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Speed development at freeway curves based on high frequency floating car data
Get PDFRoad designers need to have insights where deceleration and acceleration are expected related to the position of the curve, and in in which amount so that drivers are able to safely decelerate and accelerate respectively into and out of a freeway curve. For this, empirical speed data is needed. Therefore, Floating Car Data in 153 curves in The Netherlands were collected at a resolution of 1 Hz and were filtered on free-flow periods, to analyse over 800 thousand unique continuous free-flow speed observations on these curves. Regression models were developed to predict speed development, including deceleration and acceleration behaviour upon entering and exiting freeway curves. The models rely on easy to generate geometric design variables, including the start and end position of the horizontal curve, the horizontal radius and the number of lanes. Using these variables, the designer can predict the speed development based on the 85th percentile of speed and acceleration, relative to the position of the curve. The regression models reveal strong goodness-of-fit of the predicted 85th percentiles of speed in a curve, showing acceleration and deceleration inside the curve, and higher predicted 85th percentile speeds than the design speeds. The models also show satisfying results in speed development prediction in sets of consecutive curves with different characteristics, as well as deceleration when entering a first curve and acceleration when exiting a last curve. These insights are valuable in evaluating road design in relation to traffic safety based on its predicted use
Modeling the impact of the River Information Services Directive on the Performance of inland navigation in the ARA Rhine Region
Get PDFRiver Information Services (RIS) are harmonized digital services that support safety, transport and traffic management in the inland navigation. RIS refer mainly to four key technologies such as Vessel Tracking and Tracing (VTT) with onboard Inland Automatic Identification System transponders (Inland AIS), Electronic Reporting International (ERI), Notices to Skipper (NtS) and Inland Electronic Chart Display and Information System (Inland ECDIS). These key technologies were developed during the nineties and received in Europe a regulatory framework through the Directive EC/2005/44 (the RIS-Directive). In 2009, most EU Member States had implemented the Directive. One of the claimed benefits of the implementation of RIS relates to a growing performance of inland navigation. In this paper, the impact of RIS on the performance of inland navigation is analyzed via a structural break cointegration approach, followed by an Error Correction Model (ECM) estimation. The empirical analysis shows that the performance of the dry bulk market is highly dynamic, while the liquid bulk market is moderately responsive to shocks. The structural break analysis could not capture any effect of the Directive on the performance of both markets, which can be attributed to several factors, such as the difficulty to isolate the policy impact, other drivers of variation, interferences of other policies and changes at the demand side
Consumer preferences for parcel delivery methods: The potential of parcel locker use in the Netherlands
Get PDFIn the Netherlands, as in many other densely populated countries, home delivery is the dominant way of delivering online ordered parcels. This is mainly because big retail companies offer this delivery option for free. Due to the expansion of e-commerce, home delivery that typically makes use of diesel vans puts increasing pressure on logistics service providers, their employees, traffic, and the environment. Increased use of service points or parcel lockers could relieve some of this pressure, but these delivery alternatives are barely used by Dutch consumers. The goal of this paper is to better understand how consumers can be stimulated to use pick-up points and in particular parcel lockers. To achieve this goal, a stated choice experiment was conducted among Dutch e-commerce consumers, in which they made choices between home delivery, service point, and parcel locker alternatives that systematically varied in costs, delivery moment, and distance. The application of the model to predict choices under a number of scenarios makes clear that even a small increase in home delivery costs together with an expansion of parcel lockers that decreases the distance to the parcel lockers, could severely reduce the choice for home delivery: home delivery is predicted to reduce from 71% to only 7%. This suggests that there is potential for breaking through the dominance of home delivery
Estimating the Influence of Sea Level Rise and Climate Change on Coastal Defences in Western Taiwan
No full textSituated in the Western Pacific Ocean, Taiwan is frequently affected by powerful typhoons. The present research evaluates the storm surges that could take place along the western coastline of Taiwan, and the design water level that will likely be required by coastal structures in the course of the 21st century to protect coastal settlements. To do so, the intensity of a given case study typhoon (Soudelor, which caused great damage to Taiwan in 2015) that could affect the target case study area (Yunlin county) was modified by taking into account climate change and sea level rise (SLR), by changing the sea surface temperature (SST), atmospheric air temperature (AAT), and relative humidity (RH) in an ensemble of 14 GCMs in CMIP5 according to RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, targeting the year 2041~2060 and 2081~2100 time horizons. The Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF-ARW) and the Unstructured Finite Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM) were utilized to simulate the typhoons and storm surges. The hindcasting of the historical typhoon showed good agreement with the observed data provided by the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) in Taiwan, and the simulations under future climate change scenarios forecasted an increase in typhoon intensity, especially the maximum wind speed. However, the storm surge simulations indicated a limited increase in storm surge height, and even a decrease when considering also SLR. Nevertheless, the estimated maximum water level, including both effect of SLR and future storm surge height, can increase up to 3.53 m and 3.84 m relative to mean sea level at the tidal stations in Yunlin and Chiayi County, respectively. The results showed that storm surges in the study area, characterized by a shallow bathymetry with many sandbars and land reclamation projects, are highly influenced by the change in water depth due to SLR and tidal changes, and the existence of the Central Mountain Range, which can greatly affect the accuracy of the simulated typhoon wind fields.
