VISIM - Responsive infrastructure planning to meet long-term societal needs

Abstract

Planning in space requires consideration of land, mobility and infrastructure. For example, when a land parcel is to be developed for housing residents, those residents will have daily mobility demands and consequently, road and rail infrastructure are required to serve those demands in alignment with the spatial development. If planners decide to develop a particular parcel, a long time can pass – e.g., during public deliberations, permit applications and land acquisition – until the necessary infrastructure is constructed. The process can take even longer when infrastructure is planned on a regional level: if regions expect high population growth, planners may observe that the available mobility services will not be able to provide the necessary infrastructure capacity (e.g., frequent enough train service to carry peak hour demand, or large enough highways). The large number of stakeholders involved and the shaping impact that the infrastructure will have on the region over a long-term uncertain planning horizon, can slow down the process of expanding rail service or widening a highway. Meanwhile, mobility users may feel discomfort due to being stuck in traffic or in overcrowded transit services for longer times than anticipated. It might benefit users and other stakeholders if planning organisations were able to meet changing stakeholder needs more quickly. This talk will (1) address the need to define responsiveness of planning organisations, (2) report on results for a case study for responsive planning organisations and (3) discuss the implications this has on research for infrastructure planning and related decision-support tools.