Suchergebnisse

Recent innovations in business models and technology have brought out new mobility systems, including shared and electric micro-mobility. A rapidly expanding strand of literature mirrors the micro-mobility's exponential growth and popularity. While many studies analyze micro-mobility from operations, management and user perspectives, fewer works investigate the micro-mobility and built environment (BE) relationship. This paper systematically reviews the descriptive and empirical studies that investigate this relationship. It analyzes whether, similar to other transportation modes, micro-mobility (e.g., bike-sharing schemes and e-bikes/e-scooters) can potentially influence three BE aspects: urban design, land use, and transportation system. Furthermore, it outlines the recommended changes in the BE to support the micro-mobility and/or enhance the quality of the environment for non-users. This paper investigates the BE and micro-mobility relation at the three levels of node (e.g., the emergence of docking stations and parking stops), link (e.g., the street-level conflicts with walking/cycling/vehicle lanes) and network (e.g., infrastructure network creation and catchment area shifts). In addition, this relation is explored over time, based on the development stage of micro-mobility, the BE aspect (urban design, land use, or transport system), and spatial context (urban or rural). The findings are relevant for urban and transport planners, designers, researchers, policy makers and public authorities. They contribute to a much-needed evidence base for effective design and policy recommendations to accommodate micro-mobility in the BE to achieve a safe and inclusive public space.

The paper develops the concept of a rising invisible majority and explores the interconnections between the political economy context and the changing composition of European society. The concept illustrates how the transition from the Fordist to the neoliberal phase of capitalism is leading to a similar – if differently paced – transformation of the social composition across Europe. The material basis of the 'invisibility' manifests itself in a structural increase of unemployment, labour market precarization, and poverty. 'Invisibility' makes growing segments of the population less likely to participate in the institutions that regulate social life, while mainstream parties and trade unions no longer represent them adequately in the public arena. We suggest this trend will continue, and eventually concern a majority of the population, unless the neoliberal mechanisms of regulation are slowed or reversed. Enriching Polanyi's double movement logic, we hypothesise the existence of feedback effects from this transformation of the social composition to the political economy context that could lead to countermovements. Our reasoning is systematised in an analytical framework, complemented with a historical analysis of the Italian case, and a quantitative measurement of the magnitude of this transformation across 14 European countries.

In the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments had to rely on Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions in their struggle against the spread of the virus. The stringency of the lockdowns differed across space and time as governments had to adjust their strategy dynamically to the country-specific development of the crisis. We examine the effectiveness of lockdowns with a focus on the role of health care based upon both the between and the within-variation of our panel-data. The within-variation over time allows us to control for unobserved heterogeneity through fixed-effects. The results reveal that lockdowns had significant effects on the mortality rates associated with COVID-19. Marginal effects are estimated conditional on the state of the health care system before the crisis. Lockdowns were more efficient in countries with well-supported health care systems. Marginal effects turn insignificant when per capita health expenditure dips below the mean. We can show that both results are driven by economic development. Per capita GDP is highly correlated with public health expenditure but it is not a perfect substitute.