant efforts to provide various services to passengers, the findings show that it has not been able to do it intelligently, as it has failed to identify customers’ new needs. In addition, Snapp is trying to keep its position in the Iranian market by monopolizing it. On the contrary, Tap30 has paid attention to the intelligence of services in order to explore and exploit new opportunities, so that it can be distinguished from its rival and gain competitive advantage. The proper and timely use of artificial intelligence by these apps will be a major issue that will greatly determine their future success on the market, according to the conclusion of this work. Research limitations/implications – Like other qualitative researches, this study also has limitations in generalizing findings to other communities. For this purpose, it is recommended that the results of this study be generalized more cautiously. Moreover, access to some data in the digital market of Iran was one of the significant issues that researchers faced with. However, using a large number of different databases, attempts were made to reduce such limitations. Practical implications – Applying the competitive strategies introduced in the present research, platform managers would be benefited from using the insights provided here. In particular, they should understand the fact that competitive advantages are deeply tied to a combination of product/service differentiation, costs leadership and marketing strategies rather than focusing on just one dimension. Originality/value – Focusing on the strategy literature, the paper contributes to business debates on ridesharing platforms, especially in an emerging market, Iran. This study also moves digital entrepreneurship literature forward in online taxi services by shedding light on their competitive strategies in an emerging economy

The future of the urban street in the united states: visions of alternative mobilities in the twenty-first century

This dissertation is concerned with the present and future of urban streets in the United States. The goal is to document and analyze current visions, policies, and strategies related to the form and use of American urban streets. The dissertation examines current mobility trends and offers a framework for organizing visions of the future of urban streets, evaluating them through three lenses: safety, comfort, and delight: assessing physical conditions in accordance with livability standards toward sustainable development. At the same time, it demonstrates the way 12 scenarios (NACTO Blueprint for Autonomous Urbanism, Sidewalk Labs: Quayside Project, Public Square by FXCollaborative, AIANY Future Street, The National Complete Street Coalition, Vision Zero, Smart Columbus, Waymo by Alphabet, The Hyperloop, Tesla “Autopilot,” Ford City of Tomorrow, SOM City of Tomorrow) have intentionally or unintentionally influenced contemporary use of American urban streets. Ultimately, the study shows that while sustainable alternative mobilities continue to emerge, the dominance of the automobility system has led to a stagnation of sustainable urban street development in the United States

Data towards city bike mobility patterns

New technologies applied to transportation services and the shifting to sustainable modes of transportation turned bike-sharing systems more relevant in the urban mobility scenario. This thesis aims to understand the spatiotemporal station and trip activity patterns in Lisbon bike-sharing system in 2018 and understand trip rate changes in Lisbon bike-sharing system in 2019 and 2020 compared to 2018. By analyzing the spatiotemporal distribution of trips through stations and the weather factors combined with the usage rate throughout the years, it is possible to improve and make the system more suitable to the users’ demand. In this research work, we used large open datasets made available by the Lisbon City Hall, that are deployed by using the CRISP-DM. Our major work contribution was the development of a data analytics process for urban data, specifically bike-sharing data, that helps to understand how people move in the city using bikes. Moreover, we aimed to understand how mobility patterns change over time and the impact of pandemic events. Major findings show that most bike-sharing happens on weekdays, with no precipitation and mild temperature. Additionally, there was an exponential increase in the number of trips, cut short by COVID-19 pandemics. The current approach can be applied to any city with digital data available.As novas tecnologias aplicadas aos serviços de transporte e a transição para meios de transporte sustentáveis tornaram os sistemas de bicicletas partilhadas mais relevantes no cenário da mobilidade urbana. O objetivo deste estudo é compreender os padrões de mobilidade de espaço e tempo das estações e viagens neste sistema de Lisboa em 2018, e também compreender as mudanças na taxa de viagens nos sistemas de Lisboa em 2019 e 2020 em comparação com 2018. Analisando a distribuição de espaço e tempo das viagens através das estações e, os fatores climáticos juntamente com a taxa de utilização ao longo dos anos, é possível melhorar e tornar o sistema mais adequado à procura dos utilizadores. Usamos um grande conjunto de dados com implementação do CRISP-DM. A principal contribuição do trabalho foi o desenvolvimento de um processo de análise e visualização de dados urbanos, especificamente dados de sistemas de bicicletas partilhadas, que permite assim, a melhor compreensão de como as pessoas se movem na cidade usando bicicletas. Além disso, é importante identificar os padrões de mobilidade que mudam com o tempo e o impacto dos eventos pandémicos. Os resultados mostram que a maior parte do uso de bicicletas partilhadas é efetuado durante a semana, sem precipitação e com temperatura amena. Houve um aumento exponencial no número de viagens, por sua vez interrompido pela pandemia do COVID-19. Esta abordagem pode ser aplicada a qualquer cidade com dados digitais disponíveis

