Prof. Muammer Koç, Coordinator, Sustainability Division, College of Science and Engineering (CSE), HBKU / Qatar Foundation, Education City, Doha, Qatar
Prof. Muammer Koç, Coordinator, Sustainability Division, College of Science and Engineering (CSE), HBKU / Qatar Foundation, Education City, Doha, Qatar
Our ways of living are unsustainable. They have become associated with “over”; overproduction, overconsumption, over-pollution, overweigh etc. The impacts of our lifestyles are putting excessively pressure on our earth and causes unfavorable environmental, economic, social and health-related effects. As we do not change our current lifestyles into much more environmental friendly mode, the projected growth in economy and population and as a result of that growth the waste and pollution will inevitably lead to environmental degradation. So that, the concept: sustainability arises higher than ever for solution.
On the basis of environmental impacts of energy usage such as air pollution, global warming, and oil pollution, decreasing energy-related pressures on the environment is becoming increasingly important. Undoubtely, one way to reduce energy-related pressures on the environment is to use less energy. This can be provided by reducing the demand for energy-related activities, or by using energy more efficiently (thereby using less energy per unit of activity), or a combination of the two (EEA, 2006). Energy efficiency offers a powerful and cost-effective solution for achieving a sustainable future. To illustrate, energy efficiency can reduce overall emissions, decrease fuel consumption, and diminish overall demand for energy while maintaining the same level of energy service to users. However, even with improvements in energy efficiency it is expected that global energy demand is doubled by 2050 (WEC, 2011). Therefore, the combination of energy efficiency and reduction in the demand for energy-related activities is required. As being the major energy-related activity, it is expected that energy demand in the transport sector will be increasing by 120% by 2050 in the baseline scenario (WEC, 2011). This means that the global transportation sector will face unusual challenges related to continued growth in global economics, global population, urbanization, and motorization. Urbanization is also very critical process to reach the targets of energy efficiency and demand reduction for energy usage as urban areas being in the center of economic growth and population. In order to achieve sustainable cities, in addition to smart use of land, intelligent transportation systems, clean and green vehicles, it is vital to achieve social behavioral change for shifting our modes from motorized means to greener, healthier and more economic means such as walking, cycling, and public transportation. Among many options, Travel Demand Management (TDM) policies mainly aim to promote sustainable modes and increase an effective use of existing infrastructure by voluntarily controlling demand.
With such circumstances, objectives of this study are as follows: (1) establish a framework of social behavioral change policies particularly developed and tested for urban mobility; (2) compare various mega-cities on different indicators to better understand the case of Istanbul. As a result, it was revealed that traffic congestion is worse in Istanbul compared to similar cities and management of traffic within the city implies mistakes. However, it was also seen that TDM policies offers noteworthy potential to increase use of sustainable modes and help reducing congestion levels in the city.
Keywords : Sustainable development, social efficiency, urban mobility, demand management
Biography
Prof. Muammer Koc is currently a Professor and Graduate Programs Coordinator in the Sustainability Division of HBKU / QF. Prior to that he hold professor, chair and dean positions at universities in Turkey and in the US. He has a PhD degree on Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Ohio State Univ. and Executive MBA degree from the University of Sheffield, UK. His research and teaching interests are on sustainability, knowledge society, knowledge-based economy, human and social capital development, organizational and social efficiency, near-zero waste policies and technologies, renewable energy, innovation and entrepreneurship, design and manufacturing. He has 120+ publications in various international journals and conferences. He provides service as a consultant to industry, government and educational institutes for strategic transformation, business optimization, restructuring, reengineering purposes.