Appraising the sustainability of infrastructure projects – Discussion Paper 3/2016 published

29 August 2016

The introduction of multidimensional perspectives of sustainability in the appraisal of infrastructure projects is still an unresolved task. The problems are further compounded by the absence of a systematic, formally and commonly accepted method for the proper ex-ante sustainability appraisal of infrastructure projects. Furthermore, decision-making processes have put more emphasis on economic issues and might be politically biased.

Authored by Prof. José Manuel Vassallo and Ms Paola Bueno of the Technical University of Madrid, this STA Discussion Paper proposes a practical and novel approach to accurately appraise the sustainability of infrastructure projects, as it specifically integrates methodologies using the single-criterion and multiple-criteria approach in order to address all aspects of sustainability.

The Paper is available for download here.

Register now for the 2016 STA Technical Roundtable (25 October, Brussels, Belgium)

26 August 2016

The first edition of this one-day event will offer a review of the on-going efforts carried out by the STA community to bring to reality the deployment of Smart Transportation Infrastructures connecting people and businesses across the world.

The Roundtable will take place in the heart of Europe –Brussels, Belgium – on Tuesday, 25 October 2016, and will provide a unique opportunity to engage with practitioners leading and supporting activities improving the methods, technologies and standards associated to transportation infrastructures.

The Programme for the 2016 STA Technical Roundtable is available here.

Register now by email at info@smart-transportation.org. Seats are allocated on a first come, first served basis. Do not miss yours!

STA reaches its first 1000 followers on Twitter!

20 August 2016

STA has reached the milestone of 1,000 followers in Twitter. We look forward to welcoming many more followers in the coming months at @Smart_Transp.

In addition, the monthly journal ‘STA in action’ already accounts for 3,065 subscribers to its English version and 2,811 subscribers to the French one. You can subscribe for free here.

Lastly, the online journal ‘Smart Transportation’ features every month the latest development in support of smarter, resource-efficient and safer transportation infrastructure. You can see the latest edition and subscribe for free here.

NEWS OF INTEREST

Self-driving cars will improve our cities. If they don't ruin them.

Ten years ago I found myself standing outside the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan. I looked out over acres of glinting windshields in a packed parking lot. I’d reached this spot by driving from Ann Arbor on the I-94, where the highway sometimes reaches 12 lanes across, in a little over an hour. Public transit would have taken me three and a half hours. What would Henry Ford think, one hundred years after the birth of the car? Pride or horror?

It took 50 years to transition from the horse to the car. Surely few could have imagined the impact the car would have as it tore through cities, countries, and economies worldwide. Today, average Americans spend almost two of their eight hours at work paying off their car, which they need to get to that job. Last year in the US, more than 38,000 people died and 4.4 million were seriously injured due to motorized transport. Farther afield, in Singapore, 12 percent of the island nation’s scarce land is devoted to car infrastructure. In Delhi, 2.2 million children have irreversible lung damage because of poor air quality.

New EC activity on C-ITS, automation and cities

New working group on ‘C-ITS, Public Transport and Automation in Urban Areas’ set up under the EC’s C-ITS Deployment Platform to meet for first time on 21 September in Brussels

A specific activity dedicated to urban areas is new to the EC’s C-ITS Deploymant Platform, which entered its second phase earlier this year. The objective of the new working group is:

– To identify how to better support the deployment of C-ITS in urban areas

– To explore how automated vehicles can support urban mobility and multi-modality in urban areas, and identify what challenges they could bring

5 Innovative Companies Disrupting the Shipping Industry

Like the automotive industry before it, the shipping industry is beginning to see disrupting trends that are changing industry standards. Leading the way in the disruption are companies with advanced technologies that seek to modernize the shipping space. From tracking containers to overhauling terminals, these companies are finding unique ways to disrupt an industry that has been around for centuries.

Five companies in particular are helping to make shipping innovations lead stories in technology publications, making this once overlooked industry a talking point for innovators around the world. These five companies are definitely the ones to watch as we continue to see this industry change.