Interaction of transport and land use: framework for an integrated urban model

The growing general concern on limited resources (e.g. space) have led to the conviction that policy makers, that deal with urban development, need to consider their choices carefully, with respect to the effects on urban development on the long term. Models that describe the urban development provide quantitative insight in the effects of possible government policy and are a useful tool for policy makers. In the last decade new generation computers have drastically increased data handling capacity and graphically possibilities, allowing much more detail in spatial modeling. This has resulted in research efforts into urban models to quantify the effects of spatial policy. The research, which will be described in this paper, aims for an integrated approach to spatial modeling with special attention on the influence of transport networks and the role of the government. Main objective of the research is the development and application of an urban model to quantify the effects of planning policies on the spatial development. At micro level this urban model simulates the reaction of actors to changes in the urban system: the development or renewal of new urban areas and new infrastructure. These changes are imposed on the urban system by government and developers on macro and meso level. The paper will present the theoretical framework for the proposed urban model and the objectives of the research. This will be complemented with a description of spatial planning issues in the Netherlands. In the proposed urban model the spatial system (urban region) is represented by multiple linked sub-systems. Individual sub-systems are: the housing market, public facilities, the market for business real estate and the transport system. Each sub-system is represented as a market with a supply and demand side. The government and (project) developers define the supply side through spatial policy and investments. On the demand side, agents (households and companies) react at changes in these subsystems. These reactions expose themselves as individual decisions whether to move to other dwellings or to relocate businesses. Development and application of modeling techniques for the choice behavior of households and companies as entities, are main objectives in the research. The urban markets have a strong coherence for the spatial relations of each agent. Quantification of these relationships, by analyzing the transportation facilities, is important in analyzing the choice behavior of households and companies. This is why the transport system plays a central role in the urban model. For each subsystem an appropriate modeling technique has been selected, based on an exploration of available approaches in the literature and other research programs. Efforts are under way to collect and operationalize the extensive data necessary for the modeling task.

Geographical scale and the role of firm migration in spatial economic dynamics

Spatial economic change can be decomposed in it's demographic constituents firm formation, closure, relocation and growth. This paper focusses on the role of relocation in the balancing equation of spatial economic dynamics: Total Change(zone i) = New firms(i)-Closures(i)+ Growth(i)-Decline(i)+ Inmoves(i)-Outmoves(i). Whereas the other components are scale invariant (i.e. a firm birth is a birth whether measured at the local or the regional level) for firm relocation the geographical scale is very important. The larger the size of the region, the smaller the number of border crossing relocations. The question about the role of firm migration in regional economic change can therefore only be answered taking into account the geographical scale. In this paper we will answer this question for various geographical scales. The data that we use are from the longitudinal business register of the province of Gelderland, in the east of the Netherlands, covering the period 1988-2002.

The Synergy Between Flood Risk Reduction and Spatial Quality in Coastal Cities

This paper describes the application of a research-by-design approach that aims for a combined approach for spatial quality enhancementand flood risk reduction, with spatial quality as a decisive exante criterion. In order to achieve this, as in the ‘Room for the River’ programme, a dual flood risk and spatial quality objective is set. This research was performed as part of the ‘Atelier for Coastal Quality’, in which The Hague’s seaside area of ‘Scheveningen’ was selected as a case study location.Here, the future reinforcement of the sea barrier could be combined with addressing the challenges of improving spatial quality, among which are: identity, vitality, attractiveness, and connectivity. A research-by-design approach was deployed in which a single parameter was systematically varied (the flood risk intervention) while fixing other parameters (such as the context and the objectives from a spatial and flood risk perspective). After exploring and defining both the flood risk and spatial objectives for the area, three alternative flood risk reduction strategies (based on three alternative interventions: a boulevard, dunes, and a perpendicular dam) for Scheveningen were developed. In order to facilitate the integrated design process, ‘Delta Ateliers’, in which multidisciplinary experts and stakeholders interactively worked together, were successfully deployed. As a result, it became apparent that the inclusion of a prominent spatial objective is not the main key to including spatial quality as an ex-ante decisive criterion in defining flood risk strategies. The three proposed flood risk reduction interventions had all been successfully embedded with regard to meeting the prescribed spatial criteria, thereby disqualifying the spatial aspects as selection criteria for the flood risk intervention. However, as part of the study, a supporting research-by-design exercise was performed in which three different locations for the positioning of the perpendicular dam, were explored from a spatial perspective. Here, it seemed that providing interchangeable (similarly effective) interventions at different locations did result in very different potentials for spatial quality, thus allowing spatial quality to become a decisive selection criterion. The ‘Room for the River’ principle, which appeared essential in order to include spatial quality as a decisive ex-ante criterion, is the creation of alternative exchangeable options for the flood risk reduction interventions at different locations. Based on these findings, the research-by-design approach deployed is extended to not only systematically test different interventions, but to also systematically vary the location of the intervention. The ‘Delta Atelier’ multidisciplinary workshop approach is continued within the remaining research