 
Rehistoricizing the Nile Waters Agreement, 1948–1963 The view from the British Colonial Office and its afterlife
Get PDFThis article examines the final years of colonialism and the establishment of independent government in East Africa, particularly Uganda. It finds that the British broke from the Nile Wa- ters Agreement by not only ceasing to recognize it but by also circumventing the process for ensuring treaty compliance. They did so on behalf of foreign investors seeking irrigation water. Furthermore, this article shows why the colonial government in Uganda integrated the proposal to flood Lake Albert – which would displace many Ugandans – into discussions about the treaty. The government based this decision on Cold War politics, the personal biases of its advisers and technocratic designs for resettling the region. To contextualize the lack of scholarly analysis re- garding these issues, this article examines how former colonial officials became diplomats, then scholars, who downplayed their treaty breakage and their roles supporting the proposal to flood Lake Albert. Providing further context for the lack of analysis regarding Uganda, it shows how the independent Ugandan government navigated the ambiguous situation that the British left. It also finds that scholars have reproduced the Lake Albert proposal without considering its local signifi- cance. I conclude that although the colonial breakage from the Nile Waters Agreement left the in- dependent governments with no relationship to it, the present role of the Ugandan government in Nile governance is part of a resurgence of foreign investments in East Africa. Outsider control of Lake Victoria is becoming entrenched even as the influence of the Nile Waters Agreement wanes
Mary McLeod in conversation with Salomon Frausto and Leá-Catherine Szacka
No full textIn February 1989, architectural historian and theorist Mary McLeod published her now seminal essay entitled ‘Architecture and Politics in the Reagan Era: From Postmodernism to Deconstructivism’ in Assemblage 8. In the essay, she examined the relationship between architecture and politics in the 1980s, a time of unprecedented change. The following conversation discusses the circumstances under which the essay was originally written and offers her reflections thirty years later to think about the relationship between architecture and populism today
What is Populism?
Get PDFThe editorial introduction to this issue of Footprint questions the complex concept of populism, explaining how, in recent debates, it has more and more often been related to architectural issues. Partly based on the analysis of political philosopher and historian Jan-Werner Müller, our understanding of the term reaches to both ends of the political spectrum. Yet rather than simply aiming to provide a clear definition of populism, this editorial sheds more light on a debated concept, showing its multi-facetted aspects in relation to space and aesthetics. Through the categories of media, politics and aesthetics, this introduction also shows the logical progression between the different pieces included in the issue. Acknowledging the complex nature of the word populism is essential for the understanding of the variety of takes included in this issue
Brownfield redevelopment: Towards a comprehensive approach: French and Russian experience.
Get PDFBrownfield redevelopment is one of the major issues many developed cities have faced in the last decades. This type of urban action often requires its own operating models and regulations due to the complexity of land use, larger geographical scale as well as environmental challenges. To understand the specifics of the problem we take a comparative look at brownfield redevelopment in Russian and French cities
Evaluating the Impact of the Community Planning Association of Canada in the Post-War Revival of Canadian Planning
Get PDFThe Community Planning Association of Canada (CPAC) played a key role in advocating for the re-establishment of planning in Canada. The CPAC was remarkably effective, with broad popular support with thousands of citizen members in the late 1950s. The CPAC educated the public about the purpose of community planning and encouraged public participation at local and regional scales across Canada from 1946 until the Association collapsed in 1979. We believe that 1944 to 1947 period was a critical juncture establishing planned suburban development in Canada as a path-dependent process with tremendous momentum into the 21st century. During this period, the federal government set post-war reconstruction objectives, and both Central (now Canada) Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and the CPAC were formed. It is still yet to be determined whether the formation of the CMHC or CPAC was the critical juncture. Using a historical-institutional approach, the role of CMHC and the influence of the CPAC is examined. An analysis of key events, actors, and themes, relying on extensive archival material from 1944-64, demonstrates that the CPAC gave tremendous push along the path dependent process of suburbanization in post-war Canada
Regenerating Namaacha: History, resiliency, and sustainable urban development of a secondary town in the Maputo Province, Mozambique
Get PDFThe paper presents a study about Namaacha, a small town in the eastern part of the Maputo Province (Mozambique) bordering South Africa and eSwatini, a rich area in terms of natural, built, and cultural heritage, but subjected to a series of socio-economic and environmental fragilities. Research conducted in the framework of the project "Boa_Ma_Nhã, Maputo!" (Polisocial Award 2018) based at Politecnico di Milano allowed to unfold the urban history of Namaacha, to study past and present planning tools, and to investigate the main challenges and potentialities for social, economic, and territorial development of the town, which regard specifically its agro-ecological and food systems, as well as its built and natural heritage. The paper presents the attempt to reconceptualise and set in synergy existing value assets as resiliency drivers, with the aim of leveraging local development through contextually sensitive planning and governance tools in the shape of guidelines, strategic scenarios, and pilot projects. The case-study aims at testing methodologies to approach – in a context-sensitive, and historically-aware perspective – the sustainable regeneration of built and landscape heritage in fragile socio-economic conditions in the Global South. 
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