Mobility In Metropolitan Area Research Articles

Intercity patient mobility can improve healthcare accessibility and equality in metropolitan areas: A case study of Shenzhen metropolitan area, China

Healthcare accessibility and equality have attracted extensive attention, but few in metropolitan areas, which are characterized by intense intercity connections. Despite of the policy focus on intercity patient mobility in metropolitan areas, the quantitative impact of intercity patient mobility on healthcare accessibility and equality remains understudied. This study develops a comprehensive framework to quantify such impacts by comparing two scenarios (i.e., intercity and intracity) of accessibility to existing and optimized healthcare services. A two-step optimization method, integrating efficiency and equality, is applied to optimize healthcare resources. These analyses are conducted within the context of the Shenzhen metropolitan area. The results reveal that intercity patient mobility can improve efficiency and equality of healthcare accessibility to existing services by 8% and 6%, respectively. Furthermore, optimization that considers intercity patient mobility can improve healthcare accessibility efficiency and equality by 37% and 19% compared to the status quo. The framework and methods developed in this study are valuable for measuring and optimizing healthcare accessibility in metropolitan areas, which is transferrable to other areas with significant regional disparity. This study also provides quantitative evidence of the positive effects of intercity patient mobility on healthcare efficiency and equality in metropolitan areas, which is fundamental for policymaking and planning.

Understanding individual and collective human mobility patterns in twelve crowding events occurred in Shenzhen

Crowding events, which pose tremendous pressure to city management and society safety, are a typical manifestation of anomalous human mobility in metropolitan areas. However, we are still lacking a comprehensive understanding of the anomalous human mobility in crowding events, which is crucial for preventing crowd disasters and developing sustainable cities and societies. In this study, we analyze the individual and collective human mobility patterns in crowding events using the smart card data of six million subway passengers in Shenzhen city. The discovered individual human mobility patterns reveal the underlying mechanism of crowd formation. The discovered collective human mobility patterns can be employed to anticipate crowding events, offering timely information for transportation and crowd management. We analyze the human mobility patterns in twelve crowding events. Individual human mobility patterns reveal the mechanism of crowd formation. Collective human mobility patterns are used to anticipate crowding events.

Urban Air Mobility: Projections for Air Taxis

The growing global demand for efficient and sustainable urban mobility in metropolitan areas has created innovative approaches to new modes of transportation and vehicles. Using the Delphi method, this study explored the prospective development of urban air mobility (UAM), specifically the emergence of air taxis or vertical take-off and landing (VTOLs). The two-staged study examined 25 projections regarding technological and infrastructural aspects to propose a future scenario for UAM and air taxis for the next 5–10 years. The questioned experts confirmed most of the proposed statements from both areas but were undetermined regarding certain technological aspects. Considering the crucial impacts of regulation and certification as well as consumer perception and acceptance for UAM and air taxis, further research on these topics and their correlation is suggested.

An optimized fuzzy logic for the energy management of a hybrid electric air-taxi

The goal of this investigation is to model a hybrid electric air-taxi and minimize its fuel consumption by on-line energy management. Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is considered as a suitable way to reduce traffic congestion and pollution as well as increase mobility in metropolitan areas. Urban air-mobility is an interesting application for electric and hybrid-electric power systems because of limited speed (compared with longer distance commuters) altitudes up to 1000ft and short-range requirements that make possible electrification even with the limited performance of today batteries. However, in case of hybrid electric propulsion systems, the fuel consumption and the environmental impact depends on the energy management. After obtaining reference values of fuel economy over four different missions with the Dynamic programming method, this investigation proposes and optimize a fuzzy logic for the on-line energy management of the hybrid vehicle for UAM in order to minimize fuel consumption and, consequently, local environmental impact.

Understanding Metropolitan Crowd Mobility via Mobile Cellular Accessing Data

Understanding crowd mobility in a metropolitan area is extremely valuable for city planners and decision makers. However, crowd mobility is a relatively new area of research and has significant technical challenges: lack of large-scale fine-grained data, difficulties in large-scale trajectory processing, and issues with spatial resolution. In this article, we propose a novel approach for analyzing crowd mobility on a “city block” level. We first propose algorithms to detect homes, working places, and stay regions for individual user trajectories. Next, we propose a method for analyzing commute patterns and spatial correlation at a city block level. Using mobile cellular accessing trace data collected from users in Shanghai, we discover commute patterns, spatial correlation rules, as well as a hidden structure of the city based on crowd mobility analysis. Therefore, our proposed methods contribute to our understanding of human mobility in a large metropolitan area.

