Mood Board

Using our ideas from the brainstorm session we were felt inspired to create the mood board. In that way we can communicate our ideas easier without expanding in a long texts. It can be seen at the following link: Mood Board
If you hover over the pictures with your mouse small explanations can be seen.

A19: Innovating searching

To gather new ideas we did a normal brainstorming session at the beginning of our group meeting. At this session we asked a specific question (“How to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in traffic for Alcoi?”), so the aim was clear and simple since we already know the topic very well. Everybody thought freely about solutions that Alcoi could benefit from. As a next step we cleared the table and everybody proposed their ideas, similar ideas were clustered. Afterwards, when everybody had a good overview, we started a second phase of brainstorming.

As the next method we used “8x8”, because we thought with the eight different categories we are close to our project since we have a lot of different stakeholders or areas that need to be considered. We sorted the ideas we had before into the different categories, some adjustments were to be made to fit the ideas more to their topic. To complete the second phase we made another brainstorming session, but in a group instead of individually like before. Doing that we had at least eight ideas per category. Having a free table with all the ideas on, helps brainstorming a lot because everybody can walk around the table to get a good overview about all the different suggestions.

After taking a break we started our last approach with a fresh mind. Our last approach was much more focused on feasibility. We looked at the ideas already created and tried to combine them in a way that would make a feasible, logical and more developed idea. With the last ideas we created we can work further on and develop them deeper.

Updated idea tree

To update our idea tree we wanted to visualize it differently. We went away from the actual tree and created a classical mind map. We put in some more ideas that we got after insights from the interview with Javier and the articles we read for the assignment 16. Furthermore, we were able to connect some ideas in order to show how  different stakeholders and ideas can co-function.

A17 Mind Map

Please click on the image to enlarge it.

In the mind map there are a lot of information from our articles included, these are there to have a similar depth than the text we wrote. Some of our new ideas are connecting with further content that is why we included so many branches.

The most important branches are the ‘red / pink’ one (Action Plan for Companies / Institutions / Universities) and the ‘violet / pink’ one (Reducing traffic congestions).

The idea of the first one is that we create an (individual) action plan for companies that helps them encourage their employees to switch to a more sustainable commute. This does not only help the organizations with their image but also in further ways that can be seen in the mind map. We learned some measures on how to achieve this in the articles we researched and added further ones.

 

The branch about congestions was a big topic of multiple articles we read as well. It shows learnings and ideas on how to let the traffic flow more freely to reduce emissions and also on how to reduce traffic or prefer more sustainable options, like buses and bikes. Most relevant points here were: Firstly, that emissions are actually lower and more efficient when the speed is around 50 km/h or more and secondly, reducing traffic by promoting alternatives.

Assignment 16: Researching the assignment

One of the articles we found, talks only very briefly about our project assignment. It is an interview of the British physicist Laurie Winkless and her findings for her Book ‘Science and the City’. She researched various topics which define the design of a city. Traffic being one of them, she discovered that scientists look at it like tiny particles moving around under differently defined rules. They are doing this to understand what it takes to reach a state of free flow traffic in the city. Free flow traffic means a system of traffic lights, where most of the participants, preferably everyone, has green lights for most or all of the time of his or her travels. This would make traffic much cleaner, since no energy is wasted in the many accelerations and brakes at intersections. Unfortunately this theory is so mathematically complex that it can not be implemented.

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/maxvorstadt-stadt-plant-gruene-welle-fuer-radfahrer-1.295518

As the chart below from accessmagazine.org shows, there is a big drop of fuel consumption over speed. Most of the measuring points are in the area between 60 and 80 miles per hour [mph] (96 -130 km/h). The drop starts at 20 mph (32 km/h), meaning that the fuel consumption is higher due to a less efficient burning process, which shows that a lot of speed 30 zones might be counter productive. This, obviously, means that free flow traffic should be promoted and congestions avoided. For our project this means it could be helpful for example to close a certain street for cars and completely open it to pedestrians and additionally improve the traffic flow on another side.

