2 1 The innovative transport systems and the CityMobil project 10 1.1 The research questions 10 2 The state of art in the field of automatic transport systems 12 2.1 Case studies and demand studies for innovative transport systems 12 3 The design and implementation of surveys 14 3.1 Definition of experimental design 14 3.2 Questionnaire design and delivery 16 3.3 First analyses on the collected sample 18 4 Calibration of Logit Multionomial demand models 21 4.1 Methodology 21 4.2 Calibration of the “full” model. 22 4.3 Calibration of the “final” model 24 4.4 The demand analysis through the final Multinomial Logit model 25 5 The analysis of interaction between the demand and socioeconomic attributes 31 5.1 Methodology 31 5.2 Application of Mixed Logit models to the demand 31 5.3 Analysis of the interactions between demand and socioeconomic attributes through Mixed Logit models 32 5.4 Mixed Logit model and interaction between age and the demand for the CTS 38 5.5 Demand analysis with Mixed Logit model 39 6 Final analyses and conclusions 45 6.1 Comparison between the results of the analyses 45 6.2 Conclusions 48 6.3 Answers to the research questions and future developments 52

The European commission

Green jobs and energy efficiency as strategies for economic growth and the reduction of environmental impacts

Summary The European beaver ( Castor fiber ) was recently reintroduced to Belgium, after an absence of more than 150 years; around 120 beaver dam systems have been established. In Europe, few studies consider the hydrological effects of those dams, and the spatial scale larger than that of one beaver pond system has not been addressed at all. This research focuses on the hydrological effects of a series of six beaver dams on the Chevral R., a second order tributary of the Ourthe Orientale R. in a forested area of the Ardennes. Thereby, also the Ourthe Orientale sub-basin itself was taken into account, being the area with probably the highest density of beaver dams in Belgium. The main research questions regarded: (1) the extent to which discharge peaks are reduced at the very location and well downstream of beaver dams and (2) the impact of the beaver dams on low flows. The first approach consisted of a temporal analysis of the Ourthe Orientale discharge and precipitation data for the periods 1978–2003 (before) and 2004–2009 (after the establishment of beaver dams in the sub-basin). The second study determined the in situ impact of the beaver dams: discharges were measured (September 2009–March 2010) upstream as well as downstream of the 0.52 ha beaver dam system on the Chevral river, and changes in water level within the system of six dams were monitored. Our findings indicate that there is a significant lowering of discharge peaks in the downstream river reaches due to the effect of the beaver dams. The temporal analysis of the Ourthe Orientale sub-basin shows an increase in the recurrence interval for major floods; for instance, the recurrence interval of a reference flood of 60 m 3  s −1 increased from 3.4 years to 5.6 years since the establishment of the beaver dams. At the scale of the Chevral beaver dams’ site, we measured that the dams top off the peak flows, in addition delaying them by approximately 1 day. There are also increased low flows: Q 355 (i.e. the discharge exceeded 355 days in a year) of the Ourthe Orientale was 0.6 (±0.15) m 3  s −1 before beaver dam installation and 0.88 (±0.52) m 3  s −1 thereafter. These findings agree with studies that suggest natural measures for flood control at the level of small mountain streams instead or in complement of building large anthropogenic constructions. Nevertheless, more studies are needed to assess the effectiveness of beaver dams in flood mitigation at the scale of sub-basins.

Effect of beaver dams on the hydrology of small mountain streams : example from the Chevral River in the Ourthe Orientale basin, Ardennes, Belgium

Beaver (Castor canadensis)

Urban energy systems. Network Industries Quarterly, vol. 14, nos 2 & 3, June 2012 http://newsletter.epfl.ch/mir/newspaper-edition?np_id=46 Urban energy systems face significant challenges in a fast urbanising world and at the same time technological development creates new opportunities for energy production and management in cities. This double issue is the third in the series focusing on urban infrastructures and covers different aspects of urban energy ranging from photovoltaics to smart g...

Urban energy systems

The need for more sustainable cities has become a primary objective of urban strategies. The urgency for a radical transition towards sustainability in a long term-vision has brought with it several new concepts, such as smart urbanism, and models, such as smart city, eco-city, sustainable neighborhood, eco-district, etc. While these terms are fascinating and visionary, they often lack a clear definition both in terms of theoretical insight and empirical evidence. In this light, this contribution aims at defining a conceptual framework through which to further substantiate the blurred concept of eco-district and sustainable neighborhood. It does so by reviewing the concepts of smart urbanism and sustainable neighborhood/eco-districts in the literature, including also references to other well-known sustainability-oriented models of urban development. It then explores whether several indicators, emerging from the analysis of exemplary case studies of sustainable neighborhoods in Europe, can be used to clearly identify the characteristics of a sustainable approach at the district scale. The analysis, built on a review of existing literature, allows for both the clarification of several issues related to these fields of inquiry, as well as for the identification of the potential bridges to link these issues.

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Sustainable Cities: A Reflection on Potentialities and Limits based on Existing Eco-Districts in Europe

The pivotal role that urbanisation plays in global development trajectories is clearly acknowledged by the United Nations 2030 Agenda that, among its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, explicitly argues in favour of cities and human settlements to be more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable (SDG11). Whereas SDG11 targets are paired with one or more indicators to monitor their achievement, in some cases this process is not straightforward. In particular, when it comes to Target 11.a Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning, the identified indicator does not seem able to grasp the complexity of national and regional governance, policy and planning. With the aim to contribute to this concern, the paper conceptually discusses the contents and implications of the SDG11 target 11.a. On this basis, it develops a multi-dimensional set of indicators to assess the quality of spatial governance and planning in a given context, and divides them into three main categories: (i) procedural indicators, (ii) instrumental indicators and (iii) financial indicators. The result of this work is a toolbox that may support decision-makers and policy-makers in assessing the quality of the efforts they put in place to make their cities and territories more sustainable as well as to reflect on what measures and initiatives could make this action more effective. 

Unpacking SDG target 11.a: what is it about and how to measure its progress?

Addressing complex challenges in transformations and planning: A fuzzy spatial multicriteria analysis for identifying suitable locations for urban infrastructures

Decision making in urban development: The application of a hybrid evaluation method for a critical area in the city of Turin (Italy)

As it is well known, in Western countries cities are experiencing negative effects due to decentralization and deindustrialization, that have brought economic crisis and urban decline. In order to contrast such decline, urban regeneration is getting more and more important in the current political agenda. In fact, urban regeneration means not only building-restoration operations, but also programs aiming at eliminating social decline, increasing the quality of life of the inhabitants, supporting the valorization of cultural resources, protecting the environmental system, bringing economic development, and so on. Urban regeneration looks at urban areas as complex and dynamic systems, in which different processes (physical, social, environmental and economic) drive the transition and the generation of important changes. This paper aims to reflect on urban problems and regeneration operations, focusing in particular on the role of evaluation tools for supporting decision-making in this context. Starting from the analysis of a real case study related to a critical area in the city of Turin, the article will propose different evaluation tools able to produce a complete picture of the problem and to define possible long-term visions for the requalification of the site.

Caterina Caprioli

Papers

Sustainable Cities: A Reflection on Potentialities and Limits based on Existing Eco-Districts in Europe

Unpacking SDG target 11.a: what is it about and how to measure its progress?

Addressing complex challenges in transformations and planning: A fuzzy spatial multicriteria analysis for identifying suitable locations for urban infrastructures

Decision making in urban development: The application of a hybrid evaluation method for a critical area in the city of Turin (Italy)

Urban problems and patterns of change: The analysis of a downgraded industrial area in Turin