Urban Transport Infrastructure Research Articles

«Scenes in the Soviet Russia. Summer of 1930». Фильм Франка Феттера о визите в СССР в 1930 г.

The article presents results of studying the amateur film “Scenes in the Soviet Russia. Summer of 1930” by the American economist Frank Whitson Fetter (1899–1991) filmed in the Soviet Union in the summer of 1930. Firstly, it reviews historiography of amateur cinema and notes methods used in the research on Fetter's film. The section “Context of creation” reconstructs conditions of filming the movie in the USSR and circumstances of its currency. Fetter came to the country with intention of becoming expert in Soviet economics. He came well prepared: he had a Leica camera, a 16 mm Bell & Howell movie camera, and large supply of films. Fetter spent six days in Moscow and six weeks in Kazan, voyaged on the Volga and the Caspian Sea, visited the Caucasus, and then returned to Moscow for three days and went back to the United States. During his trip, he took about 300 photographs and made a 40-minute movie. While photographs have already been introduced into scientific use, the film remains unknown to scholars and wide audience. The section “Movie content and aesthetics” considers plot and film techniques and elements. The movie consists of three parts: his stay in Moscow, his visit to the Autonomous Tatar Republic (ATSSR), cruise on the Volga and the Caspian Sea. The starting point for the analysis was Pierre Bourdieu's research on amateur photography. According to his conclusions, each group of people chooses a certain range of objects, genres, and compositions for shooting, and thus, the image is socially constructed. Fetter's cinematic area was determined by his research interests and experience. His draft notes confirm that his focus during filming was on the economic sphere. The movie aesthetics direct the viewer's eye to these plots. While observing everyday life, Fetter captured urban and rural transport infrastructure, trade relations, purchase and sale process and range of goods, queues. When visiting the countryside, Fetter observed the harvest and filmed various stages of the process. The film focuses on production and material base of individual and collective farms, organization and conditions of peasants work, residential and farm buildings, details of everyday life. The Volga-Caspian voyage permitted to capture the state of water transport, conditions of passenger and goods transportation. He devoted particular attention to filming propaganda materials. Thus, the film represents his professional interests and highlights socio-economic situation during the New Economic Policy dismantlement and transition to forced industrialization and collectivization.

Analysis of Urban Rail Transit Station Planning Combining Simulated Annealing Algorithm

As a crucial node in the network system of urban transportation infrastructure, the consistent planning of the urban rail transit stations scientifically and reasonably is of highly significant importance to have a thorough understanding of the functional area division of a city and assess the improvement of facilities correlated with the rail transit infrastructure. In this study, the simulated annealing algorithm (SAA) is applied to the data analysis of the rail transit stations in a city. The method for the analysis of the urban rail transit stations combined with the SAA can achieve the dimensionality reduction in high‐dimensional data information and the assessment of the similarity in traffic rail transits effectively. Finally, through in‐depth analysis of the daily passenger flow features and the spatial location distribution of each type of station, a valuable reference can be obtained for the planning and design of urban rail transit stations.

Transport System and Infrastructure

Transportation systems face ever-increasing challenges due to escalating urbanization. Ageing transportation infrastructure struggles to meet today’s needs while personal choices related to urban transportation have evolved in a way that car-oriented transport policies of the past are no longer adequate. As a result, a paradigm shift supporting public transport and active travel modes is becoming increasingly dominant. The objective of this research is to highlight key trends in urban transport infrastructure development and operation needed for the new sustainable mobility policies. On that purpose, a review of contemporary practices concerning network hierarchy, public transport, urban streets, and mobility as a service was carried out, followed by a critical synthesis. A clearly defined transport network hierarchy and a well-designed road network accommodating all modes of transport will continue playing an important role in efficient transport operations, however the importance of the development of public transport infrastructure (physical and digital) and implementing bold schemes (such as free public transport) is even more crucial to bolster city sustainability and livability. To that end, the support of active travel modes through additional infrastructure, the integration of services through MaaS schemes and the prioritization of accessibility over mobility are also seen as prerequisites for the smart city of the future. Finally, the reduction of traffic speeds in urban streets can increase the balance between motorized and active travel modes while increasing safety and sustainability in cities.

