ACES stands for Autonomous, Connected, Electric and Shared. Autonomous and connected vehicles are to revolutionise the urban landscape while electric vehicles are helping to decarbonise the transport sector. Moreover, shared use mobility mechanisms can help establish a culture for using mobility resources on a demand basis. Having an ACES transport system provides a socially inclusive, environmentally friendly, safe, cost-effective, integrated and […]
A new journal has been released entitled ‘Locavore’ and it covers a wide range of food-related topics. You can read about food waste initiatives in Rome, the emerging ‘alt– meat’ market, and how climate change threatens to exacerbate economic migration from agricultural regions. It is definitely worth a look here.
In August 2016 a new app based on demand shared ride service ‘Slide’ was launched in Bristol, the first of its kind in the UK. Developed by French Group RATP Dev, customers use an Uber style booking interface to locate a vehicle and pick up point close to their home. The service covers key car commuting routes around Bristol and runs at peak commuting times. If […]
In their recent publication, de Waal and Dignum explore the role of citizens in various conceptions of ‘the smart city’. While the dominant discourse surrounding smart cities has been notably ‘techno–centric and top-down’, there has recently been an observed shift towards a new paradigm of ‘bottom-up’ smart city initiatives, harnessing citizens to create and use smart services. In particular, de […]
Much has been written on driverless cars, but what about driverless boats? Research teams from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions are trying to design and test the world’s first fleet of autonomous boats in the city of Amsterdam. Apart from transporting goods and people, these ‘roboats‘ can create temporary floating bridges and also monitor water quality using environmental sensors. Amsterdam was chosen as the ideal […]
This excellent article by Claire Hoolohan and her colleagues sheds some light on the greenhouse gas emissions associated with our own dietary choices. Applying a life cycle analysis to a range of popular foods, Hoolohan presents different actions that consumers can take to reduce our personal carbon footprint. Becoming a vegetarian may not be for everyone, but choosing to eat chicken or pork instead of beef and lamb can have a significant […]
Waze, the world’s largest navigation app, uses real time crowdsourced traffic data to calculate the most time, and fuel, efficient driving routes for its users. But these data are now having a powerful impact on city infrastructure. In her recent talk, Waze’s Thais Blumenthal de Moraes outlines the Waze Connected Citizens Program. Currently over 250 cities worldwide partake in this free data exchange […]
Potentially disruptive innovations in the home typically involve smart, digital, responsive technologies for managing energy. But structural renovations to make the home more efficient still offer the biggest potential energy savings. New research by the SILCI team explains why homeowners decide to undertake these renovations, with important implications for policymakers.
A number of companies have started constructing large greenhouses on the roofs of buildings to produce food, such as Lufa Farms in Canada or Urban Farmers in the Netherlands. Here is the clever bit; not only do these greenhouses reduce the energy required to heat the building, but the residual heat from the building can be directed into the greenhouse to increase productivity. This is already happening in the Ecco Jȁger ‘integrated greenhouse’ in Switzerland. So your lettuce and tomatoes may […]
New research published in Transport Policy identifies the potential impact of car sharing schemes on car ownership. Based on interviews with 3,405 car sharers in Vancouver the authors find round trip car sharing, where the vehicle is picked up and dropped off in the same place, is an active substitute for car ownership. One way car sharing on the other […]