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This paper explores the predominantly male-dominated aviation sector and highlights the benefits of increasing female representation. The key objectives are to analyze the gender pay gap, assess the current gender imbalance, and explore how addressing these issues could contribute to the sector's sustainability and operational success. A combined quantitative and qualitative methodology is employed, including scenario-building based on monetary indicators and achievements from other industries where female workforce participation has been enhanced. The results demonstrate that closing the gender pay gap and boosting female participation in air transport operations, in line with supranational recommendations, can lead to significant financial gains and operational improvements. The study concludes that promoting gender equity is not only a social imperative but also a crucial factor for achieving sustainability goals within aviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the integration of novel Transportation Ecology principles into transit operations, aiming to address the environmental impacts associated with surface services in urban areas and with the purpose of creating a comprehensive agenda for integrating ecological principles into transit planning and management. The research problem is to quantify the tangible benefits for transit operators, particularly in the context of mitigating wildlife-vehicle collisions and improving overall operational efficiency as a motivator for transit managers to adopt Transportation Ecology principles. The study design, after analyzing the regulatory requirements, implements scenario-based methodology, utilizing data from an average Italian bus fleet to estimate potential monetary savings and benefits. Key parameters, such as maintenance costs, insurance premiums, and collision-related expenses, are analyzed to provide a realistic assessment of the economic advantages of implementing Transportation Ecology measures. The findings reveal that significant cost reductions can be achieved by minimizing accidents involving wildlife, alongside other operational improvements. The scenario demonstrates that even a small fleet, when adopting these principles, can yield substantial financial benefits, thereby making a compelling case for broader implementation. The paper concludes that while the qualitative nature of the analysis necessitates conservative estimates, the results underscore the value of incorporating ecological considerations into transit planning and management. These insights are vital for transit operators and policymakers seeking to balance environmental sustainability with operational profitability and protect urban ecosystems. This also implies the need for a more holistic and interdisciplinary approach to transportation planning and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Urban planning is a key tool to promote health in cities. The COVID-19 emergency accelerated several social, environmental, and digital challenges, stressing the importance of some issues regarding housing, urban mobility, green areas, and health service networks, urban health policies, and actions. These issues were the subject of an intensive residential course (the 57th) held in Erice, Sicily, in June 2021 in the "International School of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine G. D'Alessandro", and the main findings are described here. Methods. Lectures presented the topics, subsequently developed them, and argued them in parallel practical sessions using the World Café technique, since it is well suited for the interaction of participants and the involvement of groups. Results. The World Café provides new insights into how to improve the livability and health of urban spaces, and a set of strategies and actions were proposed for each topic. Discussion and Conclusions. All attendees agreed on the importance of participation in the planning processes, but also on the need for strong political support to ensure the resources needed and a full integration of health with other local policies. A multidisciplinary approach to developing systemic operational capacities and health literacy is considered pivotal to raising awareness and participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for safe pedestrian movement implies subtracting and modifying space dedicated to vehicles, especially in urban areas. Traffic control measures aim to reduce or modify the width of the carriageway and force the correct use of the space by pedestrians through two approaches: the former is hard and includes physical barriers and the latter is soft and induces psychological fashion effects on the drivers. This paper presents vertical and horizontal devices integrated by landscaping, planting, or other similar works to slow motor vehicle speed, narrow traffic lanes, and/or create smaller distances for pedestrian crossings. Mobility and boundary issues are considered to discuss their warrants and potential impacts. Indeed, the effects of speed or volume treatments should be investigated through a comprehensive multicriteria analysis without overlooking pedestrian level of service, access and connectivity to residents and emergency vehicles, drainage and snow issues, loss of on-street parking lots, and environmental goals in terms of noise and emissions to air reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Making all types of public and private transport services available to users through a single and integrated digital platform is the new urban mobility paradigm called Mobility as a Service (MaaS). This scheme allows both a more sustainable urban transportation system and a more efficient transport service for users. For MaaS to be successful, its implementation should adapt to the specific features of the location covered by the service. The city maturity level has to be considered in terms of multimodality, infrastructures, regulations, user goals, and user willingness to use and pay for MaaS services. This paper discusses and analyses the results of a survey on MaaS conducted in three Italian metropolitan areas: Turin, Rome, and Genoa, which have very different and specific characteristics. The comparative analysis enables the definition of drivers, obstacles, and requisites for MaaS implementation to be successful. When it comes to cities with conservative mobility policies or cities that are new to MaaS experiences, resistance to adoption of the service might occur. The results of the research discussed in this paper can be a useful resource to enable decision makers to develop more effective and efficient transportation policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental concerns are behind urban and regional mobility plans, with one of the goals being to manage surface traffic to reduce