The Spatial Effect of Shared Mobility on Urban Traffic Congestion: Evidence from Chinese Cities

This paper explores the spatial spillover effect of shared mobility on urban traffic congestion by constructing spatial econometric models. Based on panel data of 94 Chinese cities from 2016 to 2019, this study analyses the spatial correlation of shared mobility enterprise layout and geographical correlation of urban transport infrastructure and examines their influence mechanism. From the perspective of geographic spatial distribution, congestion has positive spatial correlation among Chinese cities, and it has different directions and centripetal forces across regions. The shared mobility enterprises in a region have same direction distribution with traffic congestion, but the centripetal forces of the aggregation effect are different. The econometric results include the fact that bike-sharing has reduced congestion significantly, but the overall impact of car-sharing is not clear. Neither bike-sharing nor car-sharing can offset the traffic congestion caused by economic activities and income growth. From the perspective of spillover effects, congestion has been influenced by bike-sharing, economic development, population, and public passengers in surrounding areas. In terms of spatial heterogeneity, bike-sharing relieves congestion in the Pearl River Delta region while having no significant effect in other regions. Meanwhile, car-sharing has aggravated congestion in the Yangtze River Delta but eased traffic jams in the Pearl River Delta.

The rebirth of urban subcenters: How subway expansion impacts the spatial structure and mix of amenities in European cities

Why do some neighborhoods thrive, and others do not? While the importance of the local amenity mix has been established as a key determinant of local livability, its link to urban transport infrastructure remains understudied, partially due to a lack of data. Using spatiotemporal social media data from Foursquare, we analyze the impact of metro stations which opened between 2014 and 2017 on the amenity mix of surrounding neighborhoods in nine European cities: Rome, Milan, Barcelona, Budapest, Warsaw, Sofia, Vienna, Helsinki, and Stuttgart. Thereby, we study three properties of the local amenity mix: its density, multifunctionality, and the heterogeneity between amenity types. For this purpose, we propose a new measurement of multifunctionality, which calculates the entropy of the locally present amenity set incorporating the degree of similarity between amenity types. For causal inference, we use Difference-in-Difference Regression based on Propensity Score Matching and Entropy Balancing. Our findings show that in most cities, subway expansion had a significant positive impact on the local amenity density and multifunctionality and that especially the social amenities—Arts & Entertainment, Restaurants and Nightlife—responded strongly. Moreover, considerable agglomeration forces seem to prevail, causing existing subcenters to benefit most from new metro stations.

Performance-Based Transportation and Land Use Integrated Optimization Model with Degradable Capacity and Stochastic Demand

Abstract Traditionally, urban land use planning belongs to urban planning and transportation infrastructure construction belongs to transportation planning. However, it is widely recognized that th...

Navigating institutional complexity for the adaptation of urban transport infrastructure

• An analytical framework is applied to identify barriers to adaptation. • A case study of the transport sector of Bogotá, Colombia is presented. • The analysis identified information, resources and incentives barriers. • The institutional environment is the most influential underlying factor. • There is potential for this study to be replicated in other parts of the world. The adaptation of transport systems to climate change is crucial for maintaining city functions in the future. Due to the complexity of this process, urban transport planners may not always be aware of all challenges they must face, leading to maladaptation or lack of adaptation of the transport systems of their cities. Recognising this complexity, this paper identifies barriers and opportunities for effective adaptation planning via a socio-technical perspective. An existing analytical framework, previously used in some cities of Latin America and Germany, is adopted and applied to a case study of Bogotá, Colombia. Interviews conducted with local professionals and a review of policy documents and technical reports provided insight into city governance processes and the extent to which climate change adaptation shapes transport sector decisions. The study reveals that incomplete or unusable information about climate change and its effects, reduced availability of economic and human resources, and the lack of adequate incentives are limiting adaptation within the transport planning processes of the city. It also demonstrates the critical influence of the institutional structure in determining which infrastructure options are considered feasible and preferable. The study elucidates what levers are available to transport planners and why some solutions are just not considered. There is potential for this study to be replicated in other parts of the world to help support the development of effective systemic intervention to support adaptation.

Metro infrastructure and metropolitan attractiveness

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether cities can improve their international attractiveness by investing in their public transport infrastructure. For this purpose, we examine the influence of a metro shock on the number of greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) projects received by a city during the period 2003–2014. We find that cities which have invested in expanding their metro network have attracted, on average, more FDI than comparable cities which have not improved their urban transport infrastructure.

