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- Sidewalk infrastructure assessment using a multicriteria methodology for maintenance planningPublication . Sousa, Nuno; Rodrigues, João Coutinho; Jesus, Eduardo NatividadeSidewalks constitute the main guideway for the walking mode of transport and serve as a fundamental infrastructure for personal travel including commuting. This is because practically every motorized trip is preceded or concluded by nonmotorized travel. The assessment of sidewalk performance, in the sense of its suitability for walking, involves consideration of multiple aspects, whose precise treatment requires in turn the use of multicriteria methods to support decisions. This article proposes a multicriteria methodology for this purpose, thus setting the stage for a subsequent agency decision regarding maintenance strategy development. The methodology is based on a set of infrastructure attributes, directly intervenable by these authorities, and uses the ELECTRE TRI method to assign sidewalks under study to performance classes. It is practical to use and can be applied to any city, at any scale. The approach is thoroughly discussed, and demonstrated for a case study comprising several sidewalks in the city of Coimbra, Portugal. The results indicate that a considerable fraction of these sidewalks are in mediocre condition, and the multicriteria classifying methodology readily suggested intervention strategies, effectively aiding in the decision making.
- The potential impact of cycling on urban transport energy and modal share: a GIS-based methodologyPublication . Monteiro, João Pedro Medina; Sousa, Nuno; Jesus, Eduardo Natividade; Rodrigues, João CoutinhoThis article presents a methodology to estimate the maximum potential impact of a well- built and conserved cycling infrastructure, measured as modal share for accessibility trips, as well as the associated transport energy that can be saved in those trips. The methodology uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to estimate active trip probabilities, from which the output variables can be obtained. It was applied to a case study of a mid-sized city in Southern Europe, and results show that an adequate cycling infrastructure can achieve cycling mode share in that city on par with the world’s most cycling-friendly cities. Concerning transport energy, a full-cycling scenario is estimated to reduce fossil energy intensity by approximately 20%, mainly by inducing a mode change for residents on the closest outskirts. It is also argued that cycling investment in commuting routes will have the most impact on reducing fossil transport energy.
- Design of evacuation plans for densely urbanised city centresPublication . Rodrigues, João Coutinho; Sousa, Nuno; Jesus, Eduardo NatividadeThe high population density and tightly packed nature of some city centres make emergency planning for these urban spaces especially important, given the potential for human loss in case of disaster. Historic and recent events have made emergency service planners particularly conscious of the need for preparing evacuation plans in advance. This paper discusses a methodological approach for assisting decision-makers in designing urban evacuation plans. The approach aims at quickly and safely moving the population away from the danger zone into shelters. The plans include determining the number and location of rescue facilities, as well as the paths that people should take from their building to their assigned shelter in case of an occurrence requiring evacuation. The approach is thus of the location–allocation–routing type, through the existing streets network, and takes into account the trade-offs among different aspects of evacuation actions that inevitably come up during the planning stage. All the steps of the procedure are discussed and systematised, along with computational and practical implementation issues, in the context of a case study – the design of evacuation plans for the historical centre of an old European city.
- Benchmarking city layouts: a methodological approach and an accessibility comparison between a real city and the garden cityPublication . Monteiro, João Pedro Medina; Sousa, Nuno; Jesus, Eduardo Natividade; Rodrigues, João CoutinhoThis article presents a comparative accessibility study between a real city and its redraft as a Garden City. The benchmarking methodology involves defining and evaluating a location-based accessibility indicator in a GIS environment for the city of Coimbra, Portugal, and for the same city laid out as a Garden City, with the same number of inhabitants, jobs, and similar number of urban facilities. The results are derived as maps and weighted average distances per inhabitant to the facilities and jobs, and show that, for the Garden City, average distances drop to around 500 m for urban facilities and 1500 m for the combination of facilities and jobs, making much of the city accessible by walking and practically the whole of it accessible by cycling, with positive impact on transport sustainability and accessibility equity. The methodology can be extended to other benchmarking indicators and city layouts, and the quantitative results it yields make a valuable contribution to the debate on the ideal layout of cities. Moreover, it gives directions on how to improve real cities to address current and future sustainability concerns.
- Avaliação da acessibilidade aos parques urbanos de Coimbra para três modos de transportePublication . Pais, Filipe; Sousa, Nuno; Rodrigues, João Coutinho; Jesus, Eduardo NatividadeOs parques urbanos são um dos principais equipamentos de lazer, com impacte benéfico na qualidade de vida dos habitantes das cidades. Nesta pesquisa apresenta-se um estudo de acessibilidade aos parques urbanos da cidade de Coimbra, Portugal. Foi considerado o tipo de entrada nestes espaços: ponto, múltiplos pontos ou poligonal contínuo, e três modos de transporte: pedonal, bicicleta e automóvel. A acessibilidade foi calculada de acordo com a definição clássica de acessibilidade como desutilidade e função da impedância entre origens (pontos na malha urbana) e destinos (entradas nos parques). A função de impedância escolhida foi a log-logística e os cálculos foram efetuados no sistema de informação geográfica ArcGIS. Os resultados, apresentados sob a forma de mapas de probabilidade de realização da viagem por cada um dos modos considerados, revelam que apenas as zonas mais centrais da cidade estão bem servidas pelos modos ativos.
