Editorial

UID/HIS/04209/2019publishersversionpublishe

Editorial

UID/HIS/04209/2019publishersversionpublishe

A methodological approach in order to support decision-makers when defining Mobility and Transportation Politics

Nowadays Portugal is under a large process of creation/revision of studies and plans related with land use and territorial planning, mainly due to the end of the lifetime period of the actual Municipal Master Plan, but also because of the creation of the new Metropolitan Authorities of Transportation, which will require Mobility Plans. Even though the Portuguese law doesn’t impose these Mobility Plans at the present moment, there is a general feeling about the importance of the mobility system for the society and economics in general. This is the case in highly density areas, where the need and complexity of the system requires these specific studies in order to obtain an efficient management; or in the case of low-density areas where the risk of loosing competitiveness is too high to ignore the importance of the transportation and mobility system, and the advantage of gaining local and regional competitiveness might increase the importance of the municipality in regional context. This paper intends to provide an innovative approach regarding the provision, at an early stage, of technical support to decision-makers in order to define Mobility and Transportation Policies. The opportunity provided by using adapted SWOT analysis (among others) to identify weakening or potential factors, and how to take advantage of the results, always using a cause and effect approach and a coherent policy in order to obtain high quality and effective studies and politics. The methodology relies on a two-stage process. In the first stage a summary diagnose is provided, using inputs which are supposed to well characterise the territory’s mobility patterns. Afterwards, in a second phase, these are inter-related and evaluated in order to build-up a table of options, where policies are proposed with a careful attention to its qualitative cross impact with the measures and objectives intended to be achieved. The proposed methodology was applied in the Alcobaça´s Municipality case study, which provided different lines of action in diverse subjects, such as, public and private transportation networks, parking policies and organisation, and territory competitiveness. This study was particularly relevant, since this Municipality is under great pressure of its neighbour municipalities, has a low level of regional importance and a low intra-municipal cohesion. Finally, the general opinion of the decision-makers about this technical approach is presented. Keywords: Mobility; Transportation; Land Planning and Policies; Decision-making Support

Integration As A Competitiveness Instrument For Public Transport In Rural Areas

The market of interurban mobility to rural areas is one of the most challenging for Public Transport (PT). In Portugal it has been quite difficult for Public Transportation to establish itself in this market as an effective alternative to the use of private cars. Two of the main reasons for this are the low accessibility of long distance railway services and urban sprawl in many Portuguese regions. Integration facilitates the use of several services of the transport chain and facilitates a more efficient resource allocation on the supply side of the system. By making local distribution possible in connection with long distance services, even in low demand areas, integration may foster a higher patronage of PT and its competitiveness compared to private car. This paper presents the study of five short-range road transport services in connection to the railway network in the Médio Tejo region, including the key elements that are to be considered on their design. The research identified the possible interested agents and made an account of their related costs and benefits. The conclusion is that these services can be commercially interesting and may bring considerable increase in the market share of PT. Keywords: Integration, Multimodal Transport, Public Transport, Interurban Transport, Economic Evaluation.Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

Integration As A Competitiveness Instrument For Public Transport In Rural Areas

The market of interurban mobility to rural areas is one of the most challenging for Public Transport (PT). In Portugal it has been quite difficult for Public Transportation to establish itself in this market as an effective alternative to the use of private cars. Two of the main reasons for this are the low accessibility of long distance railway services and urban sprawl in many Portuguese regions. Integration facilitates the use of several services of the transport chain and facilitates a more efficient resource allocation on the supply side of the system. By making local distribution possible in connection with long distance services, even in low demand areas, integration may foster a higher patronage of PT and its competitiveness compared to private car. This paper presents the study of five short-range road transport services in connection to the railway network in the Médio Tejo region, including the key elements that are to be considered on their design. The research identified the possible interested agents and made an account of their related costs and benefits. The conclusion is that these services can be commercially interesting and may bring considerable increase in the market share of PT. Keywords: Integration, Multimodal Transport, Public Transport, Interurban Transport, Economic Evaluation.Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

Fatores críticos de sucesso do Balanced Scorecard na Industria Farmacêutica Portuguesa

