Iderlina Mateo-Babiano

Transport Workers' Perspective on Indigenous Transport and Climate Change Adaptation

This paper explores the potential role of indigenous transport for increasing the adaptive capacity of selected cities in developing Asia. Indigenous transport drivers were surveyed face-to-face in Bandung, Indonesia, and in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to gain an understanding of how transport workers, specifically drivers–operators, characterize transport modes considered as indigenous and perceive their potential role in increasing the adaptive capacity of these cities. The main finding was that indigenous transport modes in the two cities in the case study had evolved to fit a niche market influenced by differing urban scales and divergent demographic and geographic characteristics. Thus, the experiences and the perceptions of transport workers on indigenous transport were highly contextualized in relation to service and route characteristics. Operating conditions for drivers were indicative of the regulatory status of indigenous transport modes in the informal landscape. This analysis contributes to an increased understanding of the role and the operation of indigenous transport modes within the transport system. The analysis also contributes policy-relevant insights to improve an understanding of the potential role of indigenous transport in climate change adaptation, as well as to increase awareness and to anticipate a shift to a more environmentally sustainable transport mode.

Indigeneity of transport in developing cities

ABSTRACT This paper offers an alternative conceptualization of informality within the transport sector. While it shows that informal transport is a far from trivial component of urban economies, it also highlights the sometimes problematic use of informality to homogeneously describe various public transport modes within the Southeast Asian transport landscape. It initially reviews a number of contested assumptions in the informality discourse within the context of public transportation in developing cities. It then proposes the concept of indigenous transport as a potential alternative, arguing that such perspective may better acknowledge and describe the modes local and vernacular qualities as well as its complementary and supplementary functions. For the purposes of this paper, indigenous transport is described to pertain to those modes that respond to local demand, evolved based on local conditions and endemic to local mobility cultures. The indigenous transport framework aims to elucidate the five key characteristics of indigenous transport modes from a transport users perspective. This is supported by an empirical study conducted in three Southeast Asian developing cities of varying geographical scales, namely Baguio (Philippines), Bandung (Indonesia) and Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) to provide evidence that a transport users prism will and can authentically present an alternative version of informality, and assist in painting an overall picture of the role of indigenous transport within the transport system of developing cities.

Planning people–places: A small world network paradigm for masterplanning with people in mind

The research is about planning urban places in a way that is relevant to the changing people–place phenomenon. In particular, the masterplanning of large-scale inner city redevelopment sites are discussed because such places have higher concentrations of people and are where change is most rapid and profound. Complexity theory of cities (CTC) potentially offers an adaptive and resilient masterplanning paradigm for urban change. However, some CTC simulation models of urban change have been criticized because they are devoid of the input of human cognition and perception. This research examines human cognition and perception of place and its role in masterplanning from a tripartite perspective of placemaking: conceived space; perceived space; and adaptive space. The case study area for the research is South Bank, a 42-hectare inner city redevelopment site in Brisbane, Australia.

How is urbanism socially constructed? An examination of Japan’s post stations

Abstract This research explores the spatial and historical origins of urbanism typical during Japan’s Tokugawa period (1603–1868). Urbanism will be shown through three overarching thematic categories: natural features, built form, and the uses and activities of Tōkaidō’s post stations. Post stations (or shukuba) were towns and villages established at regular intervals for the convenience of travellers who often journeyed along the Tōkaidō great road. The intent of the research method is to act as a ‘prism’ to reveal the way of life, seen through the eyes of Ando Hiroshige’s Tōkaidō series of woodblock prints (ukiyo-e or the ‘floating world’). The results of the content analysis reveal the fundamental role of transportation/movement networks in sustaining the social and cultural vitality of the post stations and the alignment of this urban model with Green Urbanism, Transit-Oriented Urbanism and Urban Spectacle theories in contemporary urban design and planning.

Shaping travels and land use with bus rapid transit: a developed city’s visualisation with smartcard and census data

Abstract Transit and land-use integration is regarded as one of the most important means of avoiding or reducing car dependence and urban sprawl, which are thought as major culprits of unsustainability. In developing countries, rail rapid transit could be too expensive to become the predominant component of their respective systems. However, bus rapid transit (BRT) as one of the cheapest forms of mass transit is a better alternative for those countries. In developing countries, BRT has transformed numerous cities such as Curitiba, Brazil; Bogota, Columbia; and Guangzhou, China. Can BRT have the same transformative impacts for cities in developed countries as well? Can the impacts of BRT be visualized using the transit population? Given that few cities in developed countries have BRT and ridership data of BRT are not always available, the above questions have not been well addressed before. To answer these two questions, we analysed smartcard swipes over a five-day weekday period (11–15 March 2013) for Brisbane in Queensland, Australia, and reconstructed trip trajectories of those 255,887 transit riders. We found that BRT serves a significant percentage and number of travellers, thus shaping travel behaviour and ultimately land use – when transit ridership and rate of transit usage are used as indicators. This is a significant achievement in Australia, a country known for its car dependence and urban sprawl.

Pedestrian-friendly design

Walking is more than simply a utilitarian function. It, in fact, characterizes the very essence of human life. Walking offers various economic, environmental, physical, and social benefits at various scales. At the regional level, it plays a critical role in multimodal ...