Good day my good friend.
Celebrities are catching the heat over their use of private jets. The most notable recent example being Taylor Swift, who has justified it by saying that she didn’t catch all of the 170 flights so far this year. I’m…not sure if that is really the point people were getting at to be honest. When things like this happen, it is incredibly frustrating when people make the effort to try something for bike to work day.
If you have any suggestions for interesting news items or bits of research to include in this newsletter, you can email me.
You should also join a lot of like-minded people at Mobility Camp in Bristol in September. Get your tickets now. Sponsorship slots are also available.
James
Applying Game Theory to transport modelling
Ah, Game Theory. An idea so often quoted, and so often misunderstood, particularly with regards to its limitations as a predictor of the behaviours of rational actors. But it is extremely useful as a theoretical underpinning to predict behaviours for – all else being equal – a base scenario against which to test variances. Including less rational behaviours.
Why is this important? It provides a theoretical underpinning of many approaches to modelling transport impacts and scenario testing. This new research looks at competition between public transport and the private car in urban areas. It has also been applied to how different public transport operators will react to different scenarios, how people change lanes, risk allocation in partnerships, and in measuring network vulnerability. If you understand the theory, you understand the models and their analysis. Its that simple.
Children as the indicator species for high quality urban areas
This article in City Monitor points to a silent crisis: how children’s play areas are being lost. This isn’t just about the loss of playing fields, but how the slow, gradual erosion of public services is leading to play facilities being lost. Yet, the most popular play area for children is still their own street, an environment that we often design in a way that is hostile to them.
We know what needs doing. School Streets. Play Streets. Designing with the needs of children in mind. Engaging them in the design process. We know how to do all of this. We just don’t do it. And if we don’t start doing it, children will increasingly lose the one play area they can rely on – their street.
Random things
These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope that you enjoy them.
Escaped giant tortoise halts Cambridge to Norwich trains (BBC News)
Google: We had to shut down a data center to save it during London’s heatwave (The Register)
British Airways halts Heathrow short-haul ticket sales for seven days (Financial Times)
Social capital II: determinants of economic connectedness (Nature)
Something interesting
Never underestimate the eloquence and persuasiveness of well-placed righteous fury. And Kathryn’s fury about people with disabilities being used to argue for pro-car policies is just that. The thread is worth a read in full.
If you do nothing else today, then do this
Kristen Jeffers (aka the Black Urbanist) has been doing some amazing work for a long time now. And her latest article – Part 1 of a series – of a Black Queer Feminist War on Cars is well worth a read. It provides a much-needed new perspective on the challenges faced in making our cities more liveable.
Mobility Matters 