Download or read book Implications of Uncertain Future Network Performance on Satisfying Environmental Justice and Tolling written by Jennifer Clare Duthie and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This dissertation is concerned with developing new methods for exploring the pressing problems of uncertainty, Environmental Justice, and tolling as they relate to long-range transportation planning. While these topics are seemingly disparate, much of the work in this dissertation is motivated by the increasing number of roadway projects concessioned to the private sector, and the lack of tools available for evaluating the impact of such agreements on the public given high levels of uncertainty over the length of the contracts and concern for the welfare of traditionally underserved population groups. These issues will be considered separately and together, offering insights into how transportation investment decisions can be improved. To this end, the impacts of considering long-range uncertainty in the traffic assignment model as well as in an integrated transportation and land use model (ITLUM) are assessed in terms of the effects on network performance measures and roadway improvement decisions. A new method for accounting for correlations between the future travel demands of origin-destination zone pairs is developed for the traffic assignment problem that can more effectively model the effects of potential economic changes. Results showed that neglecting correlations can lead to measures of variance of future total system travel time that range from underestimating the actual measure by seventy-five percent to overestimating it by one hundred percent, and to different selections for a network improvement project in up to fifty percent of all scenarios. Uncertainty in a basic ITLUM is considered more broadly, incorporating probability distributions for population and employment inputs as well as several travel demand model parameters, and examining how the choice of performance measure impacts the effect of uncertainty on the decision of where to increase system capacity. Comparing the network improvement projects selected when uncertainty is considered to a deterministic analysis, showed differences in up to 25% of scenarios. Challenges of considering Environmental Justice, a type of group-based equity that is required for metropolitan transportation plan compliance in the United States, are explored, particularly with regard to appropriately defining the term equity for the analysis. Several of these potential definitions are then transformed into objective functions for use in a new formulation of the user equilibrium-based discrete network design problem. A multi-objective genetic-algorithm solution method is developed to solve the problem efficiently, and insights are revealed into how different definitions of equity can lead to different decisions. The following objectives, both commonly used in practice, were found to be conflicting: 1) minimizing the difference in post-improvement performance across populations and 2) minimizing the difference across populations in the change in performance due to improvements. The problem of roadway tolling is first examined from the perspective of a private sector toll road operator seeking to maximize the asset's value by exercising flexibility. A stochastic recourse model is developed to account for the first stage investment decision and the second stage decisions to alter network capacity and toll rates. The flexibility to engage in non-compete clauses whereby the public sector cannot improve competing roadways, and also to improve feeder links in the surrounding network were found to play important roles in asset valuation. The value of having these options was found to increase with an increase in uncertainty of future demand, complexity of network structure, and the consequence of failure to meet debt obligations. The three original issues of uncertainty, Environmental Justice, and tolling are woven together into the development of a new method for determining the maximum toll rate that can be applied in a private sector operation scenario (first option) such that each group within the population, as defined for analysis of Environmental Justice, is no worse off than if the road had been constructed by the public sector without tolling (second option). Three stochastic dominance criteria are implemented to find the toll rate at which the first option dominates the second given uncertainty about the future travel demand. Findings suggest that there may be many toll rates that equate the benefits resulting from the two options, so the minimum rate is considered the optimal one. The difference in benefits to the groups was found to increase with increasing value of time, and the differences in optimal toll rates using each of the three dominance criteria increased similarly. The analytical tools developed in this dissertation, and the resulting insights obtained should offer significant contributions to several areas of long-range transportation planning, particularly informing the process of concessioning roadways to private entities, developing a transportation system that is robust to future uncertainty, and ensuring that Environmental Justice criteria is met by considering the transportation needs of each group within the population.

