are pleased to announce our collaboration with Loughborough University and the Oval Partnership on a Knowledge Transfer Partnership project to develop a predictive pedestrian forecasting tool to enable planning and design services for urban regeneration, master planning and to facilitate community planning engagement.
Isocarp workshop from March 19 to 25 in Kocaeli Turkey.
Georgies Srour participated in the workshop “Change for resilience Resilience for Change” held from March 19th to March 25th in Koaceli, Turkey. The workshop was organized by ISOCARP and kocaeli büyükşehir belediyesi (Kocaeli Municipality). With 25 young professionals coming from different backgrounds, cultures and countries, this workshop was a great opportunity to exchange about urban practice, challenges, and potential solutions.
The site is in the city of Izmit in the Region of Kocaeli, adjacent to a protected wetland zone, an industrial zone and car reseller zones. The existing urban fabric is a hard-landscaped former industrial site , in addition a highway divides the site with the rest of the area, which conveys a violent contrast with the surrounding natural landscape.
To answer these challenges, 5 teams were formed and each of the teams proposed a variety of concepts, from permeability, harmony between humans and nature to social justice. Georgies Srour was part of a multi-disciplinary team that adopted the theme “Memories in Movement, Flowing through spaces”
Memories are often associated with the past, but they are fluid in movement, and in space. Recreating connections between nature, urban spaces and communities is key to let memories and senses flow. This is why and how the concept of memories in movement: flowing through spaces came to life. Three objectives, restoring the ecology, restitching the urban fabric, and celebrating the site’s industrial history came naturally.
One of the key objectives is to create continuous natural spaces, where nature can express itself, where wildlife can move freely is the first intent to be able to restore the ecological memory of the site. Activating the variety of landscapes is the second intent to foster movement between them.
The second key objective is to create opportunities for interactions to create continuous active spaces. This can only be achieved by removing the highway, and replacing a car-centric approach with multi-modal transport planning. Relinking the old city and the new area with public transport, such as an extension of the tramway line will help activate the space.
Finally, reconnecting the history, celebrating the industrial past of the city is the final intent, reconciling inhabitants with their history is essential, so they can also give it a new meaning.
To embody this vision, the memory itinerary was conceived, whereby people can access the site with the tramway. It is envisaged that the site could host a fab lab, so that some production activities are retained within the city. Finally, letting nature retake its space and place is essential, and educational facilities can be designed so that people are more sensitive to the environment surrounding them.
The teams presented their findings at the @Kartepe Zirvesi Summit on March 25th, to the @ kocaeli büyükşehir mayor @Tahir Büyükakın, other city officials, and international urban planners. This type of workshop encourages creativity, and the emergence of bold and radical concepts. Hopefully, the knowledge accumulated during this workshop can be potentially implemented into this and other projects to help us create better cities.
This workshop would not have been successful without ISOCARP, its coordinators and the dedication of Koaceli municipality.
Micromobility is an umbrella term that refers to the growing number of small, often electric powered vehicles such as e-scooters, e-bikes, self-balancing devices and e-skateboards that we are increasingly seeing on our streets. Their wider introduction affects all public and private landowners because micromobility vehicles may be used and/or parked on private land. These vehicles present opportunities and risks for landowners, which can be navigated with some forward planning.
In this article for DAC Beachcroft, Martin Wedderburn, shares his views on the opportunities and risks for landowners and developers presented by this evolving form of transport.
A changing world of data collection
The transport planning profession has always been data-heavy. We rely on local data collection, quantitative evidence, benchmarking and behavioural research.
First-hand experience of data collection is invaluable for future transport planners. It teaches us to always check and question the data we use and its meaning. However, the world of transport data collection is rapidly evolving and, with it, our skill sets must also evolve to understand these new data sources.
The five highest valued companies in the world today are software companies. And we constantly hear of the relative value of technology companies compared to traditional manufacturing and service businesses.
Without actually owning and operating any hotels, AirBnB and Booking.com are both valued higher than any international hotel chain. And without operating any transport services (and without even making a profit), Uber’s valuation is higher than many of the world’s largest vehicle manufacturers.
The business model of the tech intermediary passes the risk of actually operating services and producing goods to third parties. But that business model is also a race, which relies on rapid expansion to gain maximum market share as quickly as possible.
The reward for winning the race to market share is unrivalled insight into the behaviour of consumers – i.e. data – that forms a major part of the value of these companies.
There are many transport planners who end up in the profession and wonder how they got there. But there are also transport planners who chose the profession deliberately.
What inspired me to become a transport planner?
I am one of the latter. And before you ask, I wasn’t obsessed with train sets as a child. I was never taken train-spotting or to a heritage bus rally, and I didn’t even have any family or friends working in transport. But I think I know the reason. I was a child in Scotland in the 1980s. I witnessed the decline of reliable public transport options, and the relatively quiet streets I could cycle on rapidly disappearing under the weight of rapid car growth.
And please continue to support TPS in preparing for Transport Planning Day 2018.
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