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SMART catalyzes and collaborates in multi-disciplinary research that spurs and enhances implementation of sustainable transportation systems in communities and regions around the world. It concentrates on integrative approaches, new conceptual frameworks, new business models, and policies that support accessibility, livable cities, environmental sustainability, and social equity as well as New Mobility industry development and job creation. SMART is currently evolving a multi-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder, international collaborative research network linking elements related to its five areas of special focus and its on-the ground projects.

If you are interested in collaborating with SMART partners on integrative sustainable transportation research, contact Sue Zielinski at susanz@umich.edu. SMART is also developing a research agenda for sustainable transportation. See the SMART blog to weigh in with your wisdom on what should constitute the research agenda for the next generation of sustainable transportation in an urbanizing world.

Current Research Underway includes but is not limited to:

Catalyzing the New Mobility In Cities. The research component of this Rockefeller Foundation-supported project focuses on new business models for New Mobility solutions worldwide, with an emphasis on India, South Africa, Brazil, and the Philippines, and a special stream related to serving the needs of the urban poor. As part of this project, a new award called “MobiPrize” has been created to profile entrepreneurs and their ventures that contribute to New Mobility solutions. The full cohort of applicants to the prize form the foundation of a listing or register of New Mobility ventures, supporting knowledge-gathering on New Mobility trends, as well as providing a platform for profiling emerging innovations (products, services, technologies) and developing online B to B networks that support New Mobility business development. A component of this project also collaborates with the Ateneo School of Government (ASOG) in Manila Philiippines to map and pilot integrated New Mobility solutions and examine opportunities through this process to serve the transportation needs of Manila’s urban poor.

Until October 2012 SMART will engage in a range of activities that will culminate in a final search report responding to the following key learning questions:

Overall, the work will aim to:

a. Convene grantees and stakeholders to identify how business models have helped in achieving short term impacts and learn about what platforms are necessary to help disseminate learnings about models

New Mobility Solutions in Detroit and Beijing Regions

The Alcoa Foundation has provided support for SMART in developing and applying practical solutions to the challenges of sustainable transportation in the Detroit and Beijing regions. SMART is now part of Alcoa Foundation’s $4 million Advancing Sustainability Research: Innovative Partnerships for Actionable Solutions initiative that funds 10 global sustainability research projects in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Russia and the United States.

The project marries knowledge and action on sustainable transportation and related sustainable economic development in two cities that are vastly different and yet face challenges and opportunities that might offer wider lessons for advancing sustainable transportation in other regions and communities around the world.

The projected outcomes of the SMART initiative are to:

Mobilize a diverse partnership base required to collectively describe, develop and apply practical and integrated solutions. Uncover new data and conceptual frameworks: technical, behavioral, economic and policy-focused. Pilot innovations, enhancements and communications approaches that will improve transportation connectivity and sustainability in the Beijing and Detroit regions.

In addition to SMART, the Advancing Sustainability Research: Innovative Partnerships for Actionable Solutions initiative includes other partners in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Europe and Russia working on solutions related to Wetlands, Life Cycle Assessment, Voluntary Emissions Reduction and NGO Participation, Energy and Environmental Economics, Lightweight Materials and Design, and more. Over the course of two years, partners will create and leverage this sustainability research, as well as provide opportunities to develop and share solutions worldwide. For more information about Alcoa Foundation, go to: www.alcoa.com/foundation.

Hub Network Research Project in Tyson’s Corner / Fairfax

SMART has been working with Nelson Nygaard on an Analysis of the Development and Implementation of Multimodal Transportation Hubs in Tysons Corner, VA. This is part of the Metropolitan Washington Council Of Governments (MWCOG) Transportation/Land-Use Connection program and offers an opportunity to bring the concept of New Mobility Hubs to Tysons Corner as a means of fulfilling the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan. SMART is providing conceptual frameworks, case studies, and broader learning from the SMART Living Lab collaborations around the world, as well as applied methodologies for collaboratively mapping the existing New Mobility Grid and identifying and implementing future hub and grid enhancements

PROJETO MASSUR – Mobilidad e Accessibilidade Sustenaveis em Saude Urbana: Pesquisa e Transformacao em Transporte. FAJ (Faculdade Jaguariuna)

SMART is working with lead researchers and students from Jaguariuna-based FAJ University who have established a New Mobility research effort in collaboration with SMART. Focused on Jaguariuna, Santa Barbara d’Oueste, and Conchall (all near Sao Paulo) its purpose is to study current transportation practices and to advance and innovate opportunities for implementation of sustainable transportation systems that will contribute to greater livability and public health in those communities. Principal Investigator Professor Ana Maria Sperandio presented preliminary work at the recent International 10thInternational Conference on Urban Health in Belo Horizonte Brazil.

