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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.
- Challenges ahead for sustainable cities: an urban form and transport system reviewPublication . Medina Monteiro, João Pedro; Sousa, Nuno; Coutinho-Rodrigues, João; Natividade-Jesus, EduardoThis article reviews the critical issues surrounding the development of sustainable urban environments, focusing on the impact of transport and urban form on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The aim is to provide an overview of the state-of-the-art on the subject and to unravel what directions the literature suggests for sustainable urban planning. Current research and practices are synthesized, highlighting the interdependence of urban design and transportation systems in achieving sustainability goals. Important dimensions and practices of city planning and transport policies are explored, including urban form, urban sprawl, mixed land use, densification and infill, and urban public spaces, and how these directly influence transport dynamics, including modal choices and energy consumption. Innovative approaches in urban planning, such as transit-oriented development, and technological advancements, such as electric mobility, are also examined and their potential roles in sustainable urban transport. The conclusion underscores the urgency of adopting holistic and adaptable strategies to foster sustainable urban environments, calling for concerted efforts from policymakers, urban planners, and communities. Awareness of the conclusions can help municipal decision-makers in planning their cities for a sustainable future. Finally, the authors analyze important directions for future research and practical applications towards developing cities that are environmentally sound, socially equitable, and economically viable.
- 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.
- Do we live where it is pleasant?: correlates of perceived pleasantness with socioeconomic variablesPublication . Monteiro, João Pedro Medina; Carrilho, Ana Clara; Sousa, Nuno; Oliveira, Leise Kelli; Jesus, Eduardo Natividade; Rodrigues, João CoutinhoLiving in urban areas is the wish of many people. However, with population growth in those areas, quality of life has become a concerning element for achieving sustainable cities. Because quality of life is influenced by the built environment, the state of the latter is a fundamental issue for public policies. This research expands on previous research on the perceived pleasantness of built environments by presenting a large-scale case study of the urban layout pleasantness in the central area of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, a typical global south city, and correlating pleasantness scores with socioeconomic factors to understand whether people do in fact live where the urban layout is more pleasant and how pleasantness and socioeconomic factors relate and contribute to one’s choice of living location. A comparison with the city of Coimbra, Portugal, representative of the global north, was also carried out. The findings showed that pleasantness tended to correlate negatively with urban density and positively with income. Possible explanations for these results and their generality are advanced.
- 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.
- Planning cities for pandemics: review of urban and transport planning lessons from COVID-19Publication . Monteiro, João Pedro Medina; Sousa, Nuno; Pais, Filipe; Rodrigues, João Coutinho; Jesus, Eduardo NatividadeFor the past few years, the world has been facing one of the worst pandemics of modern times. The COVID-19 outbreak joined a long list of infectious diseases that turned pandemic, and it will most likely leave scars and change how humans live, plan and manage urban space and its infrastructures. Many fields of science were called into action to mitigate the impacts of this pandemic, including spatial and transport planning. Given the large number of papers recently published in these research areas, it is time to carry out an overview of the knowledge produced, and synthesising, systematising and critically analysing it. This paper aims to review how the urban layout, accessibility and mobility influence the spread of a virus in an urban environment and what solutions exist or have been proposed to create a more effective and less intrusive response to pandemics. This review is split into two avenues of research: spatial planning and transport planning, including the direct and indirect impact on the environment and sustainability.
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