http://www.accessmagazine.org/articles/fall-2009/traffic-congestion-greenhouse-gases/

What can be interesting from this topic for us is: using the idea of free flow traffic at least for some parts of traffic participants. This can bring us into a dilemma since there are two different options on how to handle it. On the one hand it seems obvious to favour sustainable ways of travelling, like bikes, walking or busses, to promote their usage, on the other hand more emissions can be saved, at least in the short term, if the fossil fueled cars would take advantage of ‘more free flow’. The last options seems very counterintuitive though. A nice possibility for us could it be to let bikes get a quicker green light with contact loops in the ground which recognize their arrival at the intersection. The same would work for bus lanes, it is a very complicated system to implement, but it works efficiently and is very convenient and appreciated if people realize it actually works in their favour. In Utrecht this works extremely well.

The second paper we found is issued by the International Society of Sustainability Professionals and includes three chapters of sustainable transition in the transportation sector, which accounts to a worldwide average of 15% of greenhouse gases. In the beginning it shows the three different stages that a person usually goes through when changing from a car based travelling to a more sustainable way. The first stage is using public transportation sometimes for certain trips. The second one is searching for faster alternatives like getting to the train by bike instead of waiting for the bus. As soon as they reached this point, people will use their bike more often to get their groceries or go to the doctor. We could benefit from these stages to understand better how to change behaviours.

The first chapter mentions certain ways of what to consider when creating a car sharing service and showing the advantages of this service. The text advises mainly companies and institutions on how they could use car sharing as a way for their workers to stay mobile for the company and also privately. The most important aspects mentioned were that the existence of the car sharing system has to be public and that there are more convenient parking spots for the users than from individual drivers. 40% of the customers of the US-based company zipcar seem to give up one of their cars in the household or decided not to buy a new one.

 

http://blogs-images.forbes.com/amywestervelt/files/2011/08/Blue_bstation.jpg

‘Facilitate vehicle sharing’ is the topic of the second chapter. It gives suggestions that are intuitive but nice to see that they are based on research. Again there are suggestions mainly for companies and municipalities like incentives (e.g. subsidized bus passes & carpool parking places) and disincentives (e.g. parking fees & reducing parking spaces). Since biking is still the most sustainable way of quick transport it should be as encouraged as public transportation. Furthermore, the text proposed another interesting concept, in which employees could earn two hours of free time per month if they come to work in a sustainable way. The testing phase of this project based in the state of Washington / USA showed that the productivity is not going down, proving the efficiency of this project. This is a very good and new concept for us to think about, it could get a lot attention and awareness to our ultimate target.

http://www.nu.nl/binnenland/3877918/bouw-grootste-fietsenstalling-wereld-van-start-in-utrecht.html

The last transportation chapter is about ‘Encouraging alternative transportations’. Important thoughts about biking is making it safe while riding (e.g. put bike lanes between sidewalks and parked cars & having one continuous bike lane without interruptions) and the convenience after the trips (e.g. bike racks and lockers). One innovative idea, we already learned about in Utrecht, are facilities with showers for people who bike to their job. The municipality in Utrecht has those in their office which makes bike rides much more convenient, because nobody wants to be sweaty the entire day. This can be easily combined with a sustainability makeover for companies together with the two hour work reduction.

The last article we would like to talk about a study which researched the question ‘What does a one-month free bus ticket do to habitual drivers?’. The study was done with students as the target group. 43 students had to answer a questionnaire in the beginning and the end of the study with the aim to investigate if a temporal structural change would change the behavior in a long term. Attitudes toward, habits of, and frequency of using automobile and bus were measured. The tested group was divided into two groups, one got a free bus pass for a month and the other did not as a control group. The result, being that the frequency of bus use increased, shows that many people are just too lazy to try the supposedly less convenient option of public transport. They must have realized that it either is not that inconvenient or simply much cheaper, or both. The results suggest that a temporary structural change, such as offering auto drivers a temporary free bus ticket, may be an important travel demand management tool for converting automotive travel demand to public-transport travel demand. This gives hope that we, as a group, could come up with a similar action for Alcoi and maybe find a local sponsor for free tickets for students or young adults.

