Download or read book Behavioural Changes in Urban Mobility in Barcelona Due to the COVID 19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gas Emissions written by Corinna Peters and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Covid19 and the City written by Mark Nieuwenhuijsen and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2020-10-30 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The COVID19 pandemic has put renewed focus on cities as hotspots for COVID19 outbreaks due to its connectivity with for example other cities, the high population density and mixing and reliance on public transport. Two of the most effective prevention measures hygiene (including wearing masks) and social distancing have a large effect on the behaviour of citizens, and require a rethink of the urban model and life. Is this the end of the city, or the beginning of the remodelling of the city? Half the world population lives in cities and this is likely to increase to 70% over the next 20 years. Cities provide jobs, are centres of innovation and wealth creation, but also often are hotspots of air pollution (e.g. particulate matter, NO2), noise, heat and disease. The high density of buildings and roads can cause so-called urban heat islands, defined as built up areas that are hotter than nearby rural areas. Furthermore, cities often lack accessible green space and physical activity levels of people are below recommended guidelines. They also generate a large proportion of CO2 emissions, and contribute significantly to the climate crisis. Recent estimates show that 60-80% of final energy use globally is consumed by urban areas and more than 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions are produced within urban areas. Up to 9 million people die each year because of ambient air pollution levels, 3.2 million because of lack of physical activity and 1.2 million because of traffic accidents. Noise causes more than 1.8 million DALYs a year in Europe alone and heat may cause as much as around 0.4% of premature mortality annually worldwide. A large part of the burden falls on cities as that is where people live and where higher exposure levels are. Population growth, ageing and the climate crisis put a further burden on cities in many aspects, including health.There is good evidence that there is a direct relationship between urban design, how people get around, and how this affects environmental exposure and life style factors and thereby morbidity and mortality. For example, in a city designed for and with large investment in infrastructure for cars, you will get many people using the car. On the other hand, in a city designed for and with investment in infrastructure for active transportation such as cycling, you will get more people cycling. As a result of the pandemic we see many European cities to a model that encourages cycling, partly because people avoid using the public transport system and there is not enough space for everyone to go by car. In this book I describe the issues and changes in the cities during the pandemic and that, as much as cities may be the problem, they could also be the solution through a transformation in their urban and transport planning practices. It is based on 10 short published posts on blogs between March and September 2020. The bottom line is that the pandemic can be catalyst for change and well planned and managed cities could provide an excellent and efficient habitat for the large human population and could not only be sustainable and liveable, but also healthy. I focus on important interventions, policies and actions that can improve public health, including the need for land use changes, reduce car dependency and move towards public and active transportation, greening of cities, visioning, citizen involvement, collaboration, leadership and investment and systemic approaches.