Objectives

Collaborate with the development process of Healthy Public Policy through the SMART Project, providing education, research and extension in the regions where the research will be performed.
Define search fields and carry out socio-demographic surveys of the cities involved in the research;
Identify through bibliographic research innovative ideas in the area of transport that are being developed or implemented in the national territory (Brazil);
Develop an assessment tool that allows identification of needs related to mobility, accessibility of the cities involved in the project;
Identify and develop an integrated network pilot;
Partnerships with stakeholders such as community, private sector, entrepreneurs, municipal government, institutions, etc…
Mobilize and create student awareness on the theme of sustainable mobility and accessibility.
Create impact in the national context in the area of the Future of Transportation in Brazil

New Mobility, Public Health, and Human Rights. This Ford Motor Company-support research explores the links between innovative transport and IT solutions and serving the health and accessibility needs of all transport users.

Metropolitan Accessibility and Transportation Sustainability: Comparative Indicators for Policy Reform. Jonathan Levine, Joseph Grengs, Carl Simon (University of Michigan SMART / CARSS), Qing Shen (University of Maryland). Supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the University of Michigan Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute (GESI), the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Highway Administration Office of Acquisition and Management, and M-CASTL (the Michigan Center for Advancing Safe Transportation throughout the Lifespan) (2006 – 2009).... read more

Urban Transportation in a Carbon-Constrained World --- Consumer Response to a Knowledge-Based Multi-Modal Transportation System. David Chock, Richard Gonzalez, Peter Sweatman, Sue Zielinski. This study seeks to understand how an integrated real-time multi-modal transportation and information system would impact consumers’ choices (in different road transportation and travel miles contexts) in selected cities, and explores business opportunities enabled by a seamlessly integrated knowledge-based multi-modal mobility system in those same cities. This study has recently received support from the Alcoa Foundation for work in Beijing, from the University of Michigan MMPEI PISET program for a Post Doc, and from the University of Michigan Graham Institute for an Integrated Assessment related to policy implications in West Coast Cities including Los Angeles, Pasadena, San Francisco, and Portland. Watch the SMART blog for updates.

New Mobility Industry Development

SMART’s New Mobility industry development research has been undertaken with the support of a range of partners in particular the Ford Motor Company, but also the Rockefeller Foundation, the Alcoa Foundation, the Erb Institute at the University of Michigan, and in collaboration with the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Georgia Institute of Technology, the Illinois Institute of Design, the Confederation of Indian Industry, the Prince of Wales Business and Environment Program, the Cambridge Program for Industry, and a range of business leaders, public officials, and community and non-governmental groups in India, South Africa, and now parts of the U.S.

It focuses on opportunities, conditions, and implications related to New Mobility industry development, an area that is to date relatively unexplored. Primarily related to SMART’s pilot projects (Living Labs), research concentrates on new business models, strategic alliances for cross-sectoral industry development, marketing New Mobility (in relation to values and aspirations associated with transportation choices), and policy implications and directions for New Mobility industry and employment development.

Completed Research and Related Publication includes:

Connecting (and Transforming) the Future of Transportation: A Brief and Practical PRIMER for Implementing Sustainable Door- to-Door Transportation Systems in Communities and Regions. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/69252. This is a primer outlining the process SMART takes collaboratively with partner Living Labs in communities and regions around the world. The primer is based on mapping and implementation experience and analysis in partner communities.

National Academy of Sciences and TRB Scan on the Future of Transportation 30 – 50 years out
SMART joined RSG and Spy Pond Partners in a scan to identify scientific or technological advances having implications for state DOT’s 30 – 50 years in the future. The research identifies opportunities for agencies to be proactive in how they monitor and respond to pending social, economic, environmental, and technological factors affecting various plausible scenarios. The goals of the scan were to 1) anticipate future issues that may be approaching so that transportation agencies are better prepared to respond to new and emerging challenges and 2) explore visions of what the future should look like, so that transportation agencies can help shape the future through their decision making. The report is available at: http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=2934

The Future of Cities, Information, and Inclusion

Over the next decade, cities will continue to grow larger and more rapidly. At the same time, new technologies will unlock massive streams of data about cities and their residents. As these forces collide, they will turn every city into a unique civic laboratory—a place where technology is adapted in novel ways to meet local needs. SMART advised on this ten-year forecast map, The Future of Cities, Information, and Inclusion, which charts the important intersections between urbanization and digitalization that will shape this global urban experiment, and the key tensions that will arise.

The explosive growth of cities is an economic opportunity with the potential to lift billions out of poverty. Yet the speed of change and lack of pro-poor foresight has led to a swarm of urban problems—poor housing conditions, inadequate education and health care, and racial and ethnic inequalities. The coming decade holds an opportunity to harness information to improve government services, alleviate poverty and inequality, and empower the poor. Key uncertainties are coming into view:

What economic opportunities will urban information provide to excluded groups?
What new exclusions might arise from new kinds of data about the city and its citizens?
How will communities leverage urban information to improve service delivery, transparency, and citizen engagement?

As information technology spreads beyond the desktop into every corner of citizens’ lives, it will provide a new set of tools for poor and excluded groups to re-engineer their relationship with government, the built environment, and each other.

Funded by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, IFTF has identified this challenge—harnessing data for development and inclusion—as a critical cross-sectoral urban issue for the next decade and beyond.

