Precious Land Research Articles

Kinetics analysis of copper extraction from copper smelting slag by sulfuric acid oxidation leaching

Copper smelting slag (CSS) is generally produced from the pyrometallurgy of copper sulfide concentrate, the current storage disposal methods of CSS not only occupy precious land and pollute the environment, but also waste resources. To recover copper from the CSS and explore the atmospheric pressure oxidative leaching kinetics of copper extraction from CSS with sulfuric acid was investigated intensively. In this study, the effect of particle size, sulfuric acid concentration, temperature, liquid-to-solid ratio, and hydrogen peroxide added amount were investigated comprehensively. The results indicated that the decrease of particle size and increase of other parameters can significantly promote the leaching of copper. Under the optimum conditions, 90.7 % of the copper in the CSS was effectively leached, other copper in the leaching slag mainly existed in the form of fine-grained embedded copper sulfide. The dominant phase of the leaching slag is magnetite, which could be further recovered by conventional magnetic separation. Moreover, the kinetics of copper atmospheric pressure oxidative leaching in CSS were further expounded. The results indicated that the copper leaching kinetic conforms to the shrinking core model, and the overall leaching reaction was controlled by the internal diffusion control with an activation energy of 11.22 KJ/mol. The apparent reaction order of sulfuric acid and particle size are determined to be 0.965 and 0.478 respectively. Finally, the kinetics model equation is established for copper at normal pressure as:1-23η-1-η2/3=0.032·CH2SO40.965·r0-0.956·t. This research could provide an alternative solution for the efficient utilization of CSS.

Soil Salinity Estimation by 3D Spectral Space Optimization and Deep Soil Investigation in the Songnen Plain, Northeast China

Saline–alkaline soil is a severe threat to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but it can also be a precious land resource if properly utilized according to its properties. This research takes the Songnen Plain as the study area. The aim is to figure out the saline–alkaline status and mechanisms for its scientific utilization. Sentinel-2 multispectral imagery is used, and a 3D spectral space optimization method is proposed according to the restrictive relationships among the surface soil salinity index (SSSI), vegetation index (VI), and surface soil wetness index (SSWI) to construct a surface soil salinization–alkalization index (SSSAI) for estimation of the surface soil salinity (SSS). It is testified that SSS can be precisely estimated using the SSSAI (R2 = 0.74) with field verification of 50 surface salinized soil samples. Surface water and groundwater investigations, as well as deep soil exploration, indicate that the salt ions come from groundwater, and alkalinization is a primary problem in the deep soils. Fine-textured clay soils act as interrupted aquifers to prevent salt ions from penetrating and diluting downward with water, which is the cause of the salinization–alkalization problem in the study area. Finally, a sustainable solution for the saline–alkaline land resource is proposed according to the deep soil properties.

Assessment of anthropogenic and climate-driven water storage variations over water-stressed river basins of Ethiopia

Abstract Globally, surface water, groundwater, soil moisture, snow storage, canopy water, and wet biomass constituents make up water storage, which plays a significant role in the hydrological water balance. Evaluating the variations in water storage anomalies associated with climate forcing and human activities over river basins is crucial for assessing water scarcity and predicting potential pressures on water resources in the future. In this study, we assessed the impacts of climatic and anthropogenic drivers on the change in water storage in the river basins of Ethiopia by using the independent component analysis to examine Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment with the Global Land Data Assimilate System-based water storage and comparing the independent component analysis with hydro-meteorological data and statistical data related to human activities. It is of great significance for helping people better understand the evaluation of terrestrial water storage anomalies under the combined influence of climatic change and anthropogenic activities and providing information for better protection and utilization of water resources at river basin level. It is crucial to take effective measures to protect these precious land and water resources and prevent their further deterioration. The estimated result will be essential for sustainable water management and protection.

Behavior of Horizontal-Directional Drilling for Multi-Pilot Heading Pretreating Blind Spots in Pipe Jacking Construction