Remaking Metropolitan America? Residential Mobility and Racial Integration in the Suburbs

This article provides estimates of white residential mobility within and between specific suburban places differentiated by ethnoracial diversity. The authors draw on intrametropolitan mobility data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, linked to social and economic data measured at the metropolitan, place, and block levels. First, analyses show that the exodus of whites is significantly lower in predominantly white suburbs than in places with racially diverse populations. Most suburban whites have mostly white neighbors, a pattern reinforced by white residential mobility. Second, suburban whites who move tend to choose predominantly white communities with mostly white neighbors. Third, patterns of white intrametropolitan suburban mobility and minority avoidance are highly segmented. Affluent whites are seemingly better positioned to leave diversifying places for mostly white communities with white neighbors. White residential mobility, from more diverse to less diverse suburban places, builds on most previous studies emphasizing neighborhood-to-neighborhood mobility in metropolitan areas.

Niterói's central area urban redevelopment project: planning to achieve sustainable mobility in metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro

Abstract The planning of sustainable urban mobility has recently become a top priority on the political agenda in Brazil. In 2012, Federal Government established the National Policy on Urban Mobility, determining that municipalities must prepare Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP). In this context, the integration of land-use and transport is expected to be an essential part of sustainable mobility in Brazil. This paper discusses the urban redevelopment plan for Niteroi's central areal, which seeks to integrate land use and transport policies by creating a transit-oriented neighbourhood around a ferry station. The central area is within the ferry catchment area, which represents structural transport access through the metropolitan area. This also represents a shift in the existing urban growth model and an attempt to create economic conditions, that use value capture and market-based instruments, to finance and to foster urban redevelopment in the region that faces population and economic decay.

Video Quality Provisioning for Millimeter Wave 5G Cellular Networks With Link Outage

Millimeter wave (mmWave) communication is a promising solution for future fifth generation (5G) cellular networks to offer extremely high capacity. Because of the propagation characteristics of mmWave band, 5G users with high mobility in metropolitan areas could suffer frequent link outages resulting in challenges on video quality provisioning. In this paper, a playout buffer is used to regulate and maintain the video playout quality. We formulate the problem of using dynamically allocated bandwidth to charge the buffer as a Markov decision process (MDP), aiming to maximize video playout quality for all the users moving in the whole coverage area. Dynamic programming is adopted to solve the MDP problem with state aggregation considering the characteristics of mmWave network. Numerical results demonstrate that the resultant optimal policy of the MDP model can effectively maintain video playout quality for high-mobility users with intermittent mmWave connection.

Private funding and management for public interchanges in Madrid

Interchanges are key elements for improving seamless mobility in metropolitan areas where multi-stages trips are increasing. Interchange facilities make transfers short, easy and comfortable, and therefore Public Transport (PT) trips became more attractive and competitive. However, good quality interchanges are rather expensive, especially with regard to construction and operation. The solution launched in Madrid was a public–private scheme where all stakeholders involved play a key role. The first experience was Avenida America Interchange in the border of Madrid CBD, which opened in 2000. The construction was carried out through a Build and Operate and Transfer (BOT) tender. Three public bodies were involved: Municipality, Regional Government and Public Transport Authority. The concessionaire was a company constituted by a transport operator, several construction companies and a national bank. The revenues came from a fee which pays every bus using the facility, some shops, two parking lots, and other business. This positive experience has been extended to the construction of four new interchanges that were inaugurated in the years 2007 and 2008.

Improving the quality of organizational decisions and accelerating their implementation: the case of mo.ve for sustainable mobility in metropolitan areas

1. What is Mo.Ve? Mo.Ve is a non profit organization based in Brussels and actively involved in researching, defining and advocating public and social policies for sustainable mobility in European urban areas. «Sustainable mobility» is intended as the implementation of reasonable public, private and social policies to ensure that citizens may safely, efficiently and effectively walk, use public and private motor transport and bicycles in urban sprawls. Sustainable mobility has these days beco...

The tram-train: State of the art

In response to the demand for improved mobility in metropolitan areas, the 1990s saw the development in Europe of a new transport system known as the tram-train. This system is based on the use of conventional railway lines with a low traffic density in order to extend urban tram or light rail services without the need to change vehicle, incorporating them into railway traffic. This allows for a wider range and scope of direct transport services and reduces waiting times and changes. The operation of light rail vehicles on conventional railway infrastructure involves finding solutions to a number of technical issues such as traction power supply system, rolling stock design, gauge, tyre and rail profile, structural strength, passenger access, signalling, etc. This paper describes these problems and the solutions arrived at by services currently in operation, or in advanced planning stages, worldwide.

Tram-Train: New Public Transport System

In response to the demand for improved mobility in metropolitan areas, the 1990s saw the development of a new transport system in Europe known as the tram-train. This system is based on using conventional railway lines with a low traffic density to extend urban tram (streetcar) or light rail services without changing vehicles, incorporating them into railway traffic. The tram-train enables a wider range and scope of direct transport services and reduces waiting and transfer time. The operation of light rail vehicles on conventional railway infrastructure requires the solution of numerous technical issues, such as traction power supply system, rolling stock design, gage compatibility, tire and rail profile, structural strength, passenger access, and signaling. Such problems are described and their solution by services now operating, or in advanced planning stages, worldwide is discussed.