B5506 - TRANSPORTATION AND SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY

Learning outcomes

At the conclusion of the course, students will be aware of the main tools of transport economics, ranging from theoretical frameworks of transportation demand or pricing to the analysis of public/private investments in transportation infrastructures, mode choice, and the efficient organization of urban and inter-regional transportation services. Students will also be able to discuss environmental and climate change aspects related to transport, including real-world case studies, and explore how sustainable transportation can be implemented in the city.

Course contents

This introductory course to transport economics covers a number of subtopics related to transport, which will be discussed in frontal lectures, through theory and examples of applications. Additionally, the final part of the course will deal with sustainable mobility through the analysis of selected scientific articles and some related class activities.

The topics covered in the course are:

• Introduction to transport economics
• Transport and location
• The demand for transport
• Direct costs of transport
• The external costs of transport
• The pricing of transport
• Containing the environmental costs of transport
• Sustainable mobility

Readings/Bibliography

The main reference text for the course will be:

Button, K. (2022) Transport Economics. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham/Northampton. 4th edition.

Further teaching material, consisting of the slides used in class and the scientific articles used in the sustainable mobility part of the course, will be provided by the instructor on Virtuale.

Teaching methods

The course will consist for the most part of frontal lectures (on theoretical aspects and practical examples), analysis of scientific articles, and instructor-assisted groupworks, based on home readings.

Assessment methods

The final grade is composed as follows:

• 80%: written exam (taken on EOL in the computer lab);
• 20%: groupwork activities and participation.

The written exam is composed of both multiple-choice and open-answer questions, based on the topics taught during the course.

Students who did not or could not participate in the class groupworks will answer an extra open-answer question in the exam.

During the exam, it is not necessary nor allowed to use any additional material (notes, calculator, paper sheets...).

Students with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

A positive final mark can only be refused once. After publication of the results, refusal of the grade has to be communicated via email within the day of the subsequent office hours of the instructor.

Exam grades generically follow this distribution (in relation to ECTS grades):

• <18 insufficient (F)
• 18-21 sufficient (E)
• 22-26 average (D)
• 27-28 good (C)
• 29-30 very good (B)
• 30L excellent (A)

Teaching tools

• Teaching material, provided on Virtuale.
• Regular weekly office hours.

Office hours

See the website of Roberto Patuelli