Download or read book Flood Risk and Social Justice written by Zoran Vojinovic and published by IWA Publishing. This book was released on 2012-03-05 with total page 582 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Flood Risk and Social Justice is a response to the rising significance of floods and flood-related disasters worldwide, as an initiative to promote a socially just approach to the problems of flood risk. It integrates the human-social and the technological components to provide a holistic view. This book treats flooding as a multi-dimensional human and natural world tragedy that must be accommodated using all the social and technological means that can be mobilised before, during and after the flooding event. It covers socially just flood risk mitigation practices which necessitate a wide range of multidisciplinary approaches, starting from social and wider environmental needs, including feedback cycles between human needs and technological means. Flood Risk and Social Justice looks at how to judge whether a risk is acceptable or not by addressing an understanding of social and phenomenological considerations rather than simple calculations of probabilities multiplied by unwanted outcomes and their balancing between costs and benefits. It is argued that the present ‘flood management’ practice should be largely replaced by the social justice approach where particular attention is given to deciding what is the right thing to do within a much wider context. Thus it insists upon the validity of modes of human understanding which cannot be addressed within the limited context of modern science. Flood Risk and Social Justice is written to support a wide range of audiences and seeks to improve the dialogue between researchers and practitioners from different disciplines (including post-graduate engineering, environmental and social science students, industry practitioners, academics, planners, environmental advocacy groups and environmental law professionals) who have a strong interest in a new kind of social justice work that can act as a continuous counter-balance to the various mechanisms that unceasingly give rise to profound injustices. More information about this book can be found in this article written for the WaterWiki by the author: http://www.iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Articles/FloodRiskandSocialJustice Authors: Zoran Vojinovic is Associate Professor at the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, the Netherlands, with almost 20 years of consulting and research experience in various aspects of water industry in New Zealand, Australia, Asia, Europe, Central/South America and the Caribbean. Michael B. Abbott is Emeritus Professor at the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, the Netherlands, and a Director of the European Institute for Industrial Leadership in Brussels. He founded and developed the disciplines of Computational Hydraulics and Hydroinformatics and co-founded, the Journal of Hydroinformatics with Professor Roger Falconer.

Download or read book Lifelines written by Stephane Hallegatte and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2019-07-16 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Infrastructure—electricity, telecommunications, roads, water, and sanitation—are central to people’s lives. Without it, they cannot make a living, stay healthy, and maintain a good quality of life. Access to basic infrastructure is also a key driver of economic development. This report lays out a framework for understanding infrastructure resilience - the ability of infrastructure systems to function and meet users’ needs during and after a natural hazard. It focuses on four infrastructure systems that are essential to economic activity and people’s well-being: power systems, including the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity; water and sanitation—especially water utilities; transport systems—multiple modes such as road, rail, waterway, and airports, and multiple scales, including urban transit and rural access; and telecommunications, including telephone and Internet connections.

Download or read book Our Common Future written by and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Shock Waves written by Stephane Hallegatte and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2015-11-23 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ending poverty and stabilizing climate change will be two unprecedented global achievements and two major steps toward sustainable development. But the two objectives cannot be considered in isolation: they need to be jointly tackled through an integrated strategy. This report brings together those two objectives and explores how they can more easily be achieved if considered together. It examines the potential impact of climate change and climate policies on poverty reduction. It also provides guidance on how to create a “win-win†? situation so that climate change policies contribute to poverty reduction and poverty-reduction policies contribute to climate change mitigation and resilience building. The key finding of the report is that climate change represents a significant obstacle to the sustained eradication of poverty, but future impacts on poverty are determined by policy choices: rapid, inclusive, and climate-informed development can prevent most short-term impacts whereas immediate pro-poor, emissions-reduction policies can drastically limit long-term ones.

