Modeling the Effect of a Road Construction Project on Transportation System Performance

Road construction projects create physical changes on roads that result in capacity reduction and travel time escalation during the construction project period. The reduction in the posted speed limit, the number of lanes, lane width and shoulder width at the construction zone makes it difficult for the road to accommodate high traffic volume. Therefore, the goal of this research is to model the effect of a road construction project on travel time at road link-level and help improve the mobility of people and goods through dissemination or implementation of proactive solutions. Data for a resurfacing construction project on I-485 in the city of Charlotte, North Carolina (NC) was used evaluation, analysis, and modeling. A statistical t-test was conducted to examine the relationship between the change in travel time before and during the construction project period. Further, travel time models were developed for the freeway links and the connecting arterial street links, both before and during the construction project period. The road network characteristics of each link, such as the volume/ capacity (V/C), the number of lanes, the speed limit, the shoulder width, the lane width, whether the link is divided or undivided, characteristics of neighboring links, the time-of-the-day, the day-of-the-week, and the distance of the link from the road construction project were considered as predictor variables for modeling. The results obtained indicate that a decrease in travel time was observed during the construction project period on the freeway links when compared to the before construction project period. Contrarily, an increase in travel time was observed during the construction project period on the connecting arterial street links when compared to the before construction project period. Also, the average travel time, the planning time, and the travel time index can better explain the effect of a road construction project on transportation system performance when compared to the planning time index and the buffer time index. The influence of predictor variables seem to vary before and during the construction project period on the freeway links and connecting arterial street links. Practitioners should take the research findings into consideration, in addition to the construction zone characteristics, when planning a road construction project and developing temporary traffic control and detour plans

Forecasting Vacancy Dynamics in Growing Versus Shrinking Cities: A Smart City Initiative

Every city seeks to spur economic development, and land, especially vacant land, plays an important role in these endeavors. Although vacant land exists in every city regardless of whether they are growing or shrinking, the causes and effects of changes in vacant land differ. While large scale annexation can increase vacant land in growing cities, depopulation and economic downturn may increase vacant properties in shrinking cities. However, despite these different characteristics, most cities pursue growth-oriented development strategies due, partially, to their inability to accurately predict future urban growth/decline patterns. Therefore, understanding land use alternation patterns and predicting future possible scenarios is critical when developing more proactive land use policies on urban decline and regeneration. In this study, the city of Chicago, Illinois, was used as a case site to test an urban land use change model predicting future vacant lands in shrinking cities, and the city of Fort Worth, Texas, was selected to forecast vacant land transformation in growing cities. By understanding not only simple decrease or increase of vacant properties but also analyzing historical patterns of vacancy changes and predicting the probability of future transitions with accuracy outputs, this research can be used to improve policies on vacancy. This project employed the Land Transformation Model (LTM) which combines GIS and artificial neural networks to forecast land use change. While this research used causal drivers to predict future vacant land changes in growing and shrinking cities, findings can also be used to simulate land use changes to suggest suitable alternatives for shrinking and growing cities with high risk of vacancy and future infill development plans. Study results indicate that housing market conditions and economic factors are the primary variables contributing to land vacancy decline with mobility and physical conditions being stronger predictors of vacant land specifically in growing cities. In terms of plan quality associated with vacancy-related policies, this study found that Fort Worth is more attentive to socially and physically vulnerable areas, working to revitalize the economy and reduce vacant properties, than healthier communities while Chicago may need to improve their policies regarding the transportation accessibility and physical conditions of their structures

Building Ownership, Renovation Investments, and Energy Performance—A Study of Multi-Family Dwellings in Gothenburg