- A case study driven integrated methodology to support sustainable urban regeneration planning and managementPublication . Jesus, Eduardo Natividade; Almeida, Arminda; Sousa, Nuno; Coutinho, JoãoUrban regeneration involves the integrated redevelopment of urban deprived areas, covering physical, socio-economic and environmental aspects of cities, and it is concerned with interventions on early/inner-ring suburbs and historic centers, which are under pressure from population growth and sustainable development policies. The planning and management of urban regeneration interventions usually depend on the city and regional context. Although these interventions involve multiple issues and stakeholders, common characteristics can be identified, thus appealing for a holistic vision and coordination among the various dimensions of the problem. Based on the above context, and on the experience from a large-scale urban regeneration project, this article introduces an integrated methodology to support the planning and management of urban regeneration interventions. The methodology proposes a flexible baseline that can be adapted to urban regeneration projects of different contexts and dimensions, and defines steps, the corresponding stakeholders, and the teams’ engagement, in an integrated framework to plan and oversee urban regeneration actions towards more sustainable and resilient interventions.
- Filling in the spaces: compactifying cities towards accessibility and active transportPublication . Monteiro, João Pedro Medina; Para, Marvin; Sousa, Nuno; Jesus, Eduardo Natividade; Ostorero, Carlo; Rodrigues, João CoutinhoCompactification of cities, i.e., the opposite of urban sprawl, has been increasingly presented in the literature as a possible solution to reduce the carbon footprint and promote the sustainability of current urban environments. Compact environments have higher concentrations of interaction opportunities, smaller distances to them, and the potential for increased active mode shares, leading to less transport-related energy consumption and associated emissions. This article presents a GIS- based quantitative methodology to estimate on how much can be gained in that respect if vacant spaces within a city were urbanized, according to the municipal master plan, using four indicators: accessibility, active modal share, transport energy consumption, and a 15-minute city analysis. The methodology is applied to a case study, in which the city of Coimbra, Portugal, and a compact version of itself are compared. Results show the compact layout improves all indicators, with averages per inhabitant improving by 20% to 92%, depending on the scenario assumed for cycling, and is more equitable.
- Metodologia multicritério para avaliação da adequabilidade da infraestrutura viária urbana à bicicletaPublication . Monteiro, João Pedro Medina; Sousa, Nuno; Rodrigues, João Coutinho; Jesus, Eduardo NatividadeA bicicleta é um modo de transporte promissor para a mobilidade em contexto urbano devido aos seus múltiplos benefícios, por comparação com os transportes motorizados. Para além de ser um modo de transporte competitivo para distâncias até 5 km e livre de emissões, tem também benefícios para a saúde do utilizador e custos sócioeconómicos e infraestruturais reduzidos. Apresenta-se neste trabalho uma metodologia de análise multicritério para avaliar a adequação da rede viária pré-existente à circulação de bicicletas, focada essencialmente em aspetos de conforto e segurança, e tendo em vista o subsequente melhoramento das condições de ciclabilidade. A metodologia é aplicada a um caso de estudo, a zona central da cidade de Coimbra, Portugal, e os resultados mostram uma baixa adequabilidade geral da rede viária e consequente necessidade de intervenções de fundo para se conseguir um maior recurso a este modo ativo.
- Sistema de informação e apoio à decisão para projetos de regeneração urbana baseado em tecnologia SIGPublication . Jesus, Eduardo Natividade; Rodrigues, João Coutinho; Sousa, NunoA Regeneração Urbana (RU) é um problema atual e importante, fundamental para a gestão das cidades, proteção do ambiente e melhoria das condições de vida. Deixou de ser ape- nas uma área de pesquisa para se tornar parte integrante das novas políticas urbanas e de habitação. A Regeneração Urbana diz respeito não só à reabilitação de múltiplos edifícios, mas também à requalificação das infraestruturas urbanas e de serviços. A regeneração ur- bana envolve assim decisões complexas, fruto das múltiplas dimensões do problema que incluem, entre outros, critérios técnicos de engenharia, preocupações com a segurança, custos financeiros, socioeconómicos e ambientais, etc. A natureza multidimensional da regeneração urbana e a dimensão dos investimentos que lhe estão associados justificam o desenvolvimento e utilização das mais recentes tecnologias e metodologias de apoio à decisão, de modo a apoiar e ajudar os agentes de decisão (AD) na obtenção de melhores e mais sustentadas soluções. Apresenta-se um Sistema Web de Apoio à Decisão Espacial (web-SADE), desenvolvido para auxiliar os AD na análise do problema e na definição de estratégias e prioridades de intervenção de RU. Integra um módulo de gestão de base de dados, um Sistema de Informação Geográfica (SIG), uma base de métodos de análise multicritério, e um interface humano-computador adequado. É ainda apresentado um exemplo da aplicação do web-SADE, num contexto real (Projeto de Renovação Urbana da Baixa de Coimbra).
- Walking to public transport: rethinking catchment areas considering topography and surrogate buffersPublication . Pais, Filipe; Sousa, Nuno; Monteiro, João Pedro Medina ; Rodrigues, João Coutinho; Jesus, Eduardo NatividadeService, or catchment areas of public transport stops are traditionally assessed using Euclidean or network distances, often neglecting other relevant factors such as topography. This study proposes a refined approach that integrates network-based accessibility with terrain variations and the effect they have on walking time and on the physical effort required for pedestrian movement. Using geographic information systems-based analysis that include walking time and walking energy cost models, the impact of topography on accessibility to public transport is evaluated in a case study of the hilly city of Coimbra, Portugal. Results show that, as compared to their flat counterparts, network distance-based service areas that consider hilliness, exhibit a decrease in accessibility of circa 10% in terms of area covered and population affected. These findings highlight the need for more realistic accessibility assessments to support more realistic and equitable public transport planning. Because extensive network datasets are not always available to decision-makers, this article also introduces the concept of surrogate buffers as a practical alternative for obtaining catchment areas, summarized by the “0.7/0.6R rule”.
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