Transport Policies and Urban Planning

Accessibility & Mobility

• Accessibility is defined as the potential or actual opportunities reachable in terms of activity.
• The number of possible opportunities are available per location and per person.
• Key concepts for accessibility and mobility are location and separation.
• Location is tied to the surrounding transportation infrastructure.
• Separation is associated with connectivity between locations measures such as distance, time or cost.
• The four key components of accessibility and mobility include:
  • Land use components - quantity, quality and spatial distribution of land uses, and demand for opportunities.
  • Transportation components - time, cost, effort and disutility from imbalance in supply and demand.
  • Temporal components - availability of services at different times.
  • Individual components - age, income, education and physical condition.
• Demand for transport comes from derived demand.
  • Direct derived demand is directly from economic, educational, and social activities.
  • Indirect derived demand is created by the requirements of other movements. (e.g. going to the petrol station).

Demand & Distance Types

• Euclidean and Transport Distances are discussed.
• Logistical distance also exists.
• The links between land use and transport are addressed by assessing the relationships between these topics.

Accessibility Measures

• Infrastructure based: Analysing observed or simulated service performance (such as congestion and average travel speed).
• Location based: Analyse level of accessibility to spatially distributed locations (e.g. jobs within a 30-minute bus ride).
• Person-based: Analyse accessibility at the individual level. (e.g. the number of activities a person can participate in) which analyses economic benefits of access to spatially distributed activities.

Transport & Environment

• Discusses the relationship between transport and the environment (Week (5)).
• Impact of transport on the environment:
  • Land-use
  • Emissions
• The transport-environment link illustrates the relationship (multi-faceted).
• Shows the impacts and outputs of environmental changes.

Road Transport & Greenhouse Gas Emissions

• Road transport contributes to most EU total carbon emissions.
• Greenhouse gas emissions by sector in the EU (2020) show the transport sector as a major contributor.

Noise-Health Relationship

• 65m people in the EU are exposed to above normal noise levels.
• Stressors include sleep disturbance, annoyance, heart disease and cognitive outcomes.

The Dublin Transport Initiative (DTI) (1999)

• There are two phases to the DTI, the first looked at changes in transport in the Dublin region, and the second phase developed a long-term strategy for transport.
• Recommended strategies:
  • Roads
    • Completion of C-ring motorway
    • Improvement of radial links (mostly beyond C-ring)
    • Few improvements and new provisions inside the C-ring (except for Port Tunnel)
    • Traffic calming measures (HGV management)
  • Public Transport
    • Development of 11 QBCs
    • High frequency services
    • Priority signalling
    • High-quality waiting areas
    • Real-time arrival information
• Extension of the DART line to Malahide and Greystones, capacity improvement on the Maynooth line and development of light rail transport.

Dublin Transport Strategy (DTS)

• €1.28 billion for development
• 47% allocated for Roads, 43% on public transport, and 10% on management.

Regional Planning Guidelines (2004)

• Development around established settlement centres
• Move away from new town ideology.
• Mixed-use development to support public transport.
• Reduce stress on public transport infrastructure.

Sustainable Transport (Week 6)

• Definition of sustainable transport: Capacity to support mobility needs of people, freight, and information in a least damageable way.

• Promotes:

  • Environmental protection
  • Economic efficiency
  • Social progress

• SDGs:

  • Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
  • Sustainable Cities and Communities

Technology & The Future

• Average CO2 emissions from cars (graphical data).
• Technology rapidly improving
• Real change in transport price
• World automobile production (2000-2023)

Transport & Urban Spatial Organisation

• Density = trip length (inverse relationship)
• Density examples are given (e.g. Moscow, Atlanta).
• Negative density profiles (e.g. Moscow).
• Johannesburg and apartheid.

Transport & Airport Planning (Week 10)

• The Airport Interchange: One intervention to sustain three ambitions (an airport, an airport city and a polycentric metropolitan region).
• Airport Corridor
• Concept of Airport City, heavily pursued in Europe.
• Types of airport cities:
  • Mixed, single conurbation of city and airport (e.g., (example)).
  • Isolated airport city (e.g., Stockholm, Munich).
  • City-Oriented airport city (e.g., newly-built districts close to airport).
  • Integrated airport city (e.g., Vienna).
  • Global urban airport city (e.g., Frankfurt).
• Economic impacts of airports
  • Indirect, catalytic and induced effects/influences of airport activity.
  • Multi-dimensional relationships and activities/outputs from airports.
  • Job creation resulting from airports.

Policy Solutions for Transport (Week 9)

• When considering solutions consider what drives demand (few journeys are for the sake of journeys.)
• Length + mode are strongly influenced by land-use + spatial planning policies.
• Proximity of public transport facilities and convenience are factors.
• Land use and spatial planning policy is used to control patterns of land use and therefore transport demand.
• Behavioural changes can be effective.
• Driver and fleet behaviour
• Fleet retrofitting (shared modes, public biking schemes)
• Pricing & Access Control
  • Pricing measures encourage change of modes with minimal social + environmental impacts
  • Negative externalities—polluter pays principle
  • Internalising prices
• Other pricing approaches
  • City understanding of benefits of encouraging public transport use
• Access control & management
  • Vehicle restrictions (LEZ), parking management

Vehicle Restricted Areas (VRAs) & Low Emission Zones (LEZs)

• Widely used in Europe
• Actively regulate vehicle activity
• Most targeted at freight
• Aim to improve air quality and consider the needs of the population.

Parking Management

• Congestion caused by drivers looking for parking.
• Up to 50% of congestion caused by drivers looking for parking.

Exam Information

• December 9th (time)
• Bring ID
• 5 questions, answer 3

Additional Readings

• Job-housing balance heavily influences commuting patterns
• Excess commuting and various inefficiencies in urban layouts
• Shadow prices evaluate relative locational advantages/disadvantages.
• Findings in Dublin: Urban structure shift, adaptable private transport.

Explore the key factors influencing transport demand in relation to land-use and spatial planning policies. This quiz emphasizes behavioral changes, pricing measures, and strategies to improve cycling and public transport. Understand the implications of transport policies on urban air quality and emissions reduction.