Download or read book Justice and Natural Resources written by Kathryn Mutz and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Just over two decades ago, research findings that environmentally hazardous facilities were more likely to be sited near poor and minority communities gave rise to the environmental justice movement. Yet inequitable distribution of the burdens of industrial facilities and pollution is only half of the problem; poor and minority communities are often denied the benefits of natural resources and can suffer disproportionate harm from decisions about their management and use. Justice and Natural Resources is the first book devoted to exploring the concept of environmental justice in the realm of natural resources. Contributors consider how decisions about the management and use of natural resources can exacerbate social injustice and the problems of disadvantaged communities. Looking at issues that are predominantly rural and western -- many of them involving Indian reservations, public lands, and resource development activities -- it offers a new and more expansive view of environmental justice. The book begins by delineating the key conceptual dimensions of environmental justice in the natural resource arena. Following the conceptual chapters are contributions that examine the application of environmental justice in natural resource decision-making. Chapters examine: how natural resource management can affect a range of stakeholders quite differently, distributing benefits to some and burdens to others the potential for using civil rights laws to address damage to natural and cultural resources the unique status of Native American environmental justice claims parallels between domestic and international environmental justice how authority under existing environmental law can be used by Federal regulators and communities to address a broad spectrum of environmental justice concerns Justice and Natural Resources offers a concise overview of the field of environmental justice and a set of frameworks for understanding it. It expands the previously urban and industrial scope of the movement to include distribution of the burdens and access to the benefits of natural resources, broadening environmental justice to a truly nationwide concern.

Download or read book Environmental Justice and Environmentalism written by Ronald Sandler and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In ten essays, contributors from a variety of disciplines consider such topics as the relationship between the two movements' ethical commitments and activist goals, instances of successful cooperation in U.S. contexts, and the challenges posed to both movements by globalisation and climate change.

Download or read book Local Action on Climate Change written by Susie Moloney and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-08-31 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is growing interest in analysing the role and effectiveness of the local scale in responding to the global challenge of climate change. However, while accounts of urban climate change governance are growing, there is now a real need for further conceptual and empirical work to better understand processes of change and uptake across a range of climate change actions. Local Action on Climate Change examines how local climate change responses are emerging, being operationalized and evaluated within a range of geographical and socio-political contexts across the globe. Focussing on the role and potential of local governments, non-government organisations and community groups in driving transformative change, the authors analyse how local climate change responses have emerged and explore the extent to which they are or have the potential to be innovative or transformative in terms of governance, policy and practice change. Drawing on a diverse range of case studies, including examples from Vanuatu, Japan, South Africa, Australia, Sweden, the USA and India, this volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate change, environmental policy and governance, and sustainability.

Download or read book Climate Change 2014 written by Groupe d'experts intergouvernemental sur l'évolution du climat and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Global Trends 2030 written by National Intelligence Council and published by Cosimo Reports. This book was released on 2018-02-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This important report, Global Trends 2030-Alternative Worlds, released in 2012 by the U.S. National Intelligence Council, describes megatrends and potential game changers for the next decades. Among the megatrends, it analyzes: - increased individual empowerment - the diffusion of power among states and the ascent of a networked multi-polar world - a world's population growing to 8.3 billion people, of which sixty percent will live in urbanized areas, and surging cross-border migration - expanding demand for food, water, and energy It furthermore describes potential game changers, including: - a global economy that could thrive or collapse - increased global insecurity due to regional instability in the Middle East and South Asia - new technologies that could solve the problems caused by the megatrends - the possibility, but by no means the certainty, that the U.S. with new partners will reinvent the international system Students of trends, forward-looking entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades will find this essential reading.