The application of non-excavation construction technology, such as the pipe jacking method, has obvious advantages in building urban underground space engineering projects, which can effectively reduce the occupation of ground surfaces and the migration of obstacles above or below the ground. However, pipe jacking machines with a rectangular cross-section can easily encounter great difficulty due to the significantly increased jacking resistance while it is jacked in hard rock strata, which are often influenced by large blind spots on the working face of pipe jacking machines with a rectangular cross-section. The aforementioned blind spots belong to areas that cannot be cut by the cutter heads due to the circular cutterhead and rectangular outer frame of pipe jacking machines with a rectangular cross-section. Therefore, the effective pretreatment of the aforementioned blind spots should be implemented prior to operating pipe jacking machines with a rectangular cross-section in hard rock strata. This paper presents a case study of employing horizontal-directional drilling as a multi-pilot heading pretreatment for breaking large blind spots on the working face of pipe jacking machines with a rectangular cross-section, which was implemented prior to operating a pipe jacking machine with a rectangular cross-section in shallow buried rock strata. In particular, this multi-pilot heading pretreatment is expected to be used to safely construct a rectangular comprehensive pipe gallery using pipe jacking machines with a rectangular cross-section in shallow buried rock strata and when passing underneath existing light rail lines, which can effectively save the precious land resources required for sustainable development. The study was implemented by employing a numerical simulation, focusing on the safety of the adjacent existing light rail line and the stability of the surrounding rocks, which are influenced by the variation in the distribution positions and sizes of the drilling holes used when implementing the horizontal-directional drilling. The results demonstrate that the horizontal-directional drilling applied for the multi-pilot heading pretreatment could effectively break the blind spots on the working face of the pipe jacking machine with a rectangular cross-section, in which the safety of the adjacent existing infrastructure was significantly influenced by the distribution positions and sizes of the drilling holes used when implementing the horizontal-directional drilling. This study can provide a reference for carrying out pipe jacking construction using pipe jacking machines with a rectangular cross-section, in which horizontal-directional drilling is employed as the multi-pilot heading pretreatment for breaking the large blind spots on the working face. Moreover, the distribution positions and sizes of the drilling holes used when implementing the horizontal-directional drilling could be appropriately optimized by utilizing the method of numerical analysis. Meanwhile, the study is also expected to eliminate the hazards of safely running the aforementioned adjacent existing light rail line during implementing the multi-pilot heading pretreatment of horizontal-directional drilling.

Bio-inspired design trends for sustainable energy structures

Researchers and engineers are constantly looking to nature for design inspiration as they work to create novel and effective energy conversion structures. Engineers are developing durable and resilient materials to survive extreme weather conditions and environmental issues using inspiration from the Nenuphar’s durability in adverse aquatic environments and the Sunflower’s adaptation to vary climatic situations. The analysis of new design ideas in renewable energy systems in this research was inspired by the Nenuphar (Water Lily) and the Sunflower. The Nenuphar’s exceptional capacity to float and large leaf surface make it a model for enhanced water-based energy conversion systems. Researchers have been looking into novel concepts like floating solar farms and wave energy collecting platforms after being inspired by the Nenuphar’s buoyancy and ability to efficiently use sunlight. Solar panel integration with water features can boost overall energy output while preserving precious land resources. The Sunflower, known for its phototropism and effective sun-tracking mechanism, offers suggestions for improving solar energy harvesting. Advanced heliotropic solar panels have demonstrated promising results in boosting energy production throughout the day by mimicking the Sunflower’s ability to follow the trajectory of the Sun. These designs maximize energy outputs and boost overall system efficiency by maximizing solar exposure. Embracing these bio-inspired concepts can lead to the development of sustainable and efficient energy solutions, contributing to a greener and more sustainable future. Furthermore, the integration of smart technology and artificial intelligence is on the rise to optimize energy conversion structures.

How to expand solar power without using precious land

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans the biological, physical, and social sciences.

International conference on material science and computational engineering recycled aggregate from construction and demolition waste as resource for concrete – A product initiative

Waste from construction and demolition is considered as one important urban menaces and is the cause of pollution of air and land, occupying precious land as a Dump Yard. The concept of reduce, reuse, and recycle is to be adopted for making a resource for concrete out of processed waste to extract high-quality high-value commertial product which in turn meet the growing demand for resources for construction such as sand and aggregates to make it a sustainable source. The present study is taken up in which recycled aggregates obtained from the local C&D waste plant are utilized to prepare a masonry unit - concrete blocks. The concrete blocks are manufactured with RCA and RFA of C&D waste, replacing natural aggregates partially to fully. Aggregates of 6 mm, 12 mm, and a combination of 6 mm and 12 mm are used for designing the mix for the concrete block with cement as binding material. The strength of blocks is assessed and discussed in comparison with the relevant codal provisions and specifications of brick as masonry units. The results are encouraging and proved to be an essential sustainable contributor to reduce quantoty of C&D waste.

