Disturbance Free Cities 2.0

Even though we know this is not the case, we tend to treat construction projects as a time-limited disruption. "It will get better later when it´s done." This is not true, as cities are constantly evolving.

The fact that construction projects take place without major disturbances is important for the city´s attractiveness and sustainability. "The big challenge is not the construction logistics as such, but rather keeping other traffic in the city going" (Norrköping municipality). Presently Sweden is experiencing urbanization with an increased number of ongoing construction projects.

The increasing number of construction projects is associated with a major environmental impact through the materials used but also through the transports taking place.

These constitute about 10-15% of the entire transport sector´s emissions, or up to 4-5% of Sweden´s total CO2 emissions.

The ordinary traffic load in a city consists of car traffic, public transport, ordinary freight transport, bicycle traffic and pedestrians, but also parking spaces, bus stops, etc. If we then add construction projects 1, 2, 3,…, n then the total traffic volume increases. In addition, with shutdowns and traffic diversions, the capacity of existing infrastructure in the city is reduced.

So; a conflict situation arises during urban construction projects.

The goal of the project is to support urban development by developing a tool that links urban and traffic planning in the city with construction and logistics planning for construction projects in a common visualization used in a collaborative planning process.

The societal problem that the Störningsfri stad 2.0 project addresses relates to both sustainable cities and traffic by contributing to digital community building in practice.

Thus, the project increases sustainability and accessibility for all people who live and work in the city during the construction period as well as increase efficiency in the construction projects by improving the efficiency of the construction transports.

To achieve the goal, different research areas such as construction logistics, urban planning, intelligent transport systems, and interaction design are combined as well as gathering knowledge about stakeholder needs and data to base the analysis on.

By gathering municipalities, the Swedish Transport Administration, construction logistics consultants, public transport and industry organizations, the perspectives of different stakeholders will be included.

A first step in starting to solve the above needs has been taken in the project Störningsfri stad del 1 (2018-2021), which has developed a prototype tool to support collaborative planning of construction traffic and urban planning.

There is still great potential for improvement regarding the tool´s functionality, such as simulation time, basic logistics and traffic data, routing and possible scenarios to test, but already in its current form the tool shows great potential. Above all, it is demanded!

Practically the project will result in the following:A database with construction traffic data and methodologies for estimating construction transport patternsSensors for capturing data on construction transports and their disturbancesA traffic model for estimating the effect of construction traffic in cities and within program areasA collaborative planning processAn audiovisual prototype showing the effects and disruptions of construction transport The results from Störningsfri stad 2.0 contribute to involving various stakeholders in the coordination of transport activities and in connection with various construction projects in the city and can thus contribute to reducing the disturbances.

The tool contributes to involving various stakeholders in the coordination of transport activities and space in connection with various construction projects in the city and can thus contribute to reducing disruption. Municipalities, developers and the Swedish Transport Administration express a need to