Dissertação de Mestrado em Comércio Electrónico e Internet apresentada à Universidade AbertaA conceção e a utilização de diferentes sistemas de avaliação de desempenho organizacional têm vindo a proliferar nos últimos anos. As organizações procuram adaptar os seus sistemas de controlo para assegurar que expressam as suas estratégias ao contexto. Contudo a envolvente às organizações tem vindo a mudar rapidamente devido a alterações macro e micro ambientais, exigindo por isso mudanças de estratégia e operacionalidade que reflitam as necessidades de adaptação. Este trabalho de investigação dedicou-se a identificar a taxa de penetração e fatores críticos de sucesso na implementação do Balanced Scorecard, uma das possíveis soluções adotadas pela Indústria Farmacêutica em Portugal, sector onde rápidas e constringentes alterações de contexto se fizeram sentir nos últimos anos. Com o objetivo acima mencionado o estudo assenta para além do enquadramento teórico em processos mistos de pesquisa, integrando técnicas de análise qualitativa e quantitativa num processo de triangulação, minimizando limitações consequentes da dimensão reduzida da amostra. Os resultados mostram que o Balanced Scorecard ocupa uma quota de 20% no universo das organizações associadas da Apifarma e que os principais fatores críticos de sucesso evidenciados neste estudo foram o alinhamento com a estratégia, dos indicadores e do sistema de recompensa. Conclusão, o modelo Balanced Scorecard tem um espaço de progressão em termos de ferramenta de gestão estratégica ou integrado com outros modelos constituindo sistemas de gestão integrados, em que a escolha dos objetivos e respetivos indicadores e a forma de motivar as equipas são pontos críticos a desenvolver.The design and use of different systems for organizational performance monitoring have been proliferating in recent years. Organizations seek to adapt their systems of control to ensure that express their strategies to the context. However the engaging of the organizations have been changing rapidly due to changes in macro and micro environment, therefore requiring changes in strategy and operations reflect the needs of adaptation. This research was dedicated to identify the penetration rate and critical success factors in the implementation of the Balanced Scorecard, a possible solution adopted by the Pharmaceutical Industry in Portugal, where fast and constricting sector context changes were felt in recent years. With the above objective the study is based beyond the theoretical framework in mixed research processes, integrating techniques for qualitative and quantitative analysis, in a process of triangulation minimizing any consequential limitations of the reduce size of sample. The results show that the Balanced Scorecard holds a 20% market share in the universe of registered organizations in Apifarma and its critical factors of success were highlighted among others key performance indicators and reward aligned with strategy. In conclusion, the Balanced Scorecard model as a space of progression either in terms of strategic management tool or integrated with other models constituting an integrated management system, where the objectives and their KPI choices and how to motivate teams, are critical points to develop

Interacting Microsoft Visual Basic Procedures (Macros) and GIS tools in order to access optimal location and maximum use of railways and railway infrastructures

Some parts of the Portuguese railway infrastructure have been neglected through time: Rural lines have been abandoned, investment in new infrastructure is sometimes delayed, and marketing strategies to keep or attract more users have not been pursued. Simultaneously, problems with urban congestion, pollution and mobility for the young, the elderly, the poor, and the handicapped are putting forward the discussion about new or more sustainable modes of transportation. Common sense of public officials, other lobbying groups, and the locals demand new, trendy train lines. And while some axes may have the potential to justify rail lines, others seem to lack population or funding to be enabled. One major problem in order to evaluate the worthiness of these rail projects has been the fact that very often the studies of travel demand and physical implantation are done separately. Travel demand analysis is done based on the four-step model (trip generation, distribution, modal split, and network assignment) using survey data and the network system, using a relatively wide zoning. The importance of interacting with other, finer, information (i.e. slope, density of population, environmental sensitivity, or other socio-economic and land use information) with the development of the travel analysis demand will enhance the analysis/results and increase the chance of proposing lines that are both optimal in location and will have the maximum use by the citizens. Off the shelf software is still unable to perform this kind of operations. Some perform the analysis using existing networks, and no information on the land is available besides the zoning system, other software propose lines accordingly to land slopes, but no trip information is included. GIS packages have the capacity to include the land information and some have some transportation analysis, but are lacking computation capabilities and algorithms to perform analysis similar to off-the-shelf transportation software. In order to develop this kind of integrated analysis it is important to have a good knowledge of the algorithms and analysis required by transportation and of the tools/opportunities offered by the GIS packages. This paper presents a methodology that integrates the transportation algorithms with the GIS functionalities, using excel macro-language. The result is an interaction of both travel demand analysis and site selection. The characteristics of the place constrain the travel demand analysis, but on its own the travel demand analysis define not only the buffer of the train line, but systematically enhance the shape of the line and the location of the stops each time the results of a phase of the travel demand analysis is outputted. This paper offers guidelines for those developing travel demand analysis including some site selection criteria, and it can be a starting point for those of whom intend to develop further application of in the GIS fields.