Land-use evaluation and utilization advice research on debris flow disaster deposit area

The upstream Fujiang River are famous for their high mountains and narrow canyons, which results in a conflict of interest between local residents and land use. To make good use of precious land resources is a meaningful work for local people and government. Therefore, field surveys and theoretical analysis were carried out in the upstream Fujiang River to explore the land-use evaluation and utilization advice. Firstly, we analyzed the factors which affect the land use of debris flow depositional area. Secondly, we chose the factors of soil fertility quality, soil particle conservation, and the geological engineering condition to set up the land-use evaluation method. Thirdly, through index classification, we give the planting type, land-use type, construction type respectively, according to grading and assignment value for each factor, we built the debris flow disaster-prone land utilization mode R by using an analytical hierarchy process method. Lastly, taking Huangjiaba village as an example, based on the debris flow disaster land-use evaluation method and debris flow hazard evaluation, we identified four land-use scenarios. The results show that the value of the four scenarios is between 1.00 and 4.00, the four scenarios utilization advices are given based on each R-value and Huangjiaba natural condition. It also obtained that the developmental tendencies of the debris flow disaster areas appear to deposit recently, the frequency of debris-flow activity is evolving from high to stable, on making good use of debris flow deposit fan’s usage is necessary to explore the disaster prone land and avoid disaster loss. Further studies need to systematically consider more factors to evaluate debris flow and disaster-prone land utilization, which can provide a reference for the rural space planning and revitalization for the local government.

Large-Scale Detection of the Tableland Areas and Erosion-Vulnerable Hotspots on the Chinese Loess Plateau

Tableland areas, featured by flat and broad landforms, provide precious land resources for agricultural production and human settlements over the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP). However, severe gully erosion triggered by extreme rainfall and intense human activities makes tableland areas shrink continuously. Preventing the loss of tableland areas is of real urgency, in which generating its accurate distribution map is the critical prerequisite. However, a plateau-scale inventory of tableland areas is still lacking across the Loess Plateau. This study proposed a large-scale approach for tableland area mapping. The Sentinel-2 imagery was used for the initial delineation based on object-based image analysis and random forest model. Subsequently, the drainage networks extracted from AW3D30 DEM were applied for correcting commission and omission errors based on the law that rivers and streams rarely appear on the tableland areas. The automatic mapping approach performs well, with the overall accuracies over 90% in all four investigated subregions. After the strict quality control by manual inspection, a high-quality inventory of tableland areas at 10 m resolution was generated, demonstrating that the tableland areas occupied 9507.31 km2 across the CLP. Cultivated land is the dominant land-use type on the tableland areas, yet multi-temporal observations indicated that it has decreased by approximately 500 km2 during the year of 2000 to 2020. In contrast, forest and artificial surfaces increased by 57.53% and 73.10%, respectively. Additionally, we detected 455 vulnerable hotspots of the tableland with a width of less than 300 m. Particular attention should be paid to these areas to prevent the potential split of a large tableland, accompanied by damage on roads and buildings. This plateau-scale tableland inventory and erosion-vulnerable hotspots are expected to support the environmental protection policymaking for sustainable development in the CLP region severely threatened by soil erosion and land degradation.

Geotechnical characterisation of zinc tailing waste material for road construction

ABSTRACT Zinc tailing waste material is generated during the extraction of zinc metal. Its deposit is increasing year after year posing a threat to the environment and occupying large precious land. The present research explores the possibility of its application in road construction and filling. Physical and chemical tests were carried out, viz. SEM, EDS, X-ray diffraction and toxicity characteristics leachate procedure. The geotechnical characterisation was carried out and compared with similar types of materials, viz. soil and industrial wastes (fly ash and jarofix). Stress-settlement behaviour was studied by using a small scale physical model and validated by a numerical model test. Tailing was further mixed with cement to improve its properties for application in stabilised layers. Tailing is a porous, multi-phase and non-swelling cohesionless fine-grained material. It contains mainly oxides of silica, alumina, magnesium, calcium and less concentration of heavy metals. It has a high dry density (18.62 kN/m3), California Bearing Ratio (11%) and angle of internal friction (34°) compared to soil which makes it suitable for road construction. Cement stabilised tailing can be used in sub-base layer and can save about 170 mm thickness of the aggregate layer. Modulus value (18.17 MPa) indicates that it is a stiff material which leads to less settlement as a structural fill.

