Projects with participation of members of the institute

DisLog - Resource efficient distribution logistics for urban areas with electric delivery vehicles (2013-2016)

Electric mobility offers new chances to reorganise urban delivery more economic, transport efficient and ecologic. The main barriers for the implementation of electric vehicles in inner cities are the limited range and high acquisition costs.
Up to now the knowledge about electric vehicles with payload in the range 500 kg up to 6500 kg for urban logistics is limited.
The possibilities of electric mobility and its potential advantages in terms of economic, transport and environmental aspects are hardly investigated and tested. Concepts and calculations about an economically reasonable operation of electric vehicles are almost not existing. The goal is not higher but lower cost compared to standard vehicles (based on total costs of ownership TCO).
Funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB)

REMON - Real Time Monitoring of Urban Transport – Solutions for Traffic Management and Urban Development in Hanoi (2012-2015)

Due to its rapid urbanisation and the booming motorisation since the early 1990s, Hanoi suffers severe traffic congestions. The REMON project focuses on transport related emissions and energy consumption in Hanoi, Vietnam. It achieved the following results:

• Pilot of a real-time traffic information system for public (Traffic Viewer, app) and experts (i.a route and intersection monitoring, TPEG), based on GPS data from taxis, buses and smartphones

• In-depth analysis of the traffic situation in Hanoi
• Transport demand model and urban growth model of Hanoi
• Monitoring of land use changes (1970-2014)
• Open source GIS and expert system for geo data management, implemented at Hanoi Urban Planning Institute (HUPI)
• In-depth analysis of national and local policies on climate protection, traffic congestion, transport management and traffic safety
• Strategic recommendations in transport management and urban planning to reduce traffic-related emissions and energy consumption
• Study on transit-oriented development in Hanoi, elaborated in close collaboration between AS&P and Hanoi Urban Planning Institute (HUPI), ready to be further elaborated and implemented by HUPI
• Contribution to Circular of Ministry of Transport for the use of GPS data for public and scientific purposes
• Involvement of PhD and Master students in the project as well as completion of PhD and master theses

The REMON project is a well-adapted, demand-oriented, collaborative research and development project. Developing the real-time traffic information system, the digital street map and the REMON-GIS, the project partners pursue the „high-tech, low cost“-approach. Within the project, the strategic recommendations are as important as the technical developments. The project elaborated sound solutions for Hanoi. The research results are ready to be adapted and developed further for other Vietnamese urban areas.

Sustainable Urban Development in Future Mega Cities – Lessons from Hefei China (2011-2012)

China’s urban population will exceed the number of 900 million in 2030, compared to nearly 600 million in 2008. Rising demands for energy, land as well as mobility in urbanized areas are part of the urbanization process, leading to increasing air pollution, resource depletion and congestion. This research project focuses on integrated urban and transport planning. Although the urban structure of Chinese cities is still influenced by traditional transport means, namely bicycle and walking, motorized transport means are noticeably leaving their mark on the urban structure. Suburbanization and increasing daily travel distances are elements within the urbanization process. Funded by the Robert Bosch Stiftung.

Real Time Monitoring of Urban Transport - Solutions for Transport Management and Urban Planning in Hanoi (Internationale Zusammenarbeit in Bildung und Forschung im Rahmen des „Deutschland-Jahres in Vietnam“) (2010-2011)

Rapid urbanisation and the increasing size of metropolitan regions proof to be serious challenges for urban transport and urban planning. Like many other cities in development countries, Hanoi suffers severe traffic congestion due to its rapid urbanisation and the booming motorisation since the early 1990s. Generally, it is difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of previous policy and planning control.  Therefore, Floating Car Data (FCD) offers new opportunities. Transport and urban planning interventions and projects can be improved with the help of FCD .Remote sensing supports FCD and enables the evaluation of transport networks and land use with high spatial as well partially temporal resolution. Both instruments serve as a basis for developing a sustainable transport and urban planning. The main objective of REMON, which is sponsered by Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), is to establish a bi-national network of science, politics and business.  

In workshops and summer/winter schools in Hanoi and Berlin, more opportunities for cooperations and research activities will be determined.

Opportunities and risks for the introduction of a traffic monitoring system based on Floating Car Data (FCD) in Hanoi, Vietnam (2010-2011)

The aim of the study is to identify the type, scope and potential of a suitable vehicle fleet for a Floating Car Data (FCD) systems.
Furthermore, the economic, administrative and political context in Hanoi and Vietnam will be examined and described. The analysis is relevant for the introduction of a FCD system.  The information is gathered by means of literature review, expert interviews and on-site surveys.

Crossborder Cooperation Practices, ‘Mediascapes’ and Relative (Un)Familiarity in the Finnish-Russian and Finnish-Estonian Contexts (2010-2014)

Funded by the European Science Foundation (EUROCORECODE) and Academy of Finland.

Binnen_Land - Logistical integration of inland vessel and city port: Elements of intelligent transport networks and nodes for freight  (2008-2012)

Funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi), the research project Binnen_Land aims at making inland ports not only an integral part of intelligent transport chains, but also a sustainable part of them. It aims to ensure the functionality of the economy (discharge of road and rail, hinterland connections) and the logistical supply of cities with minimal impact on humans and the enviroment. Doing so, it focusses on preserving port locations, even though long term conditions might change.

OMEGA -  Mega Urban Transport Projects: Lessons for Decision-Makers (2007-2010)

This project critically examines thirty international experiences in the planning, appraisal and evaluation of Mega Urban Transport Projects (MUTPs) and their impacts in the developed world. Its overall aim is to ascertain what constitutes a successful project in the context of a fast changing world in which visions of sustainable development are increasingly coming to the fore as a basis for assessing future development. The project which commenced in October 2006 has set out a core 5-year research programme, and assembled a worldwide network of ten university partners to collaborate on the research. OMEGA is fundet by "Volvo Research and Educational Foundations" (VREF).

METRASYS - Sustainable Mobility for Mega Cities (2008-2013)

The central idea of the project is to develop and implement sustainable mobility concepts for cities and regions with high dynamic growth. Additionally, the scientific objectives of METRASYS is to acquire wide knowledge about energy-efficient structures for the sustainable development of future megacities. The project pursues an interdisciplinary approach and integrated approaches of the spatial planning, transport, engineering and political sciences in order to contribute to the mitigating of global climate change.
METRASYS is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the scientific program "Research for Sustainable Development of the Mega Cities of Tomorrow – Energy and Climate Efficient Structures in Urban Growth Centres".

JuMo - Jung und Mobil (Young and Mobile) (2005-2006)

"Jung und Mobil" combines a number of research projects on youth mobility. In context of this project, the action-spatial behavior and time use of individuals are brought to the fore. For the empirical acquisition of time use and ways, new survey methods and technologies have been used. Therefore, the time is taken by specific developed electronic questionnaires and the paths with the help of satellite positions (GPS). So far, two major empirical studies were conducted. The first study, sponsored by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), investigated the action space and time use of 300 young adults from 11 different secondary schools in Berlin and Brandenburg. In the second study, funded by the European Union (EU) INTERREG IIIA, the individual space-time patterns of about 120 students as function of spatial and social situation were in the foreground. More precisely, the project wants to determine to what extent cross-border interactions play a role in the daily lives of young people in the border region of Poland and Germany. Other projects on these issues are in preparation.