A proposed assessment scheme for smart sustainable urban development

The twenty-first century belongs to the cities. For the first time in history, more than 50% of the world\u27s population now lives in a city and the urban population is expected to double by 2050. The opportunities created by new technologies challenge the way in which we conceive our cities, how we plan, design and construct them and how we will live in them. The current large gap between smart city and sustainable city frameworks implies that there is a need for developing their frameworks further or re-defining the smart sustainable city concept, which is relatively new and can be seen as a successor of information city, digital city and sustainable city. Furthermore, rating standards like LEED and (GPRS) do not cover all the topics behind the Smart Sustainable City Concept. The aim of this study is to conduct and perform qualitative and comparative analysis of International Standards and case studies, to provide a foundation for developing a framework for the planning of a Smart Sustainable City based on rigorous criteria and sub-criteria. This framework, can be used to assess the smart sustainable urban development of the new administrative capital of Egypt. The criteria have been selected according to international standards via ISO37120 and the Focus Group of Smart Sustainable Cities of International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T FGSSC), as a base for the framework. The framework developed in this study is more oriented towards achieving aspects of urban life at the design and planning stage versus other models existing in the literature that are more oriented towards progress in International Communication Technology (ICT) as a dimension by itself and as means to transform already built cities to smart cities. The proposed study is intended to build up and complement key dimensions that were developed by ITU-TFGSSC, by adding sub-dimensions and key indicators filling this gap in research. The outcome of this study could be used to generate a framework and develop recommendations that has been tailored for urban planners, owners, operators and occupiers, to successfully and cost effectively adopt smart sustainable solutions as they plan, design, construct, and manage future cities. City assessment tools can be used as support for decision making in urban development as they provide assessment methodologies for cities to show the progress towards defined targets

Bringing Water and Land Use Together: Final Report to the Community Foundation Water Initiative on the Equitable Integration of Water and Land Use

California is moving toward a more holistic approach to managing our water and land resources as the 21st century unfolds. This perspective recognizes the interconnectivity between two traditionally fragmented sectors.In 2005, the California Legislature passed new laws that enable communities to join together to adopt Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) policies and practices. This comprehensive planning approach considers water resources in the context of an interconnected watershed with a network of regional governance, rather than as a combination of fragmented parts. Unfortunately, the IRWM program is dominated by the water sector and in most regions has not pursued alignment with land use.Similarly, the Sustainable Communities Strategies (SCS) mandated through [legislation] establish a framework for aligning land use practices (predominantly housing and transportation) across jurisdictions within a larger geographic region. Yet very few SCSs have taken water resources into account.While water management and land-use planning remain highly fragmented across the state, we are making progress toward a more integrated approach, especially when setting new state-level policies, regulations and guidance. The 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) is a leap forward in this direction. For the first time, local land use agencies have an opportunity to be full partners with water agencies in shaping groundwater governance. It is too soon to determine how well these two sectors are integrating under SGMA, but early results are promising

Like Uber, but for Local Government Law: The Future of Local Regulation of the Sharing Economy