Stabilization of B.C. Soil by Using Chemicals and Fly Ash

Black cotton soils are very susceptible to detrimental volumetric changes with changes in moisture. This behaviour of soil is attributed to the presence of mineral montmorillonite which has an expanding lattice. Black cotton soils because of their specific physical and chemical make are subjected to volume changes. In many countries including India, these soils are so extensive that alteration of highway routes to avoid the material is virtually impossible. Various remedial measures like soil replacement, prewetting, moisture control, lime stabilization etc. have been practiced with varied degrees of success. Extensive research is going on to find the solutions to Black cotton soils. Recent investigations on chemical stabilisation revealed that electrolytes like Calcium Sulphate, Calcium Carbonate, Zinc Chloride can be used in place of conventionally used lime, due to their ability to supply adequate cations. Fly ash is a waste by product from thermal power plants consuming thousands hectors of precious land for its disposal and also causing severe health and environmental hazards. This work presents the results of an experimental program undertaken to investigate the effect of Calcium Sulphate, Calcium Carbonate, Zinc Chloride and fly ash at different percentages on properties of black cotton soil. Atterbergs Limit of subgrade soil effect of addition of Fly Ash and Chemicals on CBR ,MDD ,OMC, From the results it is observed that 2% of Zinc Chloride and 12% of Fly ash improves the properties of black cotton soil as compared to Calcium sulphate & Calcium Carbonate. The conclusion drawn from this investigation is that a combination of 2% of chemicals and 12% of fly ash is more effective in improving the properties of black cotton soil.

Potential Investigation of Stabilised Fuming Furnace Slag for Road Construction

Fuming furnace (FF) slag is one of the industrial waste materials which is generated during extraction of zinc metal at the zinc industry. It is deposited at the designated FF slag yard near the plant area with very limited use. As a result, the deposits are increasing year after year posing threat to the environment and occupying large area of precious land. The present research explores the possibility of using this waste material in the road construction. The tests like Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and X-ray diffraction was carried out on FF slag. To improve its geotechnical properties, it was mechanically stabilised with jarofix (another waste material generated from the same zinc industry) in the range of 25 to 75 percent. Apart from compaction characteristics, shear strength and consolidation characteristics of these mixes were studied to conclude about its feasibility in embankment and granular layers of road pavement. These mixes were further chemically stabilized with cement in the range of 3 to 9 percent to investigate their potential application in sub base and base layers of road construction. Compressive and durability characteristics of these mixes were also studied. Detailed laboratory study concluded that FF slag is a porous; amorphous cohesionless coarse grained material with high angle of internal friction. Engineering properties viz. dry density, CBR, and shear strength characteristics improved significantly after mechanical stabilisation with jarofix. These parameters of FF slag were compared with other industrial waste materials. Unconfined compressive strength and durability characteristics indicated suitability of cement stabilised slag-jarofix mixes for sub base and base layers of road pavement. It was concluded that about 20-30 percent of FF slag can be used as a replacement of fine aggregate in these granular layers. A typical pavement design indicated that it is possible to reduce the total pavement thickness of about 13 percent by using cement stabilised slag-jarofix mix.

Integrating Remote Sensing and a Markov-FLUS Model to Simulate Future Land Use Changes in Hokkaido, Japan

As the second largest island in Japan, Hokkaido provides precious land resources for the Japanese people. Meanwhile, as the food base of Japan, the gradual decrease of the agricultural population and more intensive agricultural practices on Hokkaido have led its arable land use to change year by year, which has also caused changes to the whole land use pattern of the entire island of Hokkaido. To realize the sustainable use of land resources in Hokkaido, past and future changes in land use patterns must be investigated, and target-based land use planning suggestions should be given on this basis. This study uses remote sensing and GIS technology to analyze the temporal and spatial changes of land use in Hokkaido during the past two decades. The types of land use include cultivated land, forest, waterbody, construction, grassland, and others, by using the satellite images of the Landsat images in 2000, 2010, and 2019 to achieve this goal to make classification. In addition, this study used the coupled Markov-FLUS model to simulate and analyze the land use changes in three different scenarios in Hokkaido in the next 20 years. Scenario-based situational analysis shows that the cultivated land in Hokkaido will drop by about 25% in 2040 under the natural development scenario (ND), while the cultivated land area in Hokkaido will remain basically unchanged in cultivated land protection scenario (CP). In forest protection scenario (FP), the area of forest in Hokkaido will increase by 1580.8 km2. It is believed that the findings reveal that the forest land in Hokkaido has been well protected in the past and will be protected well in the next 20 years. However, in land use planning for future, Hokkaido government and enterprises should pay more attention to the protection of cultivated land.

