This monthly series produced by the World Bank’s ieConnect programme and HVT – funded by FCDO – covers a range of topics related to evidence, knowledge, and methodologies to support more effective, resilient and inclusive transport investments.
The series covers themes related to developing resilient transport infrastructure and asset management, applications of innovative technologies and data for more effective transport, best practices in large scale transport network planning, as well as evidence on gender and inclusion in transport investments. The series has been developed in response to demand from transport practitioners for access to the latest research findings on transport and will further provide a platform for dialogue on these topics.
Each session can be attended online live or accessed as a recording here.
Session 1: Introduction to the series, 3rd October 2024
The first webinar introduces the series with selected snapshots highlighting what to expect from the monthly deep dive webinars:
- Resilient transport infrastructure systems – Presented by Jim Hall, FREng – Professor of Climate and Environmental Risks, University of Oxford
- Data collection and research methodologies using innovative technology – Presented by Sveta Milusheva, PhD – Senior Economist, Development Impact, World Bank
- Informal transport in the global south – Presented by Neil Ebenezer, PhD – Team Leader, High Volume Transport (HVT) Applied Research Programme
- Impact of climate change on Transport – Presented by Neil Ebenezer, PhD and Sveta Milusheva, PhD
- Gender, inclusion and sustainable transport – Presented by Girija Borker, PhD – Research Economist, Development Impact, World Bank
Session 2: Resilient Transport Infrastructure Systems. 24th October 2024
Professor Jim Hall sets out principles for climate risk analysis of transport networks, which identifies critical hotspots of exposure to climate risks. He demonstrates how this information can be used to prioritise resilience interventions. His talk is be based on a large-scale analysis of the transport networks in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. The analysis is embedded in an open access “Decision Support Systems for Resilient Strategic Transport Networks in Low Income Countries” – an HVT programme.
The decision support system is built around an interactive web platform and aims to support investment decisions and options selection for long-distance strategic land transport networks exposed to climate risks. Pamela Acheng will explain recent developments in the analysis, including road deterioration and landslides.
The World Bank’s ieConnect team also present an analysis of the impacts and recovery from the devastating 2022 floods in Pakistan using big data sources such as mobility data and satellite imagery. The team presents evidence from Mozambique demonstrating the importance of resilient transport systems.
Session 3: Data Collection and Research Methodologies Using Innovative Technology
New technologies, big data sources and significant advances in computing power have revolutionised the data available to support more effective transport policies and projects. This session explores the latest approaches and innovations for gathering data, highlighting work from ieConnect and HVT focused on developing innovative and easily accessible, reliable data in low- and middle-income countries where data is often limited.
Examples from ieConnect will include the case of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, demonstrating how CCTV footage and computer vision can be used to develop road safety indicators to help prioritise interventions and assess their economic benefits; applications of smartcard and mobile phone data to study mobility in Bogota, Colombia; the use of crowdsourced, mobile app, GPS sensor and administrative data in Kenya to evaluate policies and support road safety planning; and the use of different satellite datasets to evaluate the impact of transport corridors.
The projects presented from HVT range from the use of computer vision to detect and count transport-related objects in street-level imagery to supporting the Transport Data Commons Initiative (TDCI) – a forum committed to improving access, sharing and analysis of transportation data by establishing an open data platform for transport.
Session 4: The Transition to Sustainable Transport, 20th November 2024
Accounting for nearly a quarter of global energy-related carbon emissions, the transport sector is critical to achieving the ambitious Paris Agreement. While low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have historically emitted lower transport emissions, their growing economies are increasing their carbon footprint. Transitioning to sustainable transport is complex, requiring balancing economic growth, addressing resource limitations, and ensuring social inclusion.
This session presents HVT’s new research that highlights specific aspects of transport in Africa and South Asia that offer opportunities for increasing climate resilient transport. This includes improving access to climate finance, developing a Transport Decarbonisation Index, building climate resilient roads, and developing active mobility strategies.
Additionally, as countries invest in greener transport, measuring the impacts of these investments is crucial. The ieConnect for Impact Program presents research on comparing alternative methods for collecting data focused on air pollution and provide a framework for considering measurement in the climate space more broadly.
The webinar explores how transport can meet the needs of LMICs at the policy level and spotlight the latest research into why climate finance isn’t reaching LMICs at the rate it needs to and how to address this gap.
Session 5: Informal Transport, 10th December 2024, 13.00 – 14.30 GMT
Details coming soon.