Eva Ericsson

VARIABILITY IN URBAN DRIVING PATTERNS

Abstract Although it is known that driving patterns strongly affect the emission of pollutants from vehicles, existing empirical knowledge about driving patterns is limited. The first-step in this project was to find relevant parameters for describing driving patterns. These served as a basis for investigating variations in such patterns. An experimental study was carried out to compare driving patterns between and within different street-types, drivers and traffic conditions. Data were analysed using general factorial analysis of variance. Driving patterns showed very significant differences between street type and driver, and these factors had significant impact on all the parameters employed. The effect of street type was generally higher than the driver effect. Average speed and deceleration levels were lower at peak hours compared to off-peak hours. Men had higher acceleration levels than women generally and specially on one street type. The study showed no major differences in average speed for gender except for one street type where men drove faster than women. The knowledge attained in this study may be a step towards a better knowledge of driving patterns and their variation, and may provide possibilities of changing driving patterns and thus exhaust emissions from vehicles. Knowledge about driving patterns is also an essential part in efforts to improve models to calculate emission from traffic in urban environment.

The Role of Decision Support in the Implementation of “Sustainable Transport” Plans

Improved decision support is deemed essential for the planning and implementation of sustainable transport solutions, but limited evidence exists that decision-relevant information is effectively used for these purposes. This paper applies a framework inspired by research in “knowledge utilization” to examine to what extent various kinds of decision support are used and have become influential in three different planning situations—a local cycle plan in Copenhagen, the Stockholm congestion charging trial and the UK national transport strategy. The results reveal the extensive use of decision support but also the difficulty of unpicking its exact role in each case. Stockholm presented the most successful case, with a mix of academic and experience-based knowledge inputs facilitating understanding and acceptance. The cycle plan example revealed very limited influence of cycling design guidance. The UK national transport strategy fell somewhere in between with evidence of assessment and monitoring of the plans being well bedded in the culture of the organizations involved, but less supportive of sustainability objectives. While decision support and monitoring are clearly relevant, they provide no guarantee for the implementation of sustainable transport solutions.

Demands for Intercultural Communicative Competence in Working Life

Experiences of co-operation in higher education between Sweden and Estonia within the framework of European Tempus projects form the basis for a discussion about the need for intercultural communicative competence in working life. Higher education reform in transitional countries is highlighted as part of the efforts to integrate the European education systems into a European higher education area (EHEA). The centralized and indifferent Estonian educational system, typical of the Soviet time, has been restructured, modernized, and democratized, with international co-operation projects playing an important role. The European Tempus Programme offered exchange projects aiming at the introduction of new courses or curriculum revision, university management reforms, as well as links between university as a hub for competence and learning, and public and private organizations. Meanwhile, Estonia has become a full member of the EU (2004), whereas the Tempus Programme continues integrating European countries on the waiting list. Further, 28 neighbouring countries of the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East now have a chance to exchange experiences with academics, experts, and students from 27 EU countries within Tempus projects. Undoubtedly, the extended relations increase the demands for intercultural communicative competence in multi-cultural relations, particularly in working life, where some obstacles are analysed.

Demands for Intercultural Communicative Competence in Working-Life: A Case Study of Swedish Higher Education Co-operation with Baltic Neighbour, Estonia

Central and Eastern European countries have been excluded in the common conception of Europe for a long time. The Swedish author Jonas Gardell recently aptly expressed the author’s own perceptions: ‘these are the countries that we learnt to forget in school’. Twelve countries are today on the waiting list to become full members of the European Union: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Turkey; most of them gained or regained their independence after the Soviet Union dissolution. The association is expected to benefit both the candidate countries and the European Union, and the preparations for membership have been progressed. To facilitate European Union integration, the new countries will be offered a reduction in their contributions during the early years of membership.