a propósito de um ensaio de António Feijó e Miguel Tamen

UID/HIS/04209/2019publishersversionpublishe

Implicações democráticas das associações voluntárias: o caso português numa perspectiva comparativa europeia

Muito embora as virtudes democráticas do associativismo sejam, desde há muito, enfatizadas por diferentes autores, as análises empíricas extensivas não revelam, inequivocamente, esses efeitos. Neste contexto, o presente texto desenvolve-se em dois planos. No primeiro, e no seguimento da proposta de Warren, o autor distingue: a) os efeitos democráticos das associações; b) as próprias associações de acordo com as suas características. Será no cruzamento destas duas vertentes que se poderá estabelecer qual o contributo para a democracia de um dado “tipo” de associação.Although the democratic virtues of the phenomenon of associations have long been emphasized by different authors, extensive empirical analyses have not, unequivocally, revealed these effects. Against this background, the present text is developed in two directions. Reflecting Warren’s proposal in the first, the author distinguishes: a) the democratic effects of associations; and b) the associations themselves, according to their characteristics. By crossing these two aspects it will be possible to ascertain what a particular “type” of association contributes to democracy.Bien que les vertus démocratiques de l’associativisme aient depuis longtemps été soulignées par différents auteurs, les analyses empiriques élargies ne révèlent pas clairement de tels effets. Ce texte aborde deux volets, qui tiennent compte de la proposition et distinguent: a) les effets démocratiques des associations; b) les associations elles-mêmes en fonction de leurs caractéristiques. C’est en recoupant ces deux volets que l’on peut établir dans quelle mesure un “type” d’association donné contribue à la démocratie.A pesar de que las virtudes democráticas del asociativismo han sido, desde hace mucho, enfatizadas por diferentes autores, los análisis empíricos extensivos no revelan, inequívocamente, esos efectos. En este contexto, el presente texto se desenvuelve en dos planos. En el primero, y en el seguimiento de la propuesta de Warren, el autor distingue: a) los efectos democráticos de las asociaciones; b) las propias asociaciones de acuerdo con sus características. Será en el cruce de estas dos vertientes en donde se podrá establecer la contribución a la democracia de un determinado “tipo” de asociación

An integrated application of zoning for mobility analysis and planning: the case of Paris Region

International audienceIn most transport planning studies one of the first steps is the definition of a zoning scheme with which the study area is divided and the corresponding space is disaggregated. There are no clear rules on how to carry out this operation in an optimal way, and the dominating practice is to do it based on experience, trying to mix a certain degree of within-zone homogeneity and the convenience of using administrative borders as zone limits. Firstly, this paper starts by presenting a set of quality criteria for a general zoning scheme and an algorithm that constructs an initial zoning based on a sample of geo-referenced trip extreme points and improves it in successive steps according to those criteria. This kind of zoning fits perfectly well to traffic assignment purposes. But this paper will investigate an improvement of this approach in order to give a better understanding of the mobility determinants and its externalities on the environment. In doing so, the new zone is determined not only by the trips generation and distribution but also constrained by other indicators. In our case, we have selected a combination of the following: 1/ air pollution emissions, 2/ population density, 3/ work and study density and 4/ public transport accessibility. The integration of these 4 indicators allows us not only to picture the mobility within the region and to identify at the very precise level the main zones of activities and traffic exchanges. This integration relates the picture to the land use and the clustering of the economic activities location at a very discrete level. Furthermore, it relates the density of the mobility in dense, large and economically dynamic urban area to its externalities in terms of air pollution. In order to be effective for mobility analysis and policy purposes, this kind of approach cannot only rely on the cell grid unit but a hierarchical aggregation should be set up. This aggregation allows analyses within the administrative and political boundaries but with a more disaggregated perspective. A case study based on the Mobility Survey for the Paris Metropolitan Area in 2001 is developed to illustrate this new approach to zoning. The magnitude of those resulting improvements is very significant especially when compared with the already existing zoning as the department zoning or the IAURIF zoning. It then shows that more attention should definitely be given to this initial process in the transport planning studies