Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Systems Innovation: A Student Design Project on Mobility in the Post-Automobile Era
EPA Grant Number: SU832508Title: Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Systems Innovation: A Student Design Project on Mobility in the Post-Automobile Era
Investigators: Cohen, Maurie
Institution: New Jersey Institute of Technology
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Phase: I
Project Period: September 30, 2005 through May 30, 2006
Project Amount: $9,891
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (2005) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: P3 Challenge Area - Sustainable and Healthy Communities , Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Awards , Sustainable and Healthy Communities
Objective:
The emergent field of industrial ecology (IE) has been described as the “science and engineering of sustainability” and the “technological core of sustainability.” Some proponents of IE draw on metaphors from systems ecology and suggest that a design revolution is necessary to stem the production of harmful byproducts at their source and to transform the contemporary system of production and consumption. Because of the scope and scale of its impacts, especially in terms of energy use and landscape appropriation over the past decade, industrial ecologists have devoted a great deal of attention to developing a systems view of automobility. The proposed project assembles a group of graduate students in environmental policy (and related areas) to develop an integrated plan for more sustainable modes of mobility. Students employed management-scanning techniques to assess:
- Findings of recent sustainable mobility research
- Role of alternative-fuel vehicles in launching a system redesign revolution
- Integration of communication and transportation technologies
- Emergence of virtual accessibility and mobility technologies
- Future of telecommuting and other alternative work arrangements
- Sustainability challenges facing several key industrial sectors
- Strategic planning in the automobile industry and elsewhere for a post-automobile era
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
The aim of the Phase I project was to investigate the role of advanced mobility technologies in curtailing the use of private motor vehicles and enabling desirable lifestyles that do not overly exacerbate climate change. Using the urban development program underway in China as a motivational context, the proposed concept plan envisages three major zones (residential, commercial, and industrial) for the planned community of Han Hao City. Each of these districts will be designed to minimize the use of personal cars. The industrial and residential zones will be located in the outer rings of the city, while the commercial zone will be in the city center. Interfaces such as parks will separate residential and industrial zones to prevent interference between conflicting uses.
The operative idea behind the transportation system in Han Hao City is that people will be able to commute between their homes, work places, and any other destination with the least possible dependence on personal vehicles (especially fossil fuel-powered conveyances). Our concept plan for the city’s transportation system is comprised of five principal components: 1) a local transit system, 2) a personal rapid transit (PRT) system, 3) a municipal bus service, 4) an intercity transit system, and 5) a network of intermodal transfer stations. Each component will be codependent on the others and this synergy will make realizable the concepts of eco-city development and sustainable transportation that we foresee for the city. Electric bicycles, electric scooters, human-electric hybrid vehicles, and Segway-type devices are also readily compatible with the concept plan.
To integrate the transportation elements described above into a smoothly functioning system, the Phase I portion of our project utilizes the concept of a hub-and-spoke grid. With the PRT system as the backbone of the city’s transit system, service lines will be arrayed in a series of concentric circles (the hubs), starting with the largest hubs ringing the outskirts of the city and hubs of progressively smaller size forming smaller rings as one moves towards the city center. Intersecting lines (the spokes) will move people either towards or away from the city center itself.
The city center of Han Hao City will be an area where governmental, commercial, and cultural functions are concentrated. A large public square will anchor the center area for people to gather for important civic or cultural events or use as a site for social interaction.
The neighborhoods beyond the city center will be a mix of residential, commercial, and municipal-service structures, and will also include ample parks and open space. Residences will be interspersed throughout the neighborhoods with commercial and municipal structures clustered around the intermodal stations. In this way, some residents will be able to walk or cycle to the stations and from there travel to their places of employment.
Large-scale industrial production or distribution facilities will be on the outskirts of the city proper. Workers in those facilities will utilize the PRT system to access an intermodal station near their workplaces and then transfer to either fuel cell-powered buses or shuttle vans to travel to their places of employment. Production facilities and warehouses in this area will be built with rail sidings to reduce the need for fossil-fueled delivery trucks. Goods destined for Han Hao City from warehouses on the periphery will be shuttled via fuel cell-powered vans and this arrangement will eliminate the need for large trucks in the city proper. In this manner, the pollution, noise, and general disruption of large trucks will not be a source of environmental degradation within Han Hao City.
Journal Articles on this Report : 1 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
Other project views: | All 4 publications | 1 publications in selected types | All 1 journal articles |
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Type | Citation | ||
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Cohen MJ. A social problems framework for the critical appraisal of automobility and sustainable systems innovation. Mobilities 2006;1(1):23-38. |
SU832508 (Final) |
Exit |
Supplemental Keywords:
Car-free planning, sustainable mobility, sustainable transportation, future of mobility, RFA, Scientific Discipline, INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION, TREATMENT/CONTROL, Sustainable Industry/Business, POLLUTION PREVENTION, cleaner production/pollution prevention, Environmental Chemistry, Sustainable Environment, Energy, Technology, Technology for Sustainable Environment, Chemicals Management, Environmental Engineering, energy conservation, waste to fuel conversion, alternative to petroleum diesel fuel, renewable fuel production, emission controls, sustainable transportation, alternative fuel vehicles, industrial ecology, transportation technology, energy efficiency, biodiesel fuel, alternative fuel, biotechnology, ethanol, alternative energy source, environmentally benign alternative, biofuel, green chemistry, renewable energyThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.