Moving from the central city: features, destinations, causes and consequences of city dwellers' flight

Cities have recently been affected by important changes both as regards their role in general economic growth and their spatial structure. As for the first issue, market globalisation has heightened territorial competition and cities, as places with a concentration of economic activities and workers and potential cradles of innovation, have found a new leading role in determining the future development of the regions and nations they belong to; as for the second issue, improvements in transportation and communication systems have reduced the necessity for proximity, thus leading to a new urban form which has been given many labels (low-density city, scattered city, dispersed city, exploded city, urban sprawl, etc.), but has clearly lost two traditional urban aspects: the territorial concentration of the population and economic activities and the certainty of city boundaries, intended both in physical and administrative terms. The last item is particularly important in territorial contexts, like in Italy, characterised by a large number of small local governments: in fact the spillover of cities from their traditional boundaries has provoked a twofold negative effect, that is, growing difficulties in understanding and in managing urban problems and opportunities. Keeping the described context as a framework, this paper aims to analyse the population movements that affected the chief regional city of Tuscany over a ten-year period (more precisely 1998-2008), in order to deduce their related causes and effects. The model developed was based on microeconomic data and connected the individual characteristics of the people leaving Florence (i.e. age, level of education, family size and composition) to the economic and territorial features of the places of destination (i.e. distance from Florence, real estate prices, social composition and functional mix). This application, based on an ordinarily little used data set, gave statistical evidence to residential choices and some measures of rental effects and search of amenities on urban sprawl. This insight could be reach of political implications. Given the subject-matter, the paper refers both to the literature on causes and patterns of residential mobility and to the one on causes and consequences of urban sprawl.

A Comparison Between Coupled and Decoupled Vehicle Motion Controllers Based on Prediction Models

In this work, a comparative study is carried out with two different predictive controllers that consider the longitudinal jerk and steering rate change as additional parameters, as additional parameters, so that comfort constraints can be included. Furthermore, the approaches are designed so that the effect of longitudinal and lateral motion control coupling can be analyzed. This way, the first controller is a longitudinal and lateral coupled MPC approach based on a kinematic model of the vehicle, while the second is a decoupled strategy based on a triple integrator model based on MPC for the longitudinal control and a double proportional curvature control for the lateral motion control. The control architecture and motion planning are exhaustively explained. The comparative study is carried out using a test vehicle, whose dynamics and low-level controllers have been simulated using the realistic simulation environment Dynacar. The performed tests demonstrate the effectiveness of both approaches in speeds higher than 30 km/h, and demonstrate that the coupled strategy provides better performance than the decoupled one. The relevance of this work relies in the contribution of vehicle motion controllers considering the comfort and its advantage over decoupled alternatives for future implementation in real vehicles.This work has been conducted within the ENABLE-S3 project that has received funding from the ECSEL Joint Undertaking under Grant Agreement No 692455. This work was developed at Tecnalia Research & Innovation facilities supporting this research

Heuristics and Biases in Travel Mode Choice

. This study applies experimental methods to analyze travel mode choice. Two different scenarios are considered. In the first scenario, subjects have to decide whether to commute by car or by metro. Metro costs are fixed, while car costs are uncertain and determined by the joint effect of casual events and traffic congestion. In the second scenario, subjects have to decide whether to travel by car or by bus, both modes in which costs are determined by the combination of chance and congestion. Subjects receive feedback information on the actual travel times of both modes. We find that individuals exhibit a marked preference for cars, are inclined to confirm their first choice and demonstrate travel mode stickiness. We conclude that travel mode choice is subject to heuristics and biases that lead to robust deviations from rational choice.travel mode choice, learning, information, heuristics, cognitive biases.

