- Rapid population increase in Seoul, South Korea, as a result of post-war migration and an economic boom in the 1950’s.
- There are 50 times more cars on Seoul’s roads now than in the 1970’s.
Solution: Smart Transportation Management
- In 2004, the city began to overhaul it’s public transportation and road system through the use of data collection and consequently, through monitoring public transport and traffic in real-time.
- The Seoul Traffic Vision 2030 was presented in 2013, including public transport, roads, side-walks, city railway systems as a systemic recommendation for improvement.
“By 2030, the city of Seoul will have evolved into a city with a highly convenient transport system, where people will not need to rely on their cars.” – Seoul Traffic Vision 2030
- Smart ticket systems and cameras monitor subway congestions, road-based sensors monitor traffic flows, and an in-built GPS system monitors taxi movement in the city, which feed into a central system used to post updates on digital roadside billboards and traffic reporting platforms, such as online.
- Through this, buses, cars and trains can be maneuvered in the most efficient way.
- The city has also focussed on pedestrianization, getting more people out of cars and onto walkways. An example of this is the Seoullo 7017 walkway, which makes use of an abandoned highway overpass as a new pedestrian route.
Seoul Traffic Vision 2030: Website
- All commuters
- Municipal government
- City planners
- Business owners (large employers of the commuter base population)
Steps to Implementation:
- Sensor installation
- Overall system analyses (data collection)
- System re-design
- Infrastructure improvements
- Further sensor installation in new systems
- Training of transport officials
- Public awareness of alternative routes and optimal travel methods, and availability of platforms to independently track these
- Adoption of system commuter recommendations
- Measurement and monitoring
- Additional installations as technology improves
Comment on Plastic Bottle Concrete:
Another article on this topic (Link) says that the plastic needs to be irradiated with gamma rays in oder to change the crystalline structure (ie. more cross linkages in the lattice lead to stronger concrete when mixed with plastic). It would be interesting to analyze how much this irradiation process would cost on an industrial scale when incorporated into cement production.