Agent-based modeling approach for evaluating underground logistics system benefits and long-term development in megacities

Mobility, pollution, and other barriers against sustainable goods movement are pushing local administrators to seek innovations in urban transportation infrastructure. The urban underground logistics system (ULS) has been recognized as a prospective alternative to realize large-scale automated freight distribution within and around megacities. This paper proposes an integrated approach combing system dynamics and agent-based modeling to evaluate the long-term development and operating status of a city-wide ULS project. The project boundaries regarding underground network expansion, stakeholders’ attributes, and social-environmental benefit metrics were structured as eight highly-interacted agent modules. Critical decision variables of agents in terms of supply-demand equilibrium, investment plan, pricing-to-market and willingness-to-pay were incorporated into three formulized subsystem models. From empirical perspective, the urban territory of Beijing, China, was taken as a case to simulate the development footprints of ULS project under different funding options and market acceptance degrees. Results show that ULS has significant competence with respect to service capacity and profitability, while enabling billions of dollars of external cost-saving annually. Moreover, the comprehensive performance of ULS project regarding economic incomes, benefits, market demand, and construction schedule can reach satisfactory trade-offs through adaptively adjusting the funding policies, incentives and pricing portfolios during project development.

Spatial Integration of Non-Motorized Transport and Urban Public Transport Infrastructure: A Case of Johannesburg

Sustainability of transport infrastructure integration begins with involving an all-inclusive transportation chain instead of only focusing on one part of the journey. This is achieved by facilitating spatial integration between diverse transport modalities to allow for a multiplicity of travel opportunities. This paper unpacks the extent of the spatial integration of non-motorized transport and urban public transport infrastructure within the city of Johannesburg in South Africa. Cycling activity datasets derived from Strava Metro and the spatial data of urban public transport infrastructures were collected to demonstrate existing spatial patterns and infrastructure connectivity. Exploratory spatial data analysis and focal statistics analysis were central in the data processing. The findings reveal that cycling activities are separated from urban public transport infrastructure, and the city of Johannesburg’s transport system is characterized by spatially fragmented commuting and cycling operations, with limited to no sharing of infrastructure. Most public transport stations are not easily accessible for non-motorized transport and are characterized by inadequate cycling facilities. In conclusion, the identification of an urban public transportation catchment area becomes essential for developing cities such as Johannesburg. This can be used as tool for planning infrastructural upgrades and forecasting potential public transport ridership while also assessing the impacts of investments in transit planning. There is thus a need to integrate motorized urban public transport and cycling infrastructural developments toward promoting multi-mobility and infrastructure sharing.

Advancing beyond project-scale Social Impact Assessment of transport infrastructure: insights into contextual constraints on practice

ABSTRACT Social Impact Assessment (SIA) facilitates sustainable and equitable consideration of social issues in transport infrastructure planning. However, SIA practitioners face significant constraints in practice. Good SIA is effective in contributing to institutional mechanisms for holding political, bureaucratic and commercial processes accountable for social outcomes. This paper aims to better understand constraints to the assessment and management of social impacts. Drawing on interviews with expert infrastructure professionals involved in projects in Sydney (Australia), Amsterdam (The Netherlands), and internationally, this paper highlights weaknesses in the implementation of SIA, technical engineering-, time- and cost-focused project management practices, and poorly regulated, politically-driven urban governance and planning processes as key constraints. The findings suggest that overcoming those constraints cannot be the sole responsibility of EIA and SIA practitioners and there is more to be considered than practice alone. Instead, this requires an integrated approach across multi-level governance scales and the lifecycle of projects. This paper concludes that for good practice SIA to be realised as intended, systemic adjustments are needed in the planning of urban transport infrastructure, to address constraints and ensure that social impacts are considered in strategic stages and prioritised equally against other project and urban planning issues in decision-making.

Comparative analysis of results of traffic modelling in simulation environments

In the paper are presented the possibilities of various simulation products for agent-based modelling of complex processes related to traffic management in urban environments. The theoretical framework contains a description of a basic algorithm for traffic management at an intersection in order to better understand the experimental part in which is explained which input parameters are key for conducting an effective simulation study for the needs of the urban transport infrastructure. The selection of simulation environments is based on specific characteristics after evaluation by a number of basic criteria. The scientific and applied contribution of the research is expressed in a comparative analysis of the generated simulation results in the relevant software products, through which the author aims to prove their reliability and applicability.

An adaptation of reference class forecasting for the assessment of large-scale urban planning vision, a SEM-ANN approach to the case of Hong Kong Lantau tomorrow

An outline strategic urban planning vision is a front-end government strategic plan with sparsely defined goals. Methods for an ex-ante appraisal of such sparsely defined vision are limited in the literature. By adapting a reference class forecasting (RCF) methodology, we propose an innovative two-stage combination of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) as an explainable ANN strategy to the appraisal of urban planning vision outline. The SEM-ANN operationalizes interaction between job, resident, and multi-modal accessibility in a public transport-dominated city. This strategy is applied to Lantau Tomorrow Vision in Hong Kong, as an extreme case study of a large, reclaimed island. The vision is broadly outlined as a New Town with a third CBD, residential and job targets, road and urban rail transport infrastructure routing, and an overall cost. The results show that the New Town scenario job/population goal should be plausibly attainable by increasing the transport infrastructure accessibility supply. Yet, the simulation indicates that the CBD3 employment goal based on CBD1 is out of range. Overall, our SEM-ANN method, as an adaptation of RCF, is of particular interest in front-end large-scale outline urban planning vision appraisal.

