RESEARCH:: Behavioral Interactions:: Projects
Making the “Clean Energy City” in China 2009-present
This project aims to create tools and models for urban designers and developers to use in creating more energy efficient urban development projects. We are combining behavioral models of household in-home and travel energy use with models of neighborhood embodied energy and solar gain and wind to develop a tool, the Energy “Proforma” to estimate the “energy bottom line” of urban development projects in China. The Proforma has already been tested in several design studio settings and will be used again in the China Urban Design studio in Summer 2012. We also intend to use the tool and empirics to support new neighborhood-level energy policy recommendations for China. The project builds from the 25-year urban design studio collaboration between MIT and Tsinghua University.
MIT students involved: Yang Chen (PhD Student, DUSP), Cressica Brazier (PhD Student, DUSP), Nah-Yoon Shin (PhD Student, DUSP), Yang Chu (MCP13), Genevieve Sherman (MCP12), Dong Wang (MCP12), Ira Winder (MCP13), Zheng Jia (MCP12), Jen Liu (UROP), Heshuang Zeng (MCP11), Yang Jiang (MCP/MST10), Jiyang Zhang (MCP10), Jue Wang (MCP10), Daniel Daou Ornelas (MCP11), Aspasia Xypolia (MCP11
MIT faculty collaborators: Dennis Frenchman (DUSP), Jan Wampler (Arch.)
External partners: Mao Qizhi (Tsinghua Univ.), Zhang Jie (Tsinghua Univ.)
Related Theses: Jiang, Zeng, Zhang, Wang
Sponsor: The China Sustainable Energy Program
Travel Behavior of the Baby Boomers 2007-present
This project aims to improve our understanding of baby boomers’ travel behavior and residential preferences. The research has focused on suburban boomers in age restricted communities and on urban boomers, and has included focus groups, two household mail-back surveys, and behavioral modeling. We currently are developing a pilot survey technique using a smartphone-based activity logger. We plan on organizing a Symposium at MIT on related topics in Spring 2012.
MIT students involved: Jae Seung Lee (PhD Student, DUSP), Rachel Blatt (MCP12), Frank Hebbert (MCP08), Cha-Ly Koh (MCP09), Vig Krishnamurthy (MCP/MST12), Victoria Ruiz (MSRP 2007), Lamont Cobb (MSRP 2008)
Faculty collaborators: Eran Ben-Joseph (MIT-DUSP)
Related theses: Hebbert; Dawson; Chase
Papers: ‘Everyday life would be impossible without a car…’; By community or design?
Sponsor: New England University Transportation Center
The Built Environment and Mobility in Santiago de Chile
This research represents many years of personal and professional interest in Chile’s capital city. I have examined relationships between land use measures and walk trips using 1991 survey data; the built environment and motor vehicle ownership and use and accessibility outcomes using 2001 survey data; the built environment and household local and global mobility pollutant emissions in 2001; and the changes in household vehicle ownership over time. My current interest is in quantifying the changes in household travel demand and the role of urban evolution during the 91-01 period.
MIT students involved: Veronica Hannan (MCP/MST13), Gerald Hunter (MCP10)
Related theses: Zegras
Papers: Land use and walking; Motor vehicle ownership and use; Mobility’s footprint, Dynamics of vehicle ownership
Santiago from Cerro La Cruz, 1 Oct. 2011