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Open seminar with Mistra SAMS international scientific advisory panel (ISAP)

Mistra SAMS international scientific advisory panel is visiting Stockholm, and the program will host an open seminar where the panel members will give talks in their area of expertise. The ISAP consists of outstanding academic leaders in fields directly relevant to digitalization and new mobility services, and we are very happy to able to create an opportunity for others to hear them share their knowledge.

Time: Fri 2017-10-06 09.00 - 12.00

Location: KTH-library, Osquars Backe 31, Room: Salongen

Participating: David Banister, Elizabeth Deakin, Simon Marvin, Bert van Wee, Anna Sparrman

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Topics and speakers

The Politics and Economics of Uber - Professor emerita Elizabeth Deakin , University of California/Berkeley.

Disruptive Innovation: The Case of Uber in London - Professor David Banister , University of Oxford.

Urban Operating Systems: A computational logic of urban control? - Professor and Director Simon Marvin , University of Sheffield.

A methodology to include equity in accessibility research - Professor Bert Van Wee , Delft University of Technology.

Configuring the child user - Professor Anna Sparrman , Linköping University

Each speaker will give a half-hour long talk, and there will be time for questions and debate. See below for more information on the talks.

Space is limited, please sign up for the seminar using the link below

SIgn up here

Further information about the talks

The Politics and Economics of Uber

Professor emerita Elizabeth Deakin, City & Regional Planning and Urban Design, University of California/Berkeley

This paper examines the experience with economic regulation of traditional taxicab markets and the effects of newly emerging dynamic rideshare services on the taxicab industry. The paper provides a brief history of the regulation of taxicabs and the development of ridesharing services in cities world-wide. The aim is to show the pros and cons of taxicab regulation and explain why ridesharing services have gained a strong foothold in many markets. Even though economic regulation of taxicab markets has long been questioned, and some cities deregulated their taxi services over the past several decades, most cities have continued to regulate market entry and fares, citing environmental concerns and consumer protection as justifications. The recent development of dynamic ridesharing services, which match drivers with riders using cell phone technology to handle matches and payments, is posing a major challenge to the traditional taxi markets. While some cities have chosen to ban the new services, many others have allowed the rideshare services to compete with taxis, but with far fewer regulatory constraints. This in turn has led to new policy issues: not only whether taxis and ridesharing services should be regulated differently, but more broadly, what regulations are appropriate given the new technologies that are being employed by both traditional taxis and the new services.

Disruptive Innovation: The Case of Uber in London

Professor David Banister, School of Geography and the Environment; Transport Studies Unit, University of Oxford

The ride-hailing company Uber has achieved extremely rapid global expansion by means of out manoeuvring governments, regulators and competitors. The rise of the company has been based on a deliberate strategy of acting as a market disruptive innovator through a user friendly technology and making use of the ‘sharing economy.’ These attributes are not unique, but are distinctively augmented by a relentless expansionary ambition, and an ability to maintain its capacity to innovate. Uber has generated great political controversy, but the challenge for governments and regulators is to embrace the benefits of the disruptive innovator, while adopting an approach that takes into account the full range of impacts. For Uber, the challenge is to maintain its expansionary style as a disruptive innovator, while also redefining on its terms the political and public debate. The case study of London provides important insights into the dynamics of these processes.

Urban Operating Systems: A computational logic of urban control?

Professor and Director Simon Marvin, The Urban Institute, University of Sheffield

A set of software/hardware packages developed by IT companies for the urban market is transforming the way in which cities are imagined and configured. These urban operating systems (Urban OS) embody important presumptions about what constitutes appropriate knowledge and forms of decision making, pointing to how novel forms of ‘smart’ or ‘computational’ urbanism may govern urban life. The talk focuses on how Urban OS envision the city, illustrating how a new corporate rationality of control based on functional simplification and heterogeneous reintegration seeks to take hold in the city via re-engineering, agility, modularity, flexibility and configurability).

A methodology to include equity in accessibility research

Professor Bert Van Wee, Transport Policy, Delft University of Technology

Professor Van Wee will present a method to quantitatively assess distributions of accessibility levels, based on ethical theories. The method aims to support policymakers if they want to explicitly include equity considerations in their decisions about future policies that affect accessibility levels.

Configuring the child user

Professor Anna Sparrman, Department of Thematic Studies - Child Studies, Linköping University

What is a child? This might seem a naïve and simple question. Yet notions of the child and of childhood are in constant motion: they enact different morals, values, ideas and needs. Today, for example, we live with both a vulnerable and an individualistic/independent view of children, each involving different ideas of protection and agency. This variation positions children both at the margins and at the centre of social life. It also explains a significant difference between policy level conceptions of the child (the child perspective) and the everyday life of children (children’s perspectives). The reciprocity between these positions is important to move beyond children as only proxies. In this presentation, I will use an interdisciplinary approach to reflect on how the tensions between these configurations of the child user are situated and sustained. I shall also suggest that thinking through children may help us disrupt current policy assumptions about accessibility and mobility services.

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