Seismic Risks Mitigation of Façadism Constructions with Supplemental Energy Dissipation

Urban renewal projects typically involve redevelopments of under-utilized old buildings and revitalizing precious land resources. Due to architectural and social-economic reasons, historical facades are sometimes retained, and new constructions are built behind them. This allows the historical facade, typically the street elevation, to remain while new real estate can be redeveloped. In the profession of architecture, this is called facadism. In many cases, these historical facades are constructed with unreinforced masonry (URM). When these facades are retained and the remaining of the building is demolished, they become free-standing walls. Temporary supports are required throughout construction works and the retained facades must be designed to prevent excessive movements, allowed for differential movements and to resist wind forces. These historical facades were made of brittle materials and were constructed many decades ago before modern design standards and materials are available. They possess very little ductility and become vulnerable when subjected to ground shaking. The present study suggests a structural system that attempts to mitigate seismic risk of facadism constructions effectively. The structural system divides the new construction, which can be a reinforced concrete structure or a steel frame structure, into two separate frames. A seismic gap is introduced between them and produces two systems of different vibrational characteristics. Supplemental energy dissipating devices such as viscous fluid or friction dampers are placed in-between adjacent floors. The proposed structural system utilizes the different vibrational responses of two frames to facilitate energy dissipation in dampers. In this article, governing equations are presented, followed by numerical simulations using historical earthquake acceleration histories. Results demonstrate that the suggested structural system is an effective methodology to suppress seismic responses of the facade and the new construction. It is concluded that damage on the retained facades can be prevented, and at the same time seismic responses to the newly constructed structure can be controlled.

Landslide Detection

The landslide hazard causes severe loss of life, injury, damage to property, destruction of communication networks and loss of precious soil and land. Landslides are triggered by earthquakes or sudden rock failures. They can also result when the base of a slope is over steepened by excavation or river erosion. Unfortunately, climate change is strengthening the destructive power of natural disasters. In this, Internet-of-Things (IoT)-based disaster detection and response systems have been proposed to cope with disasters and emergencies by improving the disaster detection. Accordingly, IoT devices are used to collect data and help to identify landslide. Here we design a personalized system with a number of sensors to detect landslide situations. Major difference between the proposed system and existing systems is the decentralized and personalized alerting system. The proposed system consists of a Transmitter and a receiver based on LoRa technology. Transmitter is fixed on various location covering the overall mountain region. A single transmitter covers a distance of 10kilometer. The transmitter consists of modules like LoRa transmitter, vibration sensor, piezoelectric sensor, soil moisture sensor and Arduino uno which is the controller of the entire transmitter. Initially the sensor monitors the entire landscape whether there is a landslide occurs or not. If the landslide occurs the GPS coordinates will be transmitted through LoRa. Technically there will be only one receiver and multiple transmitters fixed in different location covering the entire mountain region. Once the GPS coordinates is received by the receiver. The receiver consists of node MCU connected with internet and LoRa receiver is connected with node MCU. Distance between the receiver is displayed in the display and a initial alarm is produced. By using MQTT protocol GPS coordinates is published to the MQTT server or broker. Android application connected to the server will receive the warning.

Use of spent garnet in industry: A review

Globally, the increasing concrete production also creates growing demand for growing natural sand which is one of the vital mixing ingredients that act as filler to form a dense concrete. Excessive harvesting of river sand results in its depletion and destroys the existing river environment creating an imbalance ecosystem. Integrating industrial by-product as an alternative material to reduce the dependency on sand supply is attractive to ensure the sustainability of rivers. In relation to that, spent garnet which is derived from the surface treatment process in shipping industry and usually disposed as waste at landfill is one of the choices. Continuous practice of dumping this waste would consume the precious land space and pollutes the environment. Realization on the importance of environment sustainability has driven researchers to discover the possible use of spent garnet as sand replacement in concrete. Thus, this paper presents reviews related to properties spent garnet and its effect on concrete performance. On overall, the integration of suitable amount of spent garnet provides encouraging strength result. Success in integrating spent garnet as sand replacement in modern concrete would reduce its dumping at landfill thus contributing to cleaner earth and sustainable river environment.