A Method for Modeling Urban Water Infrastructures Combining Geo-Referenced Data

Water distribution networks are the backbone of any municipal water supply. Their task is to supply the population regardless of the respective demand. High resilience of these infrastructures is of great importance and has brought these infrastructures into the focus of science and politics. At the same time, the data collected is highly sensitive and often openly unavailable. Therefore, researchers have to rely on models that represent the topology of these infrastructures. In this work, a model is developed that allows the topology of an urban water infrastructure to be mapped using the example of Cologne, Germany by combining freely available data. On the one hand, spatial data on land use (local climate zones) are used to disaggregate the water demand within the city under consideration. On the other hand, the parallelism of water and urban transportation infrastructures is used to identify the topology of a network by applying optimization methods. These networks can be analyzed to identify vulnerable areas within urban structures.

Performance Analysis of Road Intersections under Heterogeneous Traffic Conditions: A Review

The rapid growth of traffic in most countries exceeds the current transport system's threshold level and requires a more efficient and practical approach to be addressed. As the renovation of urban transportation infrastructure is not feasible, alternatives to the problem are urgently needed. This paper addresses the Performance Analysis of Road Intersections under Heterogeneous Traffic Conditions. At whatever point two or significantly more streets converge or cross, users of these streets should change their mobility to prevent a collision. This adjustment can take the form of a speed drop or a change in their motion pattern. In several regions of the world, traffic is a mixture of large distribution of various vehicle kinds. Hence users of a signalized crossroads in vehicles are a heterogeneous mix. The current study has involves review based on 5 selected papers analysing findings and drawing conclusion along with posing future questions.

A Delphi approach to evaluating the success factors for the application of smart mobility systems in smart cities: a construction industry perspective

This study evaluates the critical success factors for smart mobility systems (SM) and assesses its current application level for smart city development using Nigerian as a case study. This study is based on a mixed-method approach (Delphi and quantitative survey). The study revealed seven critical success factors of smart mobility. Furthermore, the findings of this study revealed that factors like sustainable, innovative and safe transportation system, availability of ICT infrastructure, local accessibility of transportation infrastructure, availability of transportation infrastructure (bike, cycling, pedestrian mobility facilities), are the most significant smart mobility success factors. Also, a good consensus was achieved for all the success factors. The Mann Whitney test from the final Delphi result revealed no significant difference in the responses of the two groups of experts. Assessing the level of application of the smart mobility success factors revealed an abysmal application level according to the expert's opinion. This study contributes to the body of knowledge as it reveals the SM success factors that should be considered to achieve a sustainable smart mobility system in a city. The findings of this study will assist cities worldwide in developing smart mobility systems and further improve their competitive advantage. The study concludes that the evaluated success factors are significant in smart mobility systems development and application, based on expert's opinion. However, its level of adoption and application is still low in Nigeria. Therefore, it is recommended that the government and policy decision-makers in urban transportation infrastructure development should use the results from this study, as a scorecard to know lagging areas and factors that need significant improvement and application to achieve a smart mobility system.

Climate change risk assessment and adaptation for loss and damage of urban transportation infrastructure in Southeast Asia

In Southeast Asia, climate change will potentially have negative consequences for urban transportation infrastructure (UTI). It is necessary to improve the understanding of climate change-associated loss and damage in relation to UTI to ensure the sustainability of existing transportation assets and for prioritizing future investments. However, there is currently limited knowledge on how to practically assess loss and damage for UTI in the context of climate change and then to incorporate appropriate adaptation measures and strategies to future-proof transportation planning. This study presents the results and experiences from assessing climate change-related loss and damage to UTI in six cities of Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. One pilot city from each country was selected for assessment by applying NK-GIAS software to determine loss and damage for urban roads. It was found that the six selected cities were highly vulnerable to climate change given their location and exposure to sea-level rise, storm surge, flooding, and salinity intrusion. Through analyses conducted using NK-GIAS software, economic losses for different flood scenarios were determined. The linkage between flooding and road damage was demonstrated, with maximum damage estimations under the most extreme flooding scenario of approximately 20 million USD for Hoi An, 3 million USD for Kampot and 21 million USD for Samut Sakhon, corresponding to water levels of 3.4 m, 4.0 m and 2.7 m respectively. Damage to the road network was identified as a key impact related to climate change. Further research is recommended to develop appropriate damage curves through laboratory analysis, addressing both flood depth and duration, to strengthen the NK-GIAS analyses undertaken in this study.