For more information on this study, see http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/news/publications/future-cities-information-inclusion and http://www.iftf.org/inclusion..

Luoma, Juha, Michael Sivak and Susan Zielinski. (2010) The Future of Personal Transportation in Megacities of the World. UMTRI-2010-2.
This study examined the future of personal transportation in megacities of the world. Of particular interest was the future role of personal vehicles. To span ranges of geographical, political, and economic factors, the following 15 megacities were included in the analysis: Chicago, New York, London, Moscow, Paris, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Bangalore, Calcutta, Delhi, Mumbai, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. The current and future values of the following factors were considered: population, wealth, level of motorization, public transportation, and modal split. Also discussed were selected urban transportation plans and strategies. Based on the analysis, projections through 2025 were made for each megacity for changes in ownership of personal vehicles; distance traveled by personal vehicle within inner core, for commuting, and for leisure; and for number of road fatalities. The projections were based on treating the different transportation modes as independent and exclusive options. However, there is growing implementation and use of new mobility networks—integrated networks that provide a variety of connected and IT-enhanced transportation options door-to-door. Although such networks are expected to reduce reliance on personal vehicles, the magnitude and nature of this effect remain to be ascertained.

New Mobility: The Next Generation of Sustainable Urban Transportation. Published in the Bridge, Magazine of the National Academy of Engineering and reprinted in the magazine of the Australian National Academy of Engineers. http://www.nae.edu/nae/bridgecom.nsf/weblinks/MKEZ-6WHPJK?OpenDocument . Susan Zielinski (University of Michigan SMART / CARSS).

Emerging Private Sector Roles in Urban Transport: Case Study of an Innovative Telecom-GIS Solution in Bangalore. Journal of Urban Technology (Vol 18, NO. 3, July 2011, 67-80). The article examines the role of public-private innovation in the development of the Bangalore Transport Information System (BTIS). BTIS is a successful example of new institutional arrangements that integrate perspectives, needs, and tools developed in all sectors of society to address the increasing complexity of transportation problems in Indian cities facing rapid socioeconomic transformation. The lessons learned in the Bangalore case have been applied to other cities in India and have potential for other countries. To access the article, go to http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10630732.2011.615568. Ashwin Mahesh (Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore), Susan Zielinski (University of Michigan SMART/ CARSS), Moira Zellner (University of Illinois at Chicago), M.N. Reddi (Bangalore Traffic Police, Deepak Mehrotra (Mobility Business, Bharti Airtel).

Levine, Jonathan, and Lawrence Frank. (2007) Transportation and Land-Use Preferences and Residents’ Neighborhood Choices: The Sufficiency of Compact Development on the Atlanta Region. Forthcoming, Transportation.

Levine, Jonathan, Aseem Inam and Gwo-Wei Torng. (2005) A Choice-Based Rationale for Land-Use and Transportation Alternatives: Evidence from Boston and Atlanta. Journal of Planning Education and Research 24(3):317-330.

Levine, Jonathan. (2006) Zoned Out: Regulation, Markets, and Choices in Transportation and Metropolitan Land Use. Washington, D.C.: Resources for the Future Press.

A Strategy for Improved US / EU Collaboration in Transportation Research. Contribution to a collaborative report developed by the TRB / ECTRI Working Group on EU/US Transport Research Co-operation Issues. C. Almeras (ECTRI - France), A Aparicio (CEDEX - Spain), G. Bourgeois, (INRETS, France), O.A. Elrahman (NYDOT, USA), D. Elston (FHWA, USA), M. Fraissard (World Bank, USA), G.A. Giannopoulos (Hellenic Institute of Transport, Greece), J Halkias (FHWA, USA), B Lenz (DLR, Germany), W. Lum (Caltrans, USA), J.P. Medevielle (INRETS, France), M. Meyers (Georgia Tech, USA), M. Micozzi (TRB, USA), J. Munro (FHWA, USA), N. Paulley (TRL, U.K.), C. Pronello (POLITO / COST, Italy), J. Prozzi (Texas University, USA), A. Skarbardonis (U.C. Berkeley / PATH, USA), D. Wurzel (DLR / ECTRI, Germany), S. Zielinski (University of Michigan SMART/CARSS, USA). Link forthcoming upon completion. (2008)

Community Based Building of Integrated, Dynamic Complex Systems Models For Sustainable Fuel Pathways. David Featherman, Thomas Gladwin, Douglas Kelbaugh, Carl Simon, all from the University of Michigan SMART / CARSS program. Supported by the National Science Foundation Human and Social Dynamics (HSD) Program. (2005 – 2008).... read more

Future Research Directions in Sustainable Mobility and Accessibility
In 2008, Krista Gullo researched and prepared a report on future SMART research needs based on interviews with University of Michigan scholars and thought leaders. Read full report. This contributes to our current effort to develop a SMART research agenda. Please visit the SMART blog to scan up to the minute research news, and to contribute your thoughts on what should constitute the research agenda for the future of sustainable transportation in an urbanizing world.