Download or read book Essays on Mobility and Environmental Policies in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona written by Jordi Rosell i Segura and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Europe's cities – home to 70% of the EU population and generating over 80% of the Union's GDP - are connected by one of the world's best transport systems (European Commission Regional Policy, 2011). The Barcelona metropolitan area is home to 3 million people and occupies a surface area of 636 km2. This thesis, is structured into four chapters and this introductory one. While chapter two analyze mobility characteristic in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area with policy implications, chapter three and four pursue to evaluate specific mobility policies. On chapter 5 concludes and add policy recommendations. On chapter 2 we analyze the factors influencing CO2 emissions from daily urban mobility. Concerns about the unequal distribution of greenhouse gas emissions attributable to mobility are gaining increasing attention in scholarly analyses as well as in the public policy arena. Factors influencing on different emitters are largely unknown; and the influence is assumed to be the same for all emitters, be them low or high emitters. We use a household travel survey in the metropolitan area of Barcelona to differentiate the factors that result in different rates of emission. As a results, we find that top ten per cent emitters produce 49% of total emissions, while non-daily emitters account for 38.5% of the sample. We adopt a quantile regression approach, which allows us to find significant differences between groups. Gender, income and home-municipality type are influential in accounting for CO2 emissions for all groups. Educational level appears to be less significant, and occupation shows no significance at all. We confirm that socioeconomic factors have different influences on different emitting groups; these characteristics do not impact equally across all the population. On chapter 3 two speed management policies – a variable speed system and an 80 km/h speed limit – have been implemented on Barcelona's urban motorways to mitigate NOx and PM10 air pollution. In 2008, the maximum speed limit was reduced from 120 and 100 km/h to 80 km/h and, in 2009, a variable speed system was introduced on some metropolitan motorways. To do so, we use difference-in-differences methodology on the average and on different quantiles for fixed effect panel data, which allows us analyzing different scenarios. We find that the variable speed system improves air quality with regard to the two pollutants considered here, being most effective when nitrogen oxide levels are not too low and when particulate matter concentrations are below extremely high levels. However, reducing the maximum speed limit from 120/100 km/h to 80 km/h has no effect - or even a slightly increasing effect -on the two pollutants, depending on the pollution scenario. On chapter 4 we compare the relative merits of public and private delivery within a mixed delivery system. We study the role played by ownership, transaction costs, and competition on local public service delivery within the same jurisdiction. Using a stochastic cost frontier, we analyze the public-private urban bus system in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. Academics and policy makers are increasingly shifting the debate concerning the best form of public service provision beyond the traditional dilemma between pure public and pure private delivery modes, because, among other reasons, there is a growing body of evidence that casts doubt on the existence of systematic cost savings from privatization, while any competition seems to be eroded over time. We find that private firms have higher delivery costs than those incurred by the public firm, especially when transaction costs are taken into account. Furthermore, tenders tend to decrease delivery costs.

Download or read book Pandemic in the Metropolis written by Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-07-22 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together reports of original empirical studies which explore the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on urban mobility and transportation and the associated policy responses. Focusing on the California region, the book draws on this local experience to formulate general lessons for other regions and metropolitan areas. The book examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has had different impacts on vulnerable populations in cities. It explores the pandemic's impacts on the transportation industry, in particular public transit, but also on other industries and economic interests that rely on transportation, such as freight trucking, retail and food industries, and the gig-economy. It investigates the effect of the viral outbreak on automobile traffic and associated air quality and traffic safety, as well as on alternative forms of work, shopping, and travel which have developed to accommodate the conditions it has forced on society. With quantitative data supported with illustrations and graphs, transportation professionals, policymakers and students can use this book to learn about policies and strategies that may instigate positive change in urban transport in the post-pandemic period.

Download or read book Resilient Urban Futures written by Zoé A. Hamstead and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book addresses the way in which urban and urbanizing regions profoundly impact and are impacted by climate change. The editors and authors show why cities must wage simultaneous battles to curb global climate change trends while adapting and transforming to address local climate impacts. This book addresses how cities develop anticipatory and long-range planning capacities for more resilient futures, earnest collaboration across disciplines, and radical reconfigurations of the power regimes that have institutionalized the disenfranchisement of minority groups. Although planning processes consider visions for the future, the editors highlight a more ambitious long-term positive visioning approach that accounts for unpredictability, system dynamics and equity in decision-making. This volume brings the science of urban transformation together with practices of professionals who govern and manage our social, ecological and technological systems to design processes by which cities may achieve resilient urban futures in the face of climate change.

Download or read book The Impact of COVID 19 on Air Pollution written by Suborna Barua and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The COVID-19 pandemic is producing significant economic and social cost globally. As a cure or a treatment is yet unavailable, strict social distancing is considered the key way to prevent it. Amid all negatives, one benefit of the pandemic being discussed is the reduction in air pollution, caused by strict mobility restrictions and confinement measures implemented across the world. Despite the flurry of on-going narratives, empirical examination of the link between mobility changes and air pollution during the COVID-19 period remains unavailable. This paper examines the short and long run impacts of mobility changes on carbon monoxide (CO) emissions, by employing pooled mean group, mean group, and dynamic fixed effect estimators on a panel of 35 countries covering daily data from 15 February to 17 April 2020 - a period when most countries went into strict lockdowns. Findings show a consistent evidence at the all-countries level and across regions that long-run indoor mobility increases reduce CO emissions, while outdoor mobility increases across places such as transit stations, workplaces, grocery & pharmacies, retail & recreation, and parks drive up emissions. Among the regions studied, Europe excluding the EU and the UK sees the largest emissions reduction from increased indoor mobility. While short-run effects are limited, emissions in US-Canada respond to indoor and outdoor mobility changes both in the short and long run. My paper's findings validate and qualify the on-going discussion and call for policies to curb unnecessary outdoor mobility to maintain air quality in the post-pandemic world.

