Reimagining Mobility: Digital innovation and sustainable transport
Enrica Papa
This research project explored the impact of digital technological innovation on our travel behaviour. This research was shaped by the context of the coronavirus lockdown and the unique experiment it imposed of a low-travel future, with the potential of replacing physical meetings with connecting to others via digital technology. However, the research has sought to discuss and imagine the future of mobility more generically: to investigate shocks to the transport system, of which the coronavirus crisis was one, through scenario planning.
Transport Equity in Beijing, China
Mengqiu (Matthew) Cao
The social impacts of transport systems and new transport infrastructure have often been overlooked and under valued, partly because the relationship between transport and social equity is indirect and difficult to quantify. Researchers have usefully investigated the relationship between transport and social exclusion, focusing on aspects such as access to opportunities and activities by different population cohorts such as income, class, age, ethnicity and gender. The analysis has focused on addressing the imbalance in the distributional effects of transport provision, and accessibility planning has often been a central tool of analysis. This research seeks to build on the aforementioned research, employing Amartya Sen’s Capabilities Approach as a theoretical framework to explore how an individual’s capabilities and functionings differ in relation to transport.
Active Travel Academy
Rachel Aldred and Tom Cohen
‘Active travel’ is used increasingly as shorthand for walking and cycling and, though the evidence for the benefits of these forms of travel is now overwhelming, they have tended to receive less attention and funding than they should.
This was the rationale behind setting up the Active Travel Academy which was launched at University of Westminster in September 2019 with the support of the Quintin Hogg Trust. Under the leadership of Professor Rachel Aldred, the Academy combines research, teaching and outreach, all with the aim of increasing access to and understanding of the evidence base relating to active travel.
Below are some of the activities that have taken place at the academy in its first year.