emissions. Yet, in sensitive areas such as those around airports, the contribution to the emissions generated by air traffic are commonly not considered. The research goal of this paper is to quantify and compare the magnitude of the emissions generated by both air and surface traffic, taking the second airport in Rome as an example, in the awareness that a proper knowledge of the emission phenomena might help steer local transport policies towards more appropriate and sustainable solutions. The paper describes the case study's regulatory and land use frameworks both affecting the current traffic patterns around the airport and the emission generation, along with the methodology adopted to quantify the emission magnitude of both air and surface modes; as a result, air traffic emissions are not even comparable in magnitude to those from surface modes. In light of that, implications for surface transport policies are presented, leading to a revision of current mobility plans, and solutions to minimize emissions during land and take-off operations suggested, although problems for their implementations are acknowledged in the conclusions. All within the additional goal to advance the research further afield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing attention of opinion towards climate change has prompted public authorities to provide plans for the containment of emissions to reduce the environmental impact of human activities. The transport sector is one of the main ones responsible for greenhouse emissions and is under investigation to counter its burdens. Therefore, it is essential to identify a strategy that allows for reducing the environmental impact produced by aircraft on the landing and take-off cycle and its operating costs. In this study, four different taxiing strategies are implemented in an existing Italian airport. The results show advantageous scenarios through single-engine taxiing, reduced taxi time through improved surface traffic management, and onboard systems. On the other hand, operating towing solutions with internal combustion cause excessive production of pollutants, especially HC, CO, NOX, and particulate matter. Finally, towing with an electrically powered external vehicle provides good results for pollutants and the maximum reduction in fuel consumption, but it implies externalities on taxiing time. Compared to the current conditions, the best solutions ensure significant reductions in pollutants throughout the landing and take-off cycle (−3.2% for NOx and −44.2% for HC) and economic savings (−13.4% of fuel consumption). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents the results of the overall design of the first Italian roundabout with jointed plain concrete pavement. The examined case study complies with current international standards and practices for geometry of roundabouts and road pavements. The construction of a concrete pavement in an urban roundabout will better manage and slow down fast vehicular flows, and increase traffic fluidity in an important junction, trafficked by heavy vehicles, where maintenance works should be reduced to avoid queues. The design of the roundabout involved several competences for: defining the geometry of the four-arm junction, designing the thickness of the jointed plain concrete pavement both on the circular crown and the arms, studying the mix design of a high resistance concrete. As regard to the pavement, the result of the study was an un-dowelled concrete pavement composed of square slabs laid on a cement concrete subbase and a granular layer. The shape of the slabs has been designed to optimize the structural performance of their material, which is a high strength concrete mix derived from an extensive laboratory test work. In general, the results summarized approaches typical of different design conditions: urban ones for traffic flow and safety needs; high-traffic ones for the chosen pavement type; airport ones for the absence of dowel and tie bars at the joints. Indeed, the article has highlighted that the design process of a concrete roundabout requires multiple analyses to consider various features and correctly re-design an existing urban junction. Its geometrical design, the structural design of the concrete pavement and the theoretical and experimental design of the concrete mix were the main phases of this process and they needed different competences to conduct comprehensive and appropriate analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The maturity of a city to operate a Mobility as a Service (MaaS) ecosystem has been often analyzed in the literature. This and the consideration that MaaS is mostly found in areas with long-enforced transit-oriented policies and efficient multimodal supply raise the research question of whether it would be possible to operate MaaS in urban areas where mobility management is addressed according, on the contrary, to a conservative approach. A field study developed in Rome as a case in point, aimed at analyzing the actual feasibility of local MaaS operations, indicates that limitations are due to the citizens' low willingness to pay. This is originated by a general underestimation of transit costs and made harsher by the inveterate use of passenger cars as the prevailing modal choice. The paper analyzes the results achieved, collected via a questionnaire, and highlights additional barriers to implement MaaS strictly related to its social acceptance, rather than to its technical viability, as to which the city, instead, is mature. The lesson learnt is that MaaS might be operationally (or technically) feasible even in challenging contexts, like Rome's, but the prerequisite is to create supporting policies, for which a number of actions are outlined and elaborated, with the research goal to advance knowledge in this field, especially for decision-makers and potential stakeholders who might perceive MaaS as a too-demanding option for the context they operate in. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid exit taxiways enhance runway operational capacities by means of reducing the runway occupancy times of aircraft. The selection of rapid exit taxiway locations is important to achieve the optimum runway capacity. This paper presents a methodology for locating rapid exits based on excursion risk. Considering the level of severity and frequency of historical runway-related accidents and emerging use of rapid exit taxiways in the future, this study explores the associated veer-off risk at rapid exits. The proposed methodology estimates veer-off risk using three successive steps such as event probability, location probability, and severity estimation. An existing logistic regression model developed for landing overrun probability estimation is adapted for the exit taxiway facility to estimate event probability. Aircraft touchdown speed, deceleration, and runway criticality factor are the important operational parameters of this model adaptation. The aircraft turn path radius and kinetic energy at the time of veer-off are used to estimate the respective location probabilities and accident severities. As the sample analysis proves, the associated veer-off risk increases when the exits are closer to the runway threshold. The paper recommends wider taxiways and larger taxiway radii to compensate for increasing veer risks. The methodology helps for planning risk-based rapid exit taxiways for varying design, operational, and weather conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental concern has become central for many bus companies, but estimating pollutant emissions can be difficult for many reasons (little knowledge or underestimation of the problem; scarce know-how; reluctance to acknowledge the pollutant potential of bus fleets because either of small size or composed by too many old-generation vehicles). To facilitate this task, an integrated, user-friendly model, iGREEN, is presented. The paper describes the methodology for the development of this tool, which is specifically designed to help transit operators in assessing the pollutants emitted by fleets where the amount of old buses is not negligible. This is not a minor issue, given the large number of obsolete vehicles still circulating and the unsuitability of some models when calculating emissions in case of buses with protracted mileage. Results from two case studies are reported and commented, with the final aim to advance knowledge farther afield. This gives rise to a discussion on the relevance of such environmental concerns also in light of the contemporary pandemic which seem to have generated different priorities in the public transport management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The salutogenicity of urban environments is significantly affected by their ergonomics, i.e., by the quality of the interactions between citizens and the elements of the built environment. Measuring and modelling urban ergonomics is thus a key issue to provide urban policy makers with planning solutions to increase the well-being, usability and safety of the urban environment. However, this is a difficult task due to the complexity of the interrelations between the urban environment and human activities. The paper contributes to the definition of a generalized model of urban ergonomics and salutogenicity, focusing on walkability, by discussing the relevant parameters from the large and variegated sets proposed in the literature, by discussing the emerging model structure from a data mining process, by considering the background of the relevant functional dependency already established in the literature, and by providing evidence of the solutions' effectiveness. The methodology is developed for a case study in central Italy, with a focus on the mobility issue, which is a catalyst to generate more salutogenic and sustainable behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Revamping abandoned railways is often associated with leisure functions and non-routine trips. When areas evolve from rural settlements to conurbations with mixed land use and high travel demand, the reuse of no-longer-operational rail services can prove to be appropriate to meet such new requirements. This is the case of an abandoned railway in central Italy, the Sangritana Line, whose rehabilitation could serve a former rural area, now under continuous development. The paper outlines operational features of the new service, starting from the available Sangritana infrastructure, in order to highlight the drivers and barriers associated with the reopening of operations. The goal is to provide scientific corroboration for similar feasibility studies and stress the relevance of rehabilitating railways in urban regeneration processes according to a vision called the Multiple Rs, which associates the new rail supply with the possibility of requalifying several components of the urban environment. To this end, along with the initial description of the status quo and the local constraints, the paper elaborates the methodology adopted for this feasibility study, the main operational findings, with a focus on the potential environmental benefits, and the implications according to the Multiple Rs approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Walking Suitability Index of the Territory–T-WSI is an innovative methodology to assess walkability. Unlike other methods and tools in this field designed to evaluate walkability on given origin-destination paths, T-WSI is conceived for area-wide assessments, typically at the neighborhood level. This can be achieved by visual surveys to collect data, which are easy to perform at street level, their further process via an algorithm, and their aggregation to assess the walking performance levels of the test area. The paper describes such methodology, which includes the development of 12 indicators associated with four main evaluation categories (Practicability, Safety, Urbanity and Appeal), and its application to a case study in a medium-size town in central Italy. Results are described and elaborated to highlight T-WSI's contribution to help decision makers in the urban governance process, typically in the fields of land use, mobility management and maintenance, coherently with the research objective to enlarge the potential of walkability methodologies thus far available up to area-level assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Walking and transit are the backbone of sustainable mobility. Bus stops not only represent the connection between the two, but are also central in dictating the attractiveness of the latter. Accessibility of bus stops becomes, then, pivotal in increasing both attractiveness and sustainability of public transport. The paper describes a multi-step methodology to evaluate bus stops' accessibility starting from a cluster of seven indicators describing objective and subjective features influencing passengers' choice toward a given bus stop. The indicators are weighed by a questionnaire submitted to experts. Finally, a multicriteria analysis is developed to obtain a final score describing univocally the accessibility of each stop. Outcomes are mapped and a case study in Rome is reported as an example, with 231 bus and tram stops assessed accordingly. Results shows the relevance of the urban network and environment in evaluating the accessibility and in promoting more sustainable mobility patterns. Research innovation relies on the possibility to merge data from different fields into a specific GIS map and easily highlight for each bus stop the relationships between built environment, passengers' comfort, and accessibility, with the concluding goal to provide advanced knowledge for further applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]