Evaluation and Optimization of Urban Land-Use Efficiency: A Case Study in Sichuan Province of China

In the recent 10 years, China’s housing prices and land prices have risen rapidly, resulting in precious land resources, thus restricting the development of the cities. How to effectively measure urban land-use efficiency and how to optimize it has become a stumbling block on the road of sustainable development in China. This article focuses on the vital province in southwest China—Sichuan Province, which is facing the problem of insufficient land-use efficiency and uses the data of 32 cities from 2003 to 2018 to carry out the research. Based on the measurement results of urban land-use efficiency in Sichuan Province and its temporal and spatial evolution characteristics, this paper uses the SDM model to verify that the land-use efficiency can be optimized from the three aspects of innovation, industrial structure, and economic connections. The conclusion shows: (1) There is a weak decoupling relationship between urban land use and economic development in Sichuan Province. The urban land-use efficiency has the characteristics of polarization of more than two ends and less in the middle, but the gap is gradually reduced; (2) Time series level, urban land-use efficiency in various regions is increasing, and potential benchmark technology progress is the main reason for the increase; (3) At the spatial distribution level, urban land-use efficiency has spatial autocorrelation, forming an obvious “center-periphery” distribution pattern; (4) Innovation, economic connection, and industrial structure optimization can promote the improvement of land-use efficiency, and economic connection has a positive spillover effect on the land-use efficiency of surrounding areas. Accordingly, this study puts forward some targeted suggestions on improving urban land-use efficiency in Sichuan Province.

Multi-Objective Sizing Optimization of Hybrid Renewable Energy Microgrid in a Stand-Alone Marine Context

Islands are the main platforms for exploration and utilization of marine resources. In this paper, an island hybrid renewable energy microgrid devoted to a stand-alone marine application is established. The specific microgrid is composed of wind turbines, tidal current turbines, and battery storage systems considering the climate resources and precious land resources. A multi-objective sizing optimization method is proposed comprehensively considering the economy, reliability and energy utilization indexes. Three optimization objectives are presented: minimizing the Loss of Power Supply Probability, the Cost of Energy and the Dump Energy Probability. An improved multi-objective grey wolf optimizer based on Halton sequence and social motivation strategy (HSMGWO) is proposed to solve the proposed sizing optimization problem. MATLAB software is utilized to program and simulate the optimization problem of the hybrid energy system. Optimization results confirm that the proposed method and improved algorithm are feasible to optimally size the system, and the energy management strategy effectively matches the requirements of system operation. The proposed HSMGWO shows better convergence and coverage than standard multi-objective grey wolf optimizer (MOGWO) and multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) in solving multi-objective sizing problems. Furthermore, the annual operation of the system is simulated, the power generation and economic benefits of each component are analyzed, as well as the sensitivity.

On the morning commute problem with distant parking options in the era of autonomous vehicles

Due to the confined span of parking location choice for human-driven vehicles (HVs), the spatiotemporal imbalance in parking space utilization has always been a challenging problem in many major cities, leading to a substantial waste of precious land resources. However, in the era of autonomous vehicles (AVs) with parking autonomy, there are more alternative parking options available as AV can park at more distant locations away from the trip maker’s destination. This paper aims to investigate the morning commute problem with consideration of AV commuters’ distant parking choices in a many-to-one network. Parking sharing scheme is explicitly considered, wherein AV travellers can choose to park at city centre at public parking facilities and then lease their own parking space out, park at home, or park at a shared parking space. We first examine how AV commuters in different residential clusters prioritize their parking location choices, as well as their willingness to share the vacant parking space. Then, we investigate the travellers’ trip timing decisions and determine the resultant equilibrium travel pattern. Without other dynamic managing schemes, the model results indicate that appropriate CBD parking supply, together with differentiated parking charges/subsidy, can reduce the total queueing congestion significantly, yet at the cost of higher total travel cost.

Environmental charges as drivers of soil sealing? The case of the Czech charge for agricultural land loss

Sustainable land use is considered to be one of the largest environmental threads in the European Union in the context of economic development. The gradual loss of quality agricultural land by soil sealing significantly affects agricultural production capacity. A variety of governance approaches have emerged. This paper focuses on the utilization of a charge which aims to internalise a part of the social costs that are related to agricultural land loss in the case of the Czech Republic. Paradoxically, while this policy has been designed to protect precious agricultural land from excessive development, it could also belong concomitantly to the driving forces of the loss of precious land due to the dual role of municipalities – as levy gain receivers and as decision makers concerning future usage of land within their jurisdiction. The aim of this paper is to assess the possible inverse consequences of the charge by using multiple linear regression on a data sample of 986 Czech municipalities. The results indicate the negative environmental effects of the charge that has been introduced, with a possible increased amount of soil sealing of precious agricultural land, when compared with the situation prior to the introduction of charges. We stress the need to bear in mind the possible inverse effects of policies when introducing any environmental policy.