HARMONY
HARMONY stands for "Holistic Approach for Providing Spatial & Transport Planning Tools and Evidence to Metropolitan and Regional Authorities to Lead a Sustainable Transition to a New Mobility Era"
Project objectives
The HARMONY project envisages developing a new generation of harmonised spatial and multimodal transport planning tools which comprehensively model the dynamics of the changing transport sector and spatial organisation, enabling metropolitan area authorities to lead the transition to a low carbon new mobility era in a sustainable manner. Small-scale demonstrations with Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) and drones take place to understand in real-life their requirements and collect data to be used for modelling. The HARMONY model suite is also linked to the EC's EU-wide model TRIMODE to further identify the impact of the concepts and technologies on the TEN-T level. HARMONY's concepts and the model suite are applied and validated on six EU metropolitan areas on six TEN-T corridors: 1. Rotterdam (NL), 2. Oxfordshire (UK), 3. Turin (IT), 4. Athens (GR), 5. Trikala(GR), 6. Upper Silesian-Zaglebie Metropolis (PL).
Project's Public Launch Event - 7 June 2019, London
The whole consortium gathered for the kick-off meeting at UCL in London, UK, on 5th and 6th June. After a general overview of the project by the coordinator Dr Maria Kamargianni, each member of the consortium introduced its work package and explained its role within the project. Furthermore, the consortium had the pleasure of hosting the project officer from the European Commission, Dr Octavia Stepan, who underlined the meaningful impact Harmony will produce in addressing travelling demand and CO2 reduction at a regional level.
The meeting was followed by the public launch event on 7th June. It was structured in three main panels of experts, each one focusing on a different aspect: innovation proposed by industries, challenged faced by urban authorities, spatial and transport planning. Finally, a cross-session discussion wrapped up the event and shed some light into future developments.
Find out more here.
What challenges do metropolitan areas face in terms of spatial and transport planning integration?
How can traditional and new transport modes be integrated in harmony?
Access to key activity hubs has deteriorated and private vehicle reliance has grown, largely due to expanding urban sprawl where distances between functional destinations (workplaces/shops etc.) have increased. Widespread congestion has become the norm in many cities, reducing people’s quality of life through negative externalities, such as pollution or increased travel times. Today, new mobility services and technologies present a possible solution. However, authorities face several challenges when it comes to harmoniously integrating these developments into spatial and transport plans.
This event brings together transport and spatial planning professionals, public authorities and policy makers, mobility technology developers, autonomous vehicles and drone manufacturers, and researchers to discuss the spatial and transport planning challenges metropolitan areas face in terms of integrating traditional and new transport modes.
From Theory to Practice
Ground Breaking AV and UAM DemonstrationS
Oxfordshire (UK): the Oxforshire City Council alongside the UCL-MaaSLab, the University of Wolverhampton, Arrival, Airbus, Griff and external stakeholders from Milton Park are working on demonstrating small-scale mobility services of the future, including i) integrated public transport and autonomous services with fully electric Level 4 AVs, ii) fully electric Level 4 light-good vehicles for freight transport and iii) unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) for both small-scale freight and medical supply transport. Integration of AVs and UAVs for freight transport and investigation of their organizational requirements is also a plan that HARMONY investigates.
Rotterdam (NL): to understand the challenges of combined logistics, traffic, deliveries, parking, pick-up and drop-off areas, Gemeente Rotterdam are working with Techinsche Universiteit Delft, TNO, Arrival and external city stakeholders towards demonstrating how autonomy Level 4 light-good vehicles can be integrated into couriers' fleets for freight transport within the city.
Trikala (GRC): medicaments transportation demonstration from urban to suburban and rural areas are being orgnanized by e-Trikala, the University of the Aegean and the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems. Drones will make deliveries from drug stores in the city to the villages, where most of the population is elderly and technology illiterate.