Architecture of the Past versus Contemporary Design: Postwar Reconstruction as a Reflection on Construction

Reconstruction or re-construction? Post-war reconstruction in the 20th century in Europe was the chance to reflect on therelationship between architecture of the past and contemporary projects, and to bring into the building practice all the theoretical speculations conducted up to that point around the themes past/present, tradition/modernity. The debatewas particularly intense in Germany, where the magnitude of the devastation put technicians and intellectuals in front ofthe problem of the recovery of urban life. At first, the early post-war years were exclusively dedicated to the urgency - among huge financial difficulties - to provide citizens with a roof and minimum standards, as well as to save and rebuild those buildings which, if left in ruins and exposed to the weather, would become inexorably lost. Afterwards the architects, both modernists and traditionalists, were called upon to take a position on the architectural heritage of the past; they had to reflect on techniques, language, traditional forms of the building, considering them according to the altered sensitivity (modern Kunstwollen) of the 20th century. From this point on, different positions developed in Germany around the theme of reconstruction, with two extremes: on the one hand the “retrospective reconstructions” (reproposal of the image of ancient buildings), on the other hand the so-called “interpretative reconstructions” (in this case, the reading and understanding of the ruin becomes the starting point for the new architectural design, also paying attention to the relationship with the urban fabric). Hans Döllgast’s and Joseph Wiedemann’s works in Munich belong to this latter position. In their reconstructions, the ruin is distilled down to its architectural substance and the decoration is reformulated in rigorously simplified shapes. This attitude allows them to bring out the constructive rationality of the building, where tectonic logic becomes architectural language

Moving from the central city: features, destinations, causes and consequences of city dwellers' flight

Cities have recently been affected by important changes both as regards their role in general economic growth and their spatial structure. As for the first issue, market globalisation has heightened territorial competition and cities, as places with a concentration of economic activities and workers and potential cradles of innovation, have found a new leading role in determining the future development of the regions and nations they belong to; as for the second issue, improvements in transportation and communication systems have reduced the necessity for proximity, thus leading to a new urban form which has been given many labels (low-density city, scattered city, dispersed city, exploded city, urban sprawl, etc.), but has clearly lost two traditional urban aspects: the territorial concentration of the population and economic activities and the certainty of city boundaries, intended both in physical and administrative terms. The last item is particularly important in territorial contexts, like in Italy, characterised by a large number of small local governments: in fact the spillover of cities from their traditional boundaries has provoked a twofold negative effect, that is, growing difficulties in understanding and in managing urban problems and opportunities. Keeping the described context as a framework, this paper aims to analyse the population movements that affected the chief regional city of Tuscany over a ten-year period (more precisely 1998-2008), in order to deduce their related causes and effects. The model developed was based on microeconomic data and connected the individual characteristics of the people leaving Florence (i.e. age, level of education, family size and composition) to the economic and territorial features of the places of destination (i.e. distance from Florence, real estate prices, social composition and functional mix). This application, based on an ordinarily little used data set, gave statistical evidence to residential choices and some measures of rental effects and search of amenities on urban sprawl. This insight could be reach of political implications. Given the subject-matter, the paper refers both to the literature on causes and patterns of residential mobility and to the one on causes and consequences of urban sprawl

A Linear Model Predictive Planning Approach for Overtaking Manoeuvres Under Possible Collision Circumstances

Overtaking is one of the most difficult tasks during driving. This manoeuvre demands good skills to accomplish it correctly. In the overtaking considering multiple vehicles (more than a couple) is necessary to understand, predict and coordinate future actions of the other participants. These reasons make it a significant scenario for testing in the connected and automated driving field, with the main goal of predicting safe future states. In this sense, this work presents an overtaking method based on a linear Model Predictive Control (MPC) approach, which considers multiple participants involved in the scenario. This method adapts dynamically the trajectory for the manoeuvre in case of unexpected situations. Some of these changes consider other vehicles coming on the opposite lane or variations on participants' driving decisions. Additionally, the system considers passengers' comfort, the vehicle physical constraints and lateral actions of the vehicle decoupled of the longitudinal ones to simplify the problem.European Commision H2020, (643921), UnCoVerCP