In the past five years, sharing economy firms like Uber, Zipcar, Airbnb and TaskRabbit have generated both huge market valuations and fierce regulatory contests in America\u27s cities. Incumbent firms in the taxi, hotel, and other industries, as well as consumer protection, labor, and neighborhood activists, have pushed for regulations stifling or banning new sharing economy entrants. Sharing firms have fought back, using their popularity with consumers and novel political strategies, lobbying for freedom to operate as broadly as possible without government interference. But to date, both participants and observers of these sharing wars have relied on an unstated assumption: if the sharing firms win these fights, their future will be largely free from government regulation. Local governments will either shut sharing down, or they will leave it alon

Analysis of the Podcast Industry and Business Growth of Upside.fm

This paper explores the podcast industry with a focus on business related podcasts about entrepreneurship and startup businesses. The paper works to analyze the podcast industry and midwestern startup cities in order to assist podcast company, Upside.fm, in expanding their business model. The two main ideas researched throughout the paper are consumer behaviors in the podcast industry and the entrepreneurial ecosystems of multiple midwestern cities in the U.S including, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Kansas City, Missouri, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Indianapolis, Indiana. For the consumer behavior aspect of the research, a survey was conducted and analyzed to discover what podcast listeners enjoy and why non-listeners do not listen. The city analysis involved a quantitative analysis of numerical data and a qualitative analysis gathered from interviews with entrepreneurial leaders from the midwestern cities that were researched. The findings are condensed as recommendations for Upside.fm regarding how they could use the research to expand their business into new cities while also suggesting what further research can be done in the future

Like Uber, but for Local Government Law: The Future of Local Regulation of the Sharing Economy

In the past five years, sharing economy firms like Uber, Zipcar, Airbnb and TaskRabbit have generated both huge market valuations and fierce regulatory contests in America\u27s cities. Incumbent firms in the taxi, hotel, and other industries, as well as consumer protection, labor, and neighborhood activists, have pushed for regulations stifling or banning new sharing economy entrants. Sharing firms have fought back, using their popularity with consumers and novel political strategies, lobbying for freedom to operate as broadly as possible without government interference. But to date, both participants and observers of these sharing wars have relied on an unstated assumption: if the sharing firms win these fights, their future will be largely free from government regulation. Local governments will either shut sharing down, or they will leave it alon

Towards Prototyping Driverless Vehicle Behaviors, City Design, and Policies Simultaneously

Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) can potentially improve urban living by reducing accidents, increasing transportation accessibility and equity, and decreasing emissions. Realizing these promises requires the innovations of AV driving behaviors, city plans and infrastructure, and traffic and transportation policies to join forces. However, the complex interdependencies among AV, city, and policy design issues can hinder their innovation. We argue the path towards better AV cities is not a process of matching city designs and policies with AVs' technological innovations, but a process of iterative prototyping of all three simultaneously: Innovations can happen step-wise as the knot of AV, city, and policy design loosens and tightens, unwinds and reties. In this paper, we ask: How can innovators innovate AVs, city environments, and policies simultaneously and productively toward better AV cities? The paper has two parts. First, we map out the interconnections among the many AV, city, and policy design decisions, based on a literature review spanning HCI/HRI, transportation science, urban studies, law and policy, operations research, economy, and philosophy. This map can help innovators identify design constraints and opportunities across the traditional AV/city/policy design disciplinary bounds. Second, we review the respective methods for AV, city, and policy design, and identify key barriers in combining them: (1) Organizational barriers to AV-city-policy design collaboration, (2) computational barriers to multi-granularity AV-city-policy simulation, and (3) different assumptions and goals in joint AV-city-policy optimization. We discuss two broad approaches that can potentially address these challenges, namely, "low-fidelity integrative City-AV-Policy Simulation (iCAPS)" and "participatory design optimization".Comment: Published to the CHI '23 Workshop: Designing Technology and Policy Simultaneousl