Workforce Development Resources

This paper discusses how urban freight activity can function such that it meets the urban sustainability objectives policy makers are now beginning to implement. It considers: the importance of urban freight transport in maintaining the economic vitality of the city; the negative impacts that it imposes; the concept of urban sustainability and the development of sustainability strategies; and the means and measures by which freight transport could be made more sustainable. It presents results from a project that investigated the current freight transport operations of seven different companies in three urban areas in the UK. The potential operational, financial and environmental effects of four policy measures on these operations are considered.

Increasing traffic load and urban sprawl have created a call for new passenger-only ferry systems in a number of urban areas, notably San Francisco. Urban ferry systems have traditionally been favored by environmental advocacy organizations and progressive land use and transportation planners. Ferry systems can offer a wide range of benefits. However, recent proposals have encountered unanticipated opposition based on perceived problems in these areas. There are also new technologies and other changes that may offer new opportunities and challenges. As a result, modern trends in speeds, propulsion systems and layout of both vessels and terminals may change significantly with the next generation of ferries. Primarily examining the San Francisco Bay Area as a case history in progress, the authors examine how these developments and new concepts of public transit efficiency, emissions, land use and system integration play key roles in the political viability of new ferry service, and how these considerations ultimately reflect back on the vessels themselves by imposing new sets of design constraints. Some short-term solutions are proposed, and long-term predictions for the shape of the mid- 21st Century urban ferry are presented.

Urbanization has been one of the dominant contemporary processes as a growing share of the global population lives in cities. Considering this trend, urban transportation issues are of foremost importance to support the passengers and freight mobility requirements of large urban agglomerations. Transportation in urban areas is highly complex because of the modes involved, the multitude of origins and destinations, and the amount and variety of traffic. Traditionally, the focus of urban transportation has been on passengers as cities were viewed as locations of utmost human interactions with intricate traffic patterns linked to commuting, commercial transactions and leisure/cultural activities. However, cities are also locations of production, consumption and distribution, activities linked to movements of freight. Conceptually, the urban transport system is intricately linked with urban form and spatial structure. Urban transit is an important dimension of mobility, notably in high density areas.