Workforce Development Resources

In medium and large cities, the delivery of goods represents a significant contribution to the problems of congestion, lack of parking, pollution and energy consumption. The characteristics of this type of transport are also very different from passenger mobility, even though they are often assimilated, due to the lack of specific tools for estimation and analysis, and also of indicators to evaluate improvements in the systems of urban goods distribution. In this work, we start by developing a systematic model to estimate the transport of goods in a city, according to the particularities of its supply and demand. This model can then be used to determine with a high level of detail the contribution of the delivery of goods to the ecological footprint of the city, thus proposed as the key indicator of the efficiency of this type of transport. The work is applied to the city of Seville, in Spain.

Freight transport in urban areas is not as efficient as it could be. Since freight transport has a large proportion of emissions from traffic, this is an area that needs to be addressed by all actors involved. Freight transport has in recent years gained a more important role in urban planning in large cities in Europe. However, the medium and small cities also need to address the problem in the decision making process. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how Swedish small and medium sized cities deal with urban freight transport and to frame the problem of urban freight transport planning from a local authority perspective. Interviews with and questionnaires to decision makers are the basis for the evaluation of the possibilities for countering the challenge. City logistic schemes implemented in a large city are not always suitable for a smaller city and maybe not even for another city of the same size. The contribution of this paper is two-fold. A process planning model is presented based on the results, which is a practical tool for local authority decision makers in their planning process, but it is also a theoretical contribution, valuable for future research in urban freight transport planning studies.

With the increasing amount of traffic information collected through floating car data, it is highly desirable to find meaningful
traffic patterns such as congestion patterns from the accumulated massive historical dataset. It is however challenging due to
the huge size of the dataset and the complexity and dynamics of traffic phenomena. A novel floating car data analysis method
based on data cube for congestion pattern exploration is proposed in this paper. This method is different from traditional
methods that depend only on numerical statistics of traffic data. The view of the event or spatial-temporal progress is adapted
to model and measure traffic congestions. According to a multi-dimensional analysis framework, the traffic congestion event
is first identified based on spatial-temporal related relationship of slow-speed road segment. Then, it is aggregated by a cluster
style to get the traffic pattern on a different level of detail of spatial-temporal dimension. Aggregated location, time period and
duration time for recurrent and important congestions are used to represent the congestion pattern. We evaluate our methods
using a historical traffic dataset collected from about 12000 taxi-based floating cars for one week in a large urban area.
Results show that the method can effectively identify and summarize the congestion pattern with efficient computation and
reduced storage cost.

The Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP), implemented by the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in 2006, was an unprecedented effort to reduce air pollution emissions associated with port operations. We conduct a case study to understand why the ports developed the CAAP, how it was structured, and how it affected stakeholder relations. We identify those with the most influence in the international trade supply chain - 'dominant actors' - and hypothesize that they are the key participants in the CAAP development process and are least likely to be the subject of costly requirements or changes in operations. We find that the CAAP led to a restructuring of stakeholder relations, with new alliances formed between the ports and regulatory agencies and old alliances strained by what was perceived as a closed process utilized to develop the plan and as a lack of consideration of industry borne costs.

Carriers face serious challenges in making their urban freight transport efficient and sustainable. Local authorities claim that many carriers are not innovative and do not cooperate in improving their city logistics operations. There are three solution directions to make urban freight transport more efficient and more sustainable: policy, technology and logistics. Carriers can use logistical and technical solutions. In this paper several best practices and carrier initiatives are presented that are actually brought in practice (in the Netherlands) to improve city logistics. It depends on the type of carrier, either a regional or functional specialist or a generalist, which solution can be effectively used in the urban freight transport operations.

Paper describes a summer program in Northern California designed to educate high school students about transportation issues and how to deal with and solve these issues. Student's learning included diesel emission effects, traffic light timing, and pedestrian friendliness.

The EU recognizes that urban transport plays a fundamental role in meeting the objectives of economic competitiveness, social cohesion and sustainable growth. In accordance with the subsidiarity principle, the EU is supporting local governments in tackling mobility issues which form common patterns across Europe.
Demand for passenger and freight transport is constantly increasing in cities and towns, contributing to congestion, pollution, and traffic accidents. Combating congestion is a common challenge for governments and transport authorities in all EU Member States. According to the EU, putting current mobility trends on a sustainable path requires a total rethink of urban mobility.
Local decision makers need to deliver sustainable and integrated transport policies that optimize the use of all transport modes in the urban network for both passengers and goods. The challenge is to respond to citizens' requirements for accessible, reliable, and safe transport. Meeting these challenges requires forward looking policies that incorporate innovative measures to meet pressing societal challenges and environmental constraints.
EU-funded research on urban transport is directed to supporting local decision makers in delivering sustainable and integrated policies and offering smart and green solutions. Fundamental research is backed by demonstration projects and pioneering initiatives to accelerate market take-up in cities and towns in Europe and elsewhere.
An essential element is sharing innovative solutions among local authorities and thus the exchange of research results and best practices is incorporated in research programs.

This book is designed to ensure competency among potential and in-service vocational instructors pursuing a program of personal and professional development.