Over the last years a large growth in Electric Vehicles (EV) and charging infrastructure (CI) development has been observed. Particularly in metropolitan areas this growth has led to a system in which multitudes of interactions between EV users take place. While many researchers have focused on EV user charging behavior and deployment strategies for CI, little attention has been paid to conceptualizing the problem domain. This research provides a brief overview of complex systems theory, and derives six characterizing elements of complex systems that may be applicable for CI. The paper investigates both theoretically but also empirically how these characterizing elements apply for CI and provides implications for the further roll-out of CI for both policy makers and researchers. We illustrate our findings with preliminary results form ongoing research. Recommendations include the further development of simulation tools that are capable of exploring effects of e.g. non-linear behavior, feedback loops and emergence of new patterns on CI performance. In the end this paper aims to provide directions to enable policy makers to be better prepared for the anticipated exponential growth of EVs and CI.
MULTIFILE
Worldwide, rivers face challenges due to human and climatic pressures. Floods, droughts, pollution, damming and hydropeaking are only a few examples of these pressures, and influence the way rivers flow. Climate change adaptation projects increase the incentive to domesticate rivers, often legitimised through expert views on (future) vulnerability and risk. This emerging river imaginary dominates current debates in many rivers in our world. River imaginaries reflect spatially bound hydrosocial territories in which multiple actors on multiple scales from multiples sectors operate to reach varying objectives. They include water flows, ecological systems, climate conditions, hydraulic infrastructure, financial means, institutional arrangements, legal frameworks and information/knowledge hubs. In the context of climate change adaptation, river imaginaries are strongly dependent on the extent to which climate change is expected to influence rivers through a mixture of probable, possible, desirable or preferable versions of a (future) river. As such, knowledge-structures of future making are scrutinised in this research by emphasising on the role of change, the role of futures and the role of experts. This presentation aims to elucidate how river imaginaries have influenced river management under climate change adaptation that resulted in large infrastructural projects. Through a study of the Meuse river, a concrete case of a imaginary came into being in the Dutch-Belgian Border-Meuse trajectory. Moreover, preliminary result from adaptation projects in the marshlands of the lower Magdalena in Colombia strengthen the dominate imaginary of technocratic and ecocentric approaches to climate change adaptation where an expert view on local knowledge dominates.
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