New book: “Transport in human scale cities – call for a change in thinking”

The latest book “Transport in Human Scale Cities” in the NECTAR Series has been published by Edward Elgar and is available as open access! The book originates from the NECTAR conference in Helsinki in 2019.

The book calls for a paradigm shift in urban transport, which remains one of the critically uncertain aspects of the sustainability transformation of our societies. It argues that the potential of human scale thinking needs to be recognised, both in understanding people on the move in the city and within various organisations responsible for cities.

Taking a multidisciplinary approach with a focus on the human scale, expert contributors offer lessons for responsible innovation
practices to advance the human scale urban mobility technologies. Chapters also offer new insights into the development of urban and transport planning processes, considering new data, methods and approaches. Drawing on specific examples, the book presents a critical analysis of key topics, including the relationship between transport and wellbeing, the relationship between accessibility and income, the mobility of the elderly and various transport planning and policy questions.

The book is edited by dr. Miloš Mladenović (Aalto University), professor Tuuli Toivonen (University of Helsinki), Elias Willberg (University of Helsinki) and professor Karst Geurs (University of Twente). The book is dedicated to the memory of dr. Moshe Givoni, lecturer at Tel-Aviv University, whose ambition was to continuously promote research and better policy making to transform our urban mobility systems.

The open access book is available for download at: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800370517

The future of European communication and transportation research: a research agenda

NECTAR celebrated its 25th anniversary during the 14th biennial conference in 2017 in Madrid. This anniversary was a good moment to reflect on what changed and what should be the research priorities for the next 25 years. Over 60 NECTAR members from a variety of disciplines have contributed to the drafting of a research agenda for the future of transportation research published as a paper in REGION. The paper is structured along the eight NECTAR cluster topics: ‘Transport Infrastructure Impacts and Evaluation’ (Cluster 1), ‘Policy and Environment’ (Cluster 2), ‘Logistics and Freight’ (Cluster 3), ‘Commuting, Migration, Housing and Labour Markets’ (Cluster 4), ‘Leisure, Recreation and Tourism’ (Cluster 5), ‘Accessibility’ (Cluster 6), ‘Social issues and Health’ (Cluster 7) and ‘ICT’ (Cluster 8). The research agenda firstly highlights the growing complexity and need for multi- and interdisciplinary transportation research. Secondly, sustainability needs to be addressed in transportation research in its full meaning, including relationships between policy-making investigations and environmental and equity effects. Thirdly, ICTs and digitalisation, the development of (shared) autonomous vehicles and shared mobility will have profound impacts on economies and spatial interactions all-around the world, and availability of high resolution spatial and transportation data. Digitalisation generates many new research opportunities but also give rise to new concerns about privacy, safety, equity and public health.

Link: https://doi.org/10.18335/region.v6i3.281

New book on “Inequality in Transport”

Everyone needs transport to move around and to access everyday needs, but for each individual those needs are different, and they change over time and space: herein lie the seeds of inequalities in transport. In Inequality in Transport, David Banister addresses this complex problem, first through an exploration of inequality, its nature, measurement and extent. He then links inequality and the transport sector through detailed analysis of the variations in daily and long-distance travel in Great Britain over a ten-year period. He argues that there must be a much wider interpretation of inequality – one that links actual travel with measures of wellbeing and sustainability, recognizing that these will change over time. In drawing his findings together, he concludes that there must be new thinking in transport policy and planning if transport inequalities are to be alleviated.

The book is now available through amazon kindle https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07F2QMS6X/  (price: £9.99) and will be published as a paperback on 12th July through Alexandrine Press (price: £30.00).