Download or read book Transportation Planning Handbook written by ITE (Institute of Transportation Engineers) and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2016-08-01 with total page 1204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A multi-disciplinary approach to transportation planning fundamentals The Transportation Planning Handbook is a comprehensive, practice-oriented reference that presents the fundamental concepts of transportation planning alongside proven techniques. This new fourth edition is more strongly focused on serving the needs of all users, the role of safety in the planning process, and transportation planning in the context of societal concerns, including the development of more sustainable transportation solutions. The content structure has been redesigned with a new format that promotes a more functionally driven multimodal approach to planning, design, and implementation, including guidance toward the latest tools and technology. The material has been updated to reflect the latest changes to major transportation resources such as the HCM, MUTCD, HSM, and more, including the most current ADA accessibility regulations. Transportation planning has historically followed the rational planning model of defining objectives, identifying problems, generating and evaluating alternatives, and developing plans. Planners are increasingly expected to adopt a more multi-disciplinary approach, especially in light of the rising importance of sustainability and environmental concerns. This book presents the fundamentals of transportation planning in a multidisciplinary context, giving readers a practical reference for day-to-day answers. Serve the needs of all users Incorporate safety into the planning process Examine the latest transportation planning software packages Get up to date on the latest standards, recommendations, and codes Developed by The Institute of Transportation Engineers, this book is the culmination of over seventy years of transportation planning solutions, fully updated to reflect the needs of a changing society. For a comprehensive guide with practical answers, The Transportation Planning Handbook is an essential reference.

Download or read book Mastering the Risky Business of Public Private Partnerships in Infrastructure written by Manal Fouad and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2021-05-10 with total page 61 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Investment in infrastructure can be a driving force of the economic recovery in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of shrinking fiscal space. Public-private partnerships (PPP) bring a promise of efficiency when carefully designed and managed, to avoid creating unnecessary fiscal risks. But fiscal illusions prevent an understanding the sources of fiscal risks, which arise in all infrastructure projects, and that in PPPs present specific characteristics that need to be addressed. PPP contracts are also affected by implicit fiscal risks when they are poorly designed, particularly when a government signs a PPP contract for a project with no financial sustainability. This paper reviews the advantages and inconveniences of PPPs, discusses the fiscal illusions affecting them, identifies a diversity of fiscal risks, and presents the essentials of PPP fiscal risk management.

Download or read book Estimating Toll Road Demand and Revenue written by David S. Kriger and published by Transportation Research Board. This book was released on 2006 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Policy on Design Standards interstate System written by and published by Aashto. This book was released on 2005 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book TIP 35 Enhancing Motivation for Change in Substance Use Disorder Treatment Updated 2019 written by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2019-11-19 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Motivation is key to substance use behavior change. Counselors can support clients' movement toward positive changes in their substance use by identifying and enhancing motivation that already exists. Motivational approaches are based on the principles of person-centered counseling. Counselors' use of empathy, not authority and power, is key to enhancing clients' motivation to change. Clients are experts in their own recovery from SUDs. Counselors should engage them in collaborative partnerships. Ambivalence about change is normal. Resistance to change is an expression of ambivalence about change, not a client trait or characteristic. Confrontational approaches increase client resistance and discord in the counseling relationship. Motivational approaches explore ambivalence in a nonjudgmental and compassionate way.

Download or read book Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance written by Mihail C. Roco and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-04-17 with total page 477 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: M. C. Roco and W.S. Bainbridge In the early decades of the 21st century, concentrated efforts can unify science based on the unity of nature, thereby advancing the combination of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and new technologies based in cognitive science. With proper attention to ethical issues and societal needs, converging in human abilities, societal technologies could achieve a tremendous improvement outcomes, the nation's productivity, and the quality of life. This is a broad, cross cutting, emerging and timely opportunity of interest to individuals, society and humanity in the long term. The phrase "convergent technologies" refers to the synergistic combination of four major "NBIC" (nano-bio-info-cogno) provinces of science and technology, each of which is currently progressing at a rapid rate: (a) nanoscience and nanotechnology; (b) biotechnology and biomedicine, including genetic engineering; (c) information technology, including advanced computing and communications; (d) cognitive science, including cognitive neuroscience. Timely and Broad Opportunity. Convergence of diverse technologies is based on material unity at the nanoscale and on technology integration from that scale.

Download or read book Impact of Transport Infrastructure Investment on Regional Development written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2002-05-23 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report describes evaluation methods for transport infrastructure investments to ensure that scarce resources are allocated in a way that maximises their net return to society.