Attard, M., & Balbontin, C. (2024). Workshop 6 report: Micromobility movement in urban transport. Res. Transp. Econ., 103, 101399.
Abstract: The theme of micromobility was introduced for the first time in Thredbo 17 as the growth of shared and privately-owned e-scooters, bicycles and e-bicycles continue to affect the nature and structure of urban transport systems worldwide. And whilst in some cases they challenge the priority afforded to the private car, in others they complement already existing and well-established greener transport modes such as cycling and walking. The discussion in this workshop focused on a number of questions looking at the benefits of micromobility and discussing the main incentives for their use as an urban mode of transport, questioning the role of government and describing the potential threats, if any, to public transport systems, in what we expect for the future of micromobility. Five papers showcased evidence on the use of micromobility, from e-scooters in Norway and Australia, to public bicycles in South Korea and The Netherlands. Each of the questions discussed in the workshop is reported in this paper. The need for multimodal integration is evident and remains essential to ensure complementarity across transport in cities. However, other concerns such as the need for regulation, education/ enforcement structures, stronger business models and more effective tendering procedures have been identified and discussed. A long list of future research topics in the area of micromobility is provided and some themes for Thredbo 18 are recommended.
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Gallardo, L., Barraza, F., Ceballos, A., Galleguillos, M., Huneeus, N., Lambert, F., et al. (2018). Evolution of air quality in Santiago: The role of mobility and lessons from the science-policy interface. Elementa-Sci. Anthrop., 6, 23 pp.
Abstract: Worldwide, urbanization constitutes a major and growing driver of global change and a distinctive feature of the Anthropocene. Thus, urban development paths present opportunities for technological and societal transformations towards energy efficiency and decarbonization, with benefits for both greenhouse gas (GHG) and air pollution mitigation. This requires a better understanding of the intertwined dynamics of urban energy and land use, emissions, demographics, governance, and societal and biophysical processes. In this study, we address several characteristics of urbanization in Santiago (33.5 degrees S, 70.5 degrees W, 500 m a.s.l.), the capital city of Chile. Specifically, we focus on the multiple links between mobility and air quality, describe the evolution of these two aspects over the past 30 years, and review the role scientific knowledge has played in policy-making. We show evidence of how technological measures (e.g., fuel quality, three-way catalytic converters, diesel particle filters) have been successful in decreasing coarse mode aerosol (PM10) concentrations in Santiago despite increasing urbanization (e.g., population, motorization, urban sprawl). However, we also show that such measures will likely be insufficient if behavioral changes do not achieve an increase in the use of public transportation. Our investigation seeks to inform urban development in the Anthropocene, and our results may be useful for other developing countries, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean where more than 80% of the population is urban.
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Heredia, C., Moreno, S., & Yushimito, W. F. (2022). Characterization of Mobility Patterns with a Hierarchical Clustering of Origin-Destination GPS Taxi Data. IEEE Trans. Intell. Transp. Syst., 23(8), 12700–12710.
Abstract: Clustering taxi data is commonly used to understand spatial patterns of urban mobility. In this paper, we propose a new clustering model called Origin-Destination-means (OD-means). OD-means is a hierarchical adaptive k-means
algorithm based on origin-destination pairs. In the first layer of the hierarchy, the clusters are separated automatically based on the variation of the within-cluster distance of each cluster until convergence. The second layer of the hierarchy corresponds to the sub clustering process of small clusters based on the
distance between the origin and destination of each cluster. The algorithm is tested on a large data set of taxi GPS data from Santiago, Chile, and compared to other clustering algorithms.
In contrast to them, our proposed model is capable of detecting general and local travel patterns in the city thanks to its hierarchical structure.
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Tachiquin, R., Velazquez, R., Del-Valle-Soto, C., Gutierrez, C. A., Carrasco, M., De Fazio, R., et al. (2021). Wearable Urban Mobility Assistive Device for Visually Impaired Pedestrians Using a Smartphone and a Tactile-Foot Interface.21(16), 5274.
Abstract: This paper reports on the progress of a wearable assistive technology (AT) device designed to enhance the independent, safe, and efficient mobility of blind and visually impaired pedestrians in outdoor environments. Such device exploits the smartphone's positioning and computing capabilities to locate and guide users along urban settings. The necessary navigation instructions to reach a destination are encoded as vibrating patterns which are conveyed to the user via a foot-placed tactile interface. To determine the performance of the proposed AT device, two user experiments were conducted. The first one requested a group of 20 voluntary normally sighted subjects to recognize the feedback provided by the tactile-foot interface. The results showed recognition rates over 93%. The second experiment involved two blind voluntary subjects which were assisted to find target destinations along public urban pathways. Results show that the subjects successfully accomplished the task and suggest that blind and visually impaired pedestrians might find the AT device and its concept approach useful, friendly, fast to master, and easy to use.
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Velazquez-Guerrero, R., Pissaloux, E., Del-Valle-Soto, C., Carrasco-Zambrano, M. A., Mendoza-Andrade, A., & Varona-Salazar, J. (2021). Mobility of blind people using the smartpho-ne's GPS and a wearable tactile display. Dyna, 96(1), 98–104.
Abstract: This paper presents a novel wearable system devoted to assist the mobility of blind and visually impaired people in urban environments with the simple use of a smartphone and tactile feedback. The system exploits the positioning data provided by the smartphone's GPS sensor to locate in real-time the user in the environment and to determine the directions to a destination. The resulting navigational directions are encoded as vibrations and conveyed to the user via an on-shoe tactile display. To validate the pertinence of the proposed system, two experiments were conducted. The first one involved a group of 20 voluntary normally sighted subjects that were requested to recognize the navigational instructions displayed by the tactile-foot device. The results show high recognition rates for the task. The second experiment consisted of guiding two blind voluntary subjects along public urban spaces to target destinations. Results show that the task was successfully accomplished and suggest that the system enhances independent safe navigation of people with visually impairments. Moreover, results show the potentials of smartphones and tactile-foot devices in assistive technology.
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