LE REGIONI D’EUROPA TRA IDENTITÀ LOCALI, NUOVE COMUNITÀ E DISPARITÀ TERRITORIAL

Europe today is crossed by a strong demand for autonomy from the territories: on the one hand, to protect the identities of local communities and, on the other, for the growing demand for a wider representation of resident citizens. However, these requests can jeopardize the objectives of balance and integration between parts of the territory and between those who live in them, objectives that have always been at the center of reflection and proposals developed in the context of regional sciences. The recent crisis has heightened instability and widened economic and social gaps not only between regions, but also within the regions themselves. The North-South gaps in Italy have further increased and, in a post-crisis phase, this unstoppable process requires ever greater scientific and policy insights in terms of commitment and intervention capacity. If the economic growth of the past decade had found impetus in expanding the spaces of relationships and exchanges, the responses to the threats brought about by the crisis materialized in the closure of borders and in the defense of local levels of well-being. A particular specification of this theme also concerns the relationships between urban and rural territories and local systems, between plains and mountains as well as mountain areas, . The preface is therefore an acute reflection on issues of urgent relevance for Italy and of great interest for the regional sciences, accepting important scientific and policy challenges

Arquitectura dual-modular para desarrollos y validación de módulos de decisión y control en vehículos automatizados

El avance logrado durante las últimas décadas en los sistemas avanzados de asistencia a la conducción (ADAS, Advanced Driver Assistance System) ha posibilitado mejorar múltiples aspectos en los vehículos comerciales, como por ejemplo la seguridad, robustez de los sistemas, eficiencia energética, detección de peatones, aparcamiento asistido y ayudas a la navegación, entre otros. Algunos desarrollos, como el control lateral y la generación óptima de trayectorias en tiempo real, están en pleno desarrollo. En este trabajo se presenta una arquitectura dual-modular cuyas principales características son su capacidad para integrar y probar nuevos algoritmos de control y decisión (modular), y la posibilidad de llevar a cabo pruebas en entornos simulados y en plataformas reales (dual), reduciendo los tiempos y costes de desarrollo. Con esta arquitectura se han podido probar diferentes técnicas de control y de generación de trayectorias, realizando además simulaciones, y comparando los resultados obtenidos con un vehículo real.ECSEL ENABLE-S3 692455-

Low Speed Longitudinal Control Algorithms for Automated Vehicles in Simulation and Real Platforms

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) acting over throttle and brake are already available in level 2 automated vehicles. In order to increase the level of automation new systems need to be tested in an extensive set of complex scenarios, ensuring safety under all circumstances. Validation of these systems using real vehicles presents important drawbacks: the time needed to drive millions of kilometers, the risk associated with some situations, and the high cost involved. Simulation platforms emerge as a feasible solution.Therefore, robust and reliable virtual environments to test automated driving maneuvers and control techniques are needed. In that sense, this paper presents a use case where three longitudinal low speed control techniques are designed, tuned, and validated using an in-house simulation framework and later applied in a real vehicle. Control algorithms include a classical PID, an adaptive network fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), and a Model Predictive Control (MPC). The simulated dynamics are calculated using a multibody vehicle model. In addition, longitudinal actuators of a Renault Twizy are characterized through empirical tests. A comparative analysis of results between simulated and real platform shows the effectiveness of the proposed framework for designing and validating longitudinal controllers for real automated vehicles.Te authors would like to acknowledge the ESCEL Project ENABLE-S3 (with Grant no. 692455-2) for the support in the development of this work

Urban Motion Planning Framework Based on N-Bézier Curves Considering Comfort and Safety

In last decades, great technology advances have been done related to the automotive sector, especially in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) developed to improve mobility in terms of comfort and safety during driving process; hence, automated driving is presented as an evolution of those systems in the present and upcoming years. The aim of this work is to present a complete framework of motion planning for automated vehicles, considering different constraints with parametric curves for lateral and longitudinal planners. Parametric Bézier curves are used as the core approach for trajectory design in intersections, roundabouts, and lane change maneuvers. Additionally, a speed planner algorithm is presented using the same parametric curve approach, considering comfort and safety. A simulation environment is used for testing the planning method in urban conditions. Finally, tests with the real platform in automated mode have been performed showing goods results.Tis work was partly supported by ECSEL Project ENABLES3 with Grant Agreement no. 692455-2 and the AutoDrive ECSEL Project with Grant Agreement no. 73746