The European building stock was renewed at a rapid pace during the period 1950–1975. In many European countries, the building stock from this time needs to be renovated, and there are opportunities to introduce energy efficiency measures in the renovation process. information availability and increasingly available analysis tools make it possible to assess the impact of policy and regulation. This article describes methods developed for analyzing investments in renovation and energy performance based on building ownership and inhabitant socio-economic information developed for Swedish authorities, to be used for the Swedish national renovations strategy in 2019. This was done by analyzing measured energy usage and renovation investments made during the last 30 years, coupled with building specific official information of buildings and resident area characteristics, for multi-family dwellings in Gothenburg (N = 6319). The statistical analyses show that more costly renovations lead to decreasing energy usage for heating, but buildings that have been renovated during the last decades have a higher energy usage when accounting for current heating system, ownership, and resident socio-economic background. It is appropriate to include an affordability aspect in larger renovation projects since economically disadvantaged groups are over-represented in buildings with poorer energy performance

Sustainable Development of Real Estate

Research, theoretical and practical tasks of sustainable real estate development process are revised in detail in this monograph; particular examples are presented as well. The concept of modern real estate development model and a developer is discussed, peculiarities of the development of built environment and real estate objects are analyzed, as well as assessment methods, models and management of real estate and investments in order to increase the object value. Theoretical and practical analyses, presented in the monograph, prove that intelligent and augmented reality technologies allow business managers to reach higher results in work quality, organize a creative team of developers, which shall present more qualitative products for the society. The edition presents knowledge on economic, legal, technological, technical, organizational, social, cultural, ethical, psychological and environmental, as well as its management aspects, which are important for the development of real estate: publicly admitted sustainable development principles, urban development and aesthetic values, territory planning, participation of society and heritage protection. It is admitted that economical crises are inevitable, and the provided methods shall help to decrease possible loss. References to the most modern world scientific literature sources are presented in the monograph. The monograph is prepared for the researchers, MSc and PhD students of construction economics and real estate development. The book may be useful for other researchers, MSc and PhD students of economics, management and other specialities, as well as business specialist of real estate business. The publication of monograph was funded by European Social Fund according to project No. VP1-2.2-ŠMM-07-K-02-060 Development and Implementation of Joint Master’s Study Programme “Sustainable Development of the Built Environment”

GPT Models in Construction Industry: Opportunities, Limitations, and a Use Case Validation

Large Language Models(LLMs) trained on large data sets came into prominence in 2018 after Google introduced BERT. Subsequently, different LLMs such as GPT models from OpenAI have been released. These models perform well on diverse tasks and have been gaining widespread applications in fields such as business and education. However, little is known about the opportunities and challenges of using LLMs in the construction industry. Thus, this study aims to assess GPT models in the construction industry. A critical review, expert discussion and case study validation are employed to achieve the study objectives. The findings revealed opportunities for GPT models throughout the project lifecycle. The challenges of leveraging GPT models are highlighted and a use case prototype is developed for materials selection and optimization. The findings of the study would be of benefit to researchers, practitioners and stakeholders, as it presents research vistas for LLMs in the construction industry.Comment: 58 pages, 20 figure

State of the Art on Artificial Intelligence in Land Use Simulation

[Abstract] This review presents a state of the art in artificial intelligence applied to urban planning and particularly to land-use predictions. In this review, different articles after the year 2016 are analyzed mostly focusing on those that are not mentioned in earlier publications. Most of the articles analyzed used a combination of Markov chains and cellular automata to predict the growth of urban areas and metropolitan regions. We noticed that most of these simulations were applied in various areas of China. An analysis of the publication of articles in the area over time is included.This project was supported by the General Directorate of Culture, Education and University Management of Xunta de Galicia (ref. ED431G/01 and ED431D 2017/16), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness via funding of the unique installation BIOCAI (UNLC08-1E-002 and UNLC13-13-3503), and the European Regional Development Funds (FEDER). CITIC, as Research Center accredited by Galician University System, is funded by “Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Universidade from Xunta de Galicia,” supported in an 80% through ERDF Funds, ERDF Operational Programme Galicia 2014–2020, and the remaining 20% by “Secretaria Xeral de Universidades” (grant no. ED431G 2019/01)Xunta de Galicia; ED431G/01Xunta de Galicia; ED431D 2017/16Xunta de Galicia; ED431G 2019/0