Towards Smart City Governance. Case Study: Improving the Interpretation of Quantitative Traffic Measurement Data through Citizen Participation.

Citizens play a core role in sustainable cities as users of the services delivered by cities and as active participants in initiatives aimed at making cities more sustainable. This paper considers the role of citizens as information providers and discusses the conditions under which citizens can participate in the development of sustainable cities. The objective of this study is to document the sustainability of an urban transit system and evaluate its compliance, with citizen participation as a major contributor. The methodology used is intensive field visits, interviews, and a mixed analysis of Sant Andreu de Palomar District in Barcelona city. The circulating vehicles are quantitatively monitored, qualitative problems are detected, and the typology of vehicles and other aspects identified and detailed in the study are indicated. All this information is contrasted with that of the technological sensors in the sectors. The results indicate that vehicles in the current pattern of urban density planned under incorrect sensor operation influence sustainable behavior through agglomerative clustering. This paper provides recommendations for future urban sustainability assessment research, including the employment of mixed-methods research, among other strategies. This article is intended to assist policymakers and traffic engineers in evaluating the sustainability of urban transportation infrastructure projects considering citizens as sensors.

Characteristics of Ground Surface Settlement of Double-Line Adjacent Metro Construction in Sandy Cobble Stratum: A Case Study of Beijing Airport Line

As a long-term urban transportation infrastructure, the stability of metro construction is very important. With the continuous expansion of urban metro network, metro adjacent construction is more and more frequently encountered. In this paper, taking the double-line adjacent construction problems encountered during excavation of Beijing New Airport Line metro in sandy cobble stratum as an example, the surface settlement caused by excavation of single-line metro and double-line adjacent metro is studied by computed tomography scan, electron microscope scanning, laboratory mechanical tests, orthogonal inversion and numerical simulation and other methods. The results show that 1) the sandy cobble particle size and sandy cobble distribution of Beijing sandy cobble samples are relatively dispersed, and the sandy cobble particle size is from 3 to 20 cm, of which the largest proportion is the sandy cobble particle size from 5 to 8 cm. 2) The internal friction angle of Beijing sandy cobble samples with different moisture content is from 27° to 40°, which is much larger than that of other soil samples. Even at the post-peak stage, the shear stress of some sandy cobble samples does not gradually tend to be gentle, but continuously increases or has secondary peaks. 3) For the excavation of double-line adjacent metro, the maximum settlement difference and the impact range of excavation are proposed as indicators to investigate the degree of interaction of the adjacent metro. 4) The results of numerical orthogonal analysis show that the width of surface settlement zone increases significantly with the increase of tunnel diameter and spacing when excavating adjacent metro in sandy cobble stratum, but the rate of increase with tunnel diameter (from 6 m to 14 m) almost reaches 2 times of the rate of increase with the spacing (from 3 m to 15 m). 5) The maximum settlement value of sandy cobble stratum increases with the increase of tunnel diameter and decreases with the increase of spacing. The orthogonal linear analysis shows that the influence of tunnel diameter on the maximum settlement value is much greater than the spacing. The maximum settlement increases with the increase of tunnel diameter, which is about 3.6 times of that with the decrease of spacing.

Main classification systems of personal mobility equipment analysis

Introduction. As a result of the analysis of statistical data on the number of road accidents that occurred with the participation of personal mobility equipment (PME), the main measures to reduce the considered indicator – accident rate are identified. A wide variety of individual means of transportation, which today is typical for many cities of the Russian Federation and is more prevalent in metropolitan cities, leads to a number of problems, including accidents. In order to develop targeted measures necessary to eliminate the problems that arise, it is necessary to develop a specialized classification system that will allow you to assign PME to a certain category, taking into account the main characteristics and, on the basis of this, to develop the necessary requirements for the movement of various categories of PME in an urban environment.Methods and materials. Increasing the attractiveness of individual vehicles in view of their accessibility and environmental friendliness leads to an increase in their number in the urban environment, which provides prerequisites for changing the urban transport infrastructure and developing certain requirements for their safe movement.Results. The authors analyze the main classification systems of PME and determine the possibilities of their application for the subsequent solution of related problems that arise when driving PME in an urban environment.Conclusion. As a result of the analysis of classification systems, a modified classification system is proposed, based on a minimum set of classification features, which allows you to assign different types of PME to one of the proposed classification group according to a certain weight and power characteristics. The ways of further research in this area are determined.