Green Tech Magazine May 2018 en
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A new lab<br />
for urban<br />
living<br />
JOANNEUM RESEARCH expanded its expertise at the beginning of <strong>2018</strong> with<br />
the new research group "Urban Living Lab". Research topics include spatial<br />
design issues as well as the traffic and spatial behaviour of the city's inhabitants.<br />
Francesco Ciari<br />
Head of the research group<br />
“Urban Living Lab”<br />
francesco.ciari@joanneum.at<br />
Urban spaces undergo a continuous process<br />
of conc<strong>en</strong>tration. Energy optimisation,<br />
reduction of emissions, adaptation to climate<br />
change and the restructuring of the<br />
economy and society – caused by changes<br />
in lifestyle and values – are among the curr<strong>en</strong>t<br />
chall<strong>en</strong>ges for a "smart city".<br />
Suburban and rural areas are undergoing<br />
transformation processes that call their<br />
function and structure into question and<br />
require new solutions. This raises increasingly<br />
complex questions of traffic planning<br />
and spatial design.<br />
At the same time, tr<strong>en</strong>ds such as digitisation<br />
and big data, the availability of innovative<br />
traffic technologies – self-driving vehicles<br />
and growing computing power – offer<br />
new solutions that were unthinkable just a<br />
few years ago.<br />
Heav<strong>en</strong> or hell<br />
Topics like these are on the radar in the<br />
"Urban Living Lab". The research unit<br />
complem<strong>en</strong>ts the three existing research<br />
groups with around 30 experts in the Sci<strong>en</strong>ce<br />
Tower in Graz. Francesco Ciari from<br />
Italy, who previously worked at ETH Zurich,<br />
has be<strong>en</strong> recruited to lead the group.<br />
"An obvious question in this respect is how<br />
the introduction of autonomous vehicles<br />
will influ<strong>en</strong>ce mobility behaviour and spatial<br />
organisation in and outside our cities.<br />
People oft<strong>en</strong> talk about 'heav<strong>en</strong> or hell'<br />
sc<strong>en</strong>arios because the introduction of autonomous<br />
vehicles has such revolutionary<br />
pot<strong>en</strong>tial that everything can change.<br />
Careful planning is needed to achieve the<br />
best results and avoid mistakes. This is<br />
what the experts in the Urban Living Lab<br />
group focus on," emphasises Francesco<br />
Ciari.<br />
High pot<strong>en</strong>tial for change<br />
Ciari has transdisciplinary know-how and<br />
many years of experi<strong>en</strong>ce in national and<br />
international projects on sustainable transport<br />
systems. "In the field of mobility, we<br />
are in a phase that promises major changes.<br />
To help shape the future, I dedicate my<br />
many years of experi<strong>en</strong>ce in research to innovative<br />
transport concepts. In Graz I curr<strong>en</strong>tly<br />
see good ideas as well as not so good<br />
habits. Which is precisely why I see great<br />
pot<strong>en</strong>tial for change."<br />
Information<br />
The "Urban Living Lab" which is part of<br />
the LIFE C<strong>en</strong>tre for Climate, Energy and<br />
Society at JOANNEUM RESEARCH offers<br />
methodological expertise in modelling<br />
transport and on questions of urban<br />
space design. New methods are used to<br />
measure and evaluate spatial behaviour,<br />
in particular traffic behaviour.<br />
www.joanneum.at<br />
Photo credits: JOANNEUM RESEARCH, cybrain
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