Reimagining Urban Form: Parking, Accessibility, and Emerging Technologies for Smarter Cities
Explore how evolving urban form strategies are shaping the future of our cities, from rethinking parking beyond the driver's seat to implementing access-based cost-benefit analysis. Dive into the outcomes of 10/15/20/30-minute city policies and understand how emerging vehicle safety technologies are impacting insurance claim severity. This session examines how these factors contribute to building more efficient, accessible, and resilient urban environments.
Session Summary
- Rethinking Parking - A view beyond the driver's seat | David Mepham, David Mepham Consulting
- Access-based cost-benefit analysis | Isaac Mann, The University of Sydney
- Assessing our 10/15/20/30-minute cities/neighbourhoods policy outcomes | Professor Anthony Kipton, University of Southern Queensland
- Impact of Emerging Vehicle Safety Technologies on Insurance Claim Severity | Heshani Rupasinghe, Queensland University of Technology, Centre of Accident Research and Road Safety
Presenters
Rethinking Parking - A view beyond the driver's seat
David Mepham
David Mepham Consulting
David is an urban access consultant. His professional and academic work has been focused on striking a better balance between transport and urban planning objectives - that is to provide access to places worth visiting.
That focus has informed his work on projects ranging from community transport