Costs of Producing Biogas at Dairy Farms in The Netherlands

By 2020, Dutch dairy chains envisage to be self‐sufficient with regard to energy used by dairy farms and dairy processors. This would require dairy farms to produce 25 PJ per year, possibly by a combination of wind, solar and biogas. This paper focuses on biogas. To evaluate the project’s viability we estimated the expected technical and financial performance of 4 types of business models, i.e. “CHP‐farm”, “CHP‐large”, “green gas” and “central upgrading of green gas”. Data stem from among others 23 biogas plants in the Netherlands. Anticipating that CHPmodels and green gas models occur with a likelihood of 40% and 60% respectively, the total number of biogas plants would amount to 232 (1% of dairy farms), including a total of 5 million tons of manure per year (14% of all cattle manure in the Netherlands) and annual government subsidies of Euro 295 million. Aggregated annual profits are expected to be positive, but over the project’s total life time there is an expected deficit of Euro 262. For this to change costs of feedstocks or digestate disposal costs would for instance have to go down. Also fully switching to green gas models dampens the deficit. Results are used in current stakeholders debates on the organization of an “energy neutral dairy chain” in the Netherlands. Further analyses incorporating uncertainty around key technical and economic parameters including financial impacts of CO2‐reductions are underway.green electricity, green gas, empirical data, technical performance, financial performance, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Visions of nature and environmental sustainability:Shellfish harvesting in the Dutch Wadden Sea

The concept of sustainability has several, sometimes contrasting, meanings that may generate confusion, misunderstanding, and conflict concerning conservation and restoration practices. It is therefore desirable to clarify the concept of sustainability, thereby potentially contributing to mutual understanding, especially when social conflicts arise. This article discusses a recently published typology of three conceptions of sustainability that range from economic to ecocentric valuations of nature. We argue that the typology is incomplete because it does not include the arcadian approaches. For this reason, we introduce a "tripolar model" for conceptions of sustainability, applying it to the debate on shellfish harvesting in the Dutch Wadden Sea. We conclude that the particular visions or conceptions of sustainability held by relevant actors may have an impact on strategies for conservation

URBSOIL-LISBON-Geoquímica dos solos urbanos de Lisboa: caracterização e cartografia, suporte para futuros estudos de saúde humana: resultados preliminares

A Geologia, e em especial a Geoquímica em ambiente urbano, têm-se revelado ferramentas essenciais não só no estudo dos materiais naturais neste ambiente, como na ligação entre a Geologia e a acção antrópica. Este estudo, com uma metodologia que usa vários meios de amostragem, pretende avaliar quais os elementos químicos que podem intervir num contexto de interacção em que as crianças são tomadas como alvo principal. Os primeiros resultados sobre concentrações de elementos químicos para os solos urbanos de Lisboa apontam para uma exposição esparsa na cidade de alguns dos elementos químicos inorgânicos, mas havendo por vezes um zonamento por tipologia de local ou de elemento químico. Foram definidos quatro grupos de pontos de amostragem consoante o tipo de uso, e escolhidos para uma análise mais próxima alguns elementos considerados tendencialmente de input antrópico e que se relacionam com a saúde humana.