From the list of content: " Smart sustainable cities & higher education, Essence: what, why & how? Developing learning materials together; The blended learning environment; Teaching on entrepreneurship; Utrecht municipality as a client; International results; Studentexperiences; International relations; City projects in Turku, Alcoy and Utrecht ".
The role of smart cities in order to improve older people’s quality of life, sustainability and opportunities, accessibility, mobility, and connectivity is increasing and acknowledged in public policy and private sector strategies in countries all over the world. Smart cities are one of the technological-driven initiatives that may help create an age-friendly city. Few research studies have analysed emerging countries in terms of their national strategies on smart or age-friendly cities. In this study, Romania which is predicted to become one of the most ageing countries in the European Union is used as a case study. Through document analysis, current initiatives at the local, regional, and national level addressing the issue of smart and age-friendly cities in Romania are investigated. In addition, a case study is presented to indicate possible ways of the smart cities initiatives to target and involve older adults. The role of different stakeholders is analysed in terms of whether initiatives are fragmentary or sustainable over time, and the importance of some key factors, such as private–public partnerships and transnational bodies. The results are discussed revealing the particularities of the smart cities initiatives in Romania in the time frame 2012–2020, which to date, have limited connection to the age-friendly cities agenda. Based on the findings, a set of recommendations are formulated to move the agenda forward. CC-BY Original article: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17145202 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers "Age-Friendly Cities & Communities: State of the Art and Future Perspectives") https://www.dehaagsehogeschool.nl/onderzoek/lectoraten/details/urban-ageing#over-het-lectoraat
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Fast charging is seen as a means to facilitate long-distance driving for electric vehicles (EVs). As a result, roll-out planning generally takes a corridor approach. However, with higher penetration of electric vehicles in urban areas, cities contemplate whether inner-city fast chargers can be an alternative for the growing amount of slow public chargers. For this purpose, more knowledge is required in motives and preferences of users and actual usage patterns of fast chargers. Similarly, with increasing charging speeds of fast chargers and different modes (taxi, car sharing) also switching to electric vehicles, the effect of charging speed should be evaluated as well as preferences amongst different user groups. This research investigates the different intentions and motivations of EV drivers at fast charging stations to see how charging behaviour at such stations differs using both data analysis from charging stations as a survey among EV drivers. Additionally, it estimates the willingness of EV drivers to use fast charging as a substitute for on-street home charging given higher charging speeds. The paper concludes that limited charging speeds imply that EV drivers prefer parking and charging over fast charging but this could change if battery developments allow higher charging speeds.