Sources:

https://www.inverse.com/article/25128-laurie-winkless-science-of-cities-urban-planning

http://www.accessmagazine.org/articles/fall-2009/traffic-congestion-greenhouse-gases/

https://www.sustainabilityprofessionals.org/files/Cool%20Trends.pdf

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1021234607980

(The paper from the last website is unfortunately only accessible as a student or teacher from the HAW Hamburg via the network from the university, there is a abstract available at the link above.)

Assignment 11: Analysing the information (Interview summary)

Since the course started, we had two interviews and a brief get-together with our Spanish client. The first interview, was at the end of September via Skype with the client. In mid-October, we had a brief meeting with the Spanish delegation at the University updating them on the current status. Just recently, at the end of November, we had an interview with Javier Orozco, lecturer at the UPV at our University Campus to prepare for the following two weeks, in which we will work on different tasks for the project. As our assignment demanded the last interview was recorded and provided on Moodle and the blog.

The first interview was very interesting for us, since we got first real information about our project and especially the place of our operation, Alcoy. For this interview, we prepared a few questions about the project. What has been done already? We found out that there are already some technical solutions, but a consistent strategy is needed. Our focus should be on finding social solutions, rather than technical ones. “Be creative!” was the request.

Further restrictions and a concrete budget were not available at that moment. Obviously, it should be something feasible and if possible including business partners for funding.

Overall, we got a first good impression of the current situation and what will be expected of us.

While working on the assignments, more questions came up. We wanted to address them face to face and took the chance while Javier was visiting Utrecht for his lecture on Life Cycle Analysis.

Firstly, we wanted to know Javier’s opinion about where he sees the highest potential in CO₂ reduction. He told us that he thinks that the highest potential is in changing the habits of the people. We could achieve that by making better behaviour more attractive for example. In the current situation, the people in Spain are using the cars for everything, also for short distances. Alcoy is an old city with small streets and an unsatisfying public transport system. So, there is potential in improving the public transport, for example by making it more economic and increasing its frequency and connections. Nevertheless, there is no sense in providing an expensive service without it being used. The bigger problem might be people seeing cars as status symbols. It will be hard to change the mind of people and to convince them to use public transport. We should start with students and young people to change their minds.

An approach could be targeting students first, so that their parents can learn from them afterwards. Students usually have a limited budget and are therefore more likely to use public transport when it is more economic. Introducing electric cars would just be semi sustainable, because the current origin of the energy is not renewable.

The only benefit would be, that no direct carbon dioxide emission would be emitted in the city. Anyway, electric vehicles could also be used for energy storage e.g. in the municipality fleet.

The next question was about his opinion on the carbon tax. Javier was much in favour of this measure, thinking that this might be the only way to make people understand. If there was a tax on greenhouse gas emissions, people would start to worry about it. It should not be like a punishment and a further load though. The taxes could be cut down in a different area in return.

The following question was not clear to answer as being dependent on many details. It asks whether it is better to replace old inefficient cars or exploiting their entire life cycle. There are at least two controversial perspectives. Considering the emissions, a replacement could be reasonable but looking at the resources it might be better to “consume” it. Anyway, it will be difficult to determine the clear threshold when a car is old and there is a need of replacement. In any case the consumer’s behaviour needs to be included.

In our first interview, we spoke about the traffic data, which Alcoy started to record recently, but at this moment they seem not to be available yet.

For the question, which kind of energy will be dominant in the future and which one is the most sustainable, he talked about hydrogen. Javier said it would be the best solution, even if the storage is complicated. A combination with other energy carriers could be a possibility e.g. fuel cells and hydrogen.

Finally, we talked about the target group we should address. In Javier's opinion, students might be the proper ones, not having their minds set too much and having a great impact on their families and friends. So, the best way to change the behaviour might be through the education channel.

After this interview, we are quite satisfied with our insights and opinions we could gather from a specialist and got inspired to further ideas. We are looking forward to work on the project full time.