Abstract

This paper analyses how Vicent Andrés Estellés treats the city in his poems according to the degree of proximity between the poet and the reality on the ground. The works studied remit to any period of concrete production, but that they are disseminated along all the path of the poet because of the constant presence that the space has. We will focus on explaining the two ways that the poet has to represent the city: on the one hand when this is presented like an otherness observed by the poet and, on the other hand, when the poet lives it since the vicinity. With the aim to do reference to the different places significant that configure the identity of the poet.

Abstract

The HASTA indicator framework, covering the three dimensions of sustainability, i.e. Economic, Environmental and Social, to monitor sustainability of transport in Swedish cities was elaborated."br /" Under the three sustainability dimensions, there are 6 sustainability aspects (indicator groups), 2-3 per dimension; these are Efficiency, Accessibility (Economic dimension), Accessibility, Safety,"br /" Liveability (Social dimension); Emissions, Resource use (Environmental dimension). The accessibility indicator group is related with both economic and social sustainability. The individual indicators are structured in three levels of a hierarchical structure. The highest level is represented by the Outcome indicators which reflect the sustainability target in the subject area of the indicator."br /" These Outcome indicators are of both objectively measurable variables and subjective variables, reflecting how the inhabitants experience sustainability of transport in their city. On the lowest level, the Input indicators provide information on possible measures to make improvements in transport sustainability. On the intermediate level, the Output indicators show the effect of the adopted measures (Input indicators). There are 19 Outcome indicators, 22 Output indicators and 42 Input indicators. Document type: Report

Abstract

Procedural generation of urban environments is a very difficult problem to solve. Most solutions use predefined production rules which lock them into only few different variations of the result. This works well when producing new urban environments but fails when it comes to the expansion of them. Most cities are too complex to model using an approach which utilises predefined rules. By using an example based approach instead, it is possible to expand any city and still have the new street network follow the layout of the original city, regardless of complexity. This paper describes a method of extracting the necessary information from the GIS database OpenStreetMap and expanding the cities using an example based approach presented by Aliaga et al. The paper will also show how blocks, parcels and buildings can be generated to fit within the urban environment.

Abstract

Many different types of goods are transported to and delivered in cities, resulting in some urban freight challenges, such as increased vehicle movements within the city, collection of waste and one-way traffic flows towards the city. The growing urbanisation is expected to generate extra transport movements too. The European Transport White Paper states that national governments should try to implement policies to optimise freight transport in and around the city (European Commission, 2011). One option to do this is by using more sustainable transport modes. In that context, this research examines the potential role of rail in urban freight distribution, which was once important. Firstly, several existing cases of urban freight rail are discussed and compared. This results in the identification of success and failure factors. Secondly, a typology of cities and freight is set up. Thirdly, a conceptual cost model to estimate the potential of rail transport in urban freight distribution is proposed. The approach of this research consists of literature review and an expert meeting amongst academic and industry experts. The findings show that some relevant cases of urban freight rail exist in which different cities are involved. Knowledge of the different city and freight characteristics as well as the main success and failure factors is crucial. An appropriate methodology for assessing the potential of rail for urban freight distribution is a combination of stated and revealed preference and a social cost-benefit analysis.

Abstract

Autonomous vehicles (AV) create new opportunities to traffic planners and policy-makers. In the case of shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs), dynamic pricing, vehicle routing and dispatch strategies may aim for the maximization of the overall system welfare instead of the operator’s profit. In this study, an existing congestion pricing methodology is applied to the SAV transport mode. On the SAV operator’s side, the routing- and dispatch-relevant cost are extended by the time and link-specific congestion charge. On the users’ side, the congestion costs are added to the fare. Simulation experiments are carried out for Berlin, Germany in order to investigate the impact of SAVs and different pricing setups on the transport system. For the pricing setup, where SAV users only pay the base fare and there is no congestion charge added to the user costs, the model predicts an SAV share of 17.7% within the inner-city Berlin service area. The level of traffic congestion increases, air pollution levels decrease and noise levels slightly increase in the inner-city area. The SAV congestion charge pushes users from SAVs to the walk, bicycle and conventional (driver-controlled) private car (CC) mode. The latter effect is avoided by applying the same congestion charge also to CC users. Overall, this study highlights the importance to control both, the SAV and CC mode in order to improve a city’s transport system.

Abstract

The work «Lo Crestià» by Eiximenis is an encyclopaedic project that develops, among many other subjects, the political worries of his author. The Dotzè is the place where the ideas about the ideal society, a society that takes form in the space of the city, are related. Which exactly the image of the ideal city is and with which sources Eiximenis works, is the central subject of this article. Some of these sources have been fully studied, one of them being, for example, the relationship between the Dotzè with the Politics by Aristotle. This is one of the aspects that places the book within Aristotle’s trend of modernization of political language, a reference point that surpasses an influence until now considered central to political Agustinism.