Download or read book Air Quality Guidelines written by World Health Organization and published by World Health Organization. This book was released on 2006 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents revised guideline values for the four most common air pollutants - particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide - based on a recent review of the accumulated scientific evidence. The rationale for selection of each guideline value is supported by a synthesis of information emerging from research on the health effects of each pollutant. As a result, these guidelines now also apply globally. They can be read in conjunction with Air quality guidelines for Europe, 2nd edition, which is still the authority on guideline values for all other air pollutants. As well as revised guideline values, this book makes a brief yet comprehensive review of the issues affecting the application of the guidelines in risk assessment and policy development. Further, it summarizes information on: . pollution sources and levels in various parts of the world, . population exposure and characteristics affecting sensitivity to pollution, . methods for quantifying the health burden of air pollution, and . the use of guidelines in developing air quality standards and other policy tools. Finally, the special case of indoor air pollution is explored. Prepared by a large team of renowned international experts who considered conditions in various parts of the globe, these guidelines are applicable throughout the world. They provide reliable guidance for policy-makers everywhere when considering the various options for air quality management.

Download or read book COVID 19 and Transport in Asia and the Pacific written by Asian Development Bank and published by Asian Development Bank. This book was released on 2020-12-01 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The economic and social impacts of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have been dramatic, and transport has played a central role in its spread. The transport sector has also enabled essential workers to get to work during the pandemic and will support the needs of the population throughout the different stages of recovery. This guidance note presents (i) the impacts of the pandemic on social and travel behaviors in Asia and the Pacific, and how the transport sector is responding; and (ii) guiding principles and good practices in transport operations to support economic recovery.

Download or read book Transport and Climate Change written by Tim Ryley and published by Emerald Group Publishing. This book was released on 2012-07-17 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This topical volume covers the intersection between transport and climate change, with papers from the 'Transport & Climate Change' session of the RGS-IBG conference in London, September 2010. It considers the role of transport modes at varying spatial dimensions and a range of perspectives on the relationship between transport and climate change.

Download or read book Handbook of Smart Cities written by Juan Carlos Augusto and published by Springer. This book was released on 2021-07-17 with total page 1697 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Handbook presents a comprehensive and rigorous overview of the state-of-the-art on Smart Cities. It provides the reader with an authoritative, exhaustive one-stop reference on how the field has evolved and where the current and future challenges lie. From the foundations to the many overlapping dimensions (human, energy, technology, data, institutions, ethics etc.), each chapter is written by international experts and amply illustrated with figures and tables with an emphasis on current research. The Handbook is an invaluable desk reference for researchers in a wide variety of fields, not only smart cities specialists but also by scientists and policy-makers in related disciplines that are deeply influenced by the emergence of intelligent cities. It should also serve as a key resource for graduate students and young researchers entering the area, and for instructors who teach courses on these subjects. The handbook is also of interest to industry and business innovators.

Download or read book The Impact of COVID on Cities and Regions written by Peter K. Kresl and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2023-10-06 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The recent COVID-19 pandemic has arguably caused some of the most noticeable and influential societal and economic changes since World War Two. This path-breaking book investigates these changes and the subsequent responses of urban policy makers.

Download or read book Pandemic and the City written by Mehmet Güney Celbiş and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-02-15 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book features a collection of novel and original contributions to the study of urban sustainability from a human health perspective in the light of the current corona pandemic and the challenge of cities to offer inclusive, appealing, and healthy infrastructures. Written by experts from various disciplines, this book analyzes the impact of the corona pandemic on contemporary cities, and how these cities respond to the challenges. Featuring also case studies on various cities and regions, it addresses four interconnected research challenges and themes: Cities, cooperation, and resilience in the face of COVID-19 Comparative approaches on patterns and effects of city and location-specific policies and socioeconomic structures during COVID-19 The socioeconomic and labor market effects of pandemics on cities and local economies The need for new types of data and applications in addressing challenges in analysing the effects of COVID-19 on cities This book will appeal to scholars of regional and spatial science, urban economics, and urban planning and anyone interested in the impact of corona pandemic on city life.

Download or read book Examining the Post pandemic Role of Shared Micromobility written by Jacqueline Paige Lee and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Notable results from these experiments include a transition away from pre-pandemic peak ridership patterns around 7-9 am and 5-7 pm and towards a more steady increase in ridership throughout the morning to afternoon periods. Moreover, travel time was frequently found to be comparable between public transit and shared micromobility modes for specific central urban neighborhoods with the latter leading to shorter trips in many areas.

Download or read book Climate Change and Cities written by Cynthia Rosenzweig and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-28 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Urban areas are home to over half the world's people and are at the forefront of the climate change issue. The need for a global research effort to establish the current understanding of climate change adaptation and mitigation at the city level is urgent. To meet this goal a coalition of international researchers - the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN) - was formed at the time of the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit in New York in 2007. This book is the First UCCRN Assessment Report on Climate Change and Cities. The authors are all international experts from a diverse range of cities with varying socio-economic conditions, from both the developing and developed world. It is invaluable for mayors, city officials and policymakers; urban sustainability officers and urban planners; and researchers, professors and advanced students.

Download or read book Human Mobility Spatiotemporal Context and Environmental Health Recent Advances in Approaches and Methods written by Mei-Po Kwan and published by MDPI. This book was released on 2019-07-12 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Environmental health researchers have long used concepts like the neighborhood effect to assessing people’s exposure to environmental influences and the associated health impact. However, these are static notions that ignore people’s daily mobility at various spatial and temporal scales (e.g., daily travel, migratory movements, and movements over the life course) and the influence of neighborhood contexts outside their residential neighborhoods. Recent studies have started to incorporate human mobility, non-residential neighborhoods, and the temporality of exposures through collecting and using data from GPS, accelerometers, mobile phones, various types of sensors, and social media. Innovative approaches and methods have been developed. This Special Issue aims to showcase studies that use new approaches, methods, and data to examine the role of human mobility and non-residential contexts on human health behaviors and outcomes. It includes 21 articles that cover a wide range of topics, including individual exposure to air pollution, exposure and access to green spaces, spatial access to healthcare services, environmental influences on physical activity, food environmental and diet behavior, exposure to noise and its impact on mental health, and broader methodological issues such as the uncertain geographic context problem (UGCoP) and the neighborhood effect averaging problem (NEAP). This collection will be a valuable reference for scholars and students interested in recent advances in the concepts and methods in environmental health and health geography.

Download or read book Decarbonising Urban Mobility with Land Use and Transport Policies The Case of Auckland New Zealand written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2020-06-16 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The report presents an in-depth analysis of various policies that aim to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of urban transport. Decarbonising transport lies at the core of efforts to mitigate climate change and has close links to urban sustainability and housing affordability. The report identifies the drivers of rising emissions in the urban transport sector and offers pathways to reduce them through a combination of transport and land use policies.

Download or read book World Cities Report 2020 written by United Nations and published by . This book was released on 2020-11-30 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a rapidly urbanizing and globalized world, cities have been the epicentres of COVID-19 (coronavirus). The virus has spread to virtually all parts of the world; first, among globally connected cities, then through community transmission and from the city to the countryside. This report shows that the intrinsic value of sustainable urbanization can and should be harnessed for the wellbeing of all. It provides evidence and policy analysis of the value of urbanization from an economic, social and environmental perspective. It also explores the role of innovation and technology, local governments, targeted investments and the effective implementation of the New Urban Agenda in fostering the value of sustainable urbanization.