Professor Monteiro Figueira keynote speaker at ICITE 2018 | IEEE, Singapore

O Prof. Monteiro Figueira was a keynote speaker at Conference ICITE 2018 | IEEE (Singapore, September 2018) presenting his communication IMPROVING WALKABILITY: Strategies for pedestrians

Abstract

Walking as a transportation mode is associated with a number of benefits ranging from:

  • reductions in congestion and emissions levels
  • to improvements in personal health

We all know that that we use those models to focus ONLY on automobile traffic.
What is the legacy timing policies? Applied mainly at intersections we have prioritized vehicular movements, leading to large and sometimes unnecessary delay for pedestrians.
Because pedestrian trips are short, delays at signalized intersections can affect pedestrians disproportionately and are a key factor in pedestrian non-compliance!
So, how to decide on a control strategy?

The choice depends on the operational objectives, with no one solution that fits all scenarios.
Traditional signal timing practices often prioritize vehicular movements at signalized intersections, over other system users.
However, an increase in non-motorized modes especially in urban areas had held to greater consideration of actual operating environment and incorporates the needs of all users.
It is an equation impossible to solve and no one can find an answer to the problem if we do not change priorities and give preference to pedestrians in urban areas.
There is little doubt that autonomous technology will have a major impact on ground transportation. The question is to know how pedestrians can benefit of this progress. Basically we want to make streets and roads safer for all users.

So rather than designing and evaluating based on LOS for vehicles…we should start considering an evaluation system called: Level of Mobility (LOM) for people.
We need to create a good environment to bring people for walking, feeling safe and having fun….
During this presentation we will bring good examples how to attract people to the streets and using walking modes instead of private cars.

ICITE 2018 3rd International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Engineering
Intelligent Transportation Engineering is emerging worldwide to make transportation more efficient, reliable, cleaner and safer. ITE is used in road, water, rail and air transportation to collect information about transportation flows from a multitude of sources and manage them effectively, shifting collective traffic and transportation management paradigms towards end user orientation.

The conference was held in Singapore during September 3-5, 2018. ICITE2018 welcomed articles in the field of Intelligent Transportation Engineering, conveying new developments in theory, analytical and numerical simulation and modeling, experimentation, advanced deployment and case studies, results of laboratory or field operational test.

Professors Maria Rita Pais and Luis Santiago Baptista are the curators of Open House Lisboa 2018

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DAU Professors Maria Rita Pais and Luís Santiago Baptista are the curators of Open House Lisboa 2018, an event organized by Lisboa Triennale of Architectura and EGEAC, taking place this year on 22-23 September.

Open House is an international event which Lisbon joined in 2012 and which takes place in over 35 cities in the whole world.

Open House’s aim is to make known and celebrate the city of Lisbon’s architecture, and, quoting its curators:”we are motivated by the possibility of understanding Lisbon in a large urban scale, through projects, buildings and specific interventions, proposing a reading of the city’s recent transformations, in its several areas and structural axis.

And, finally, through that mapping, highlight the crucial role of architects in the construction of the past, present and future of Lisbon”.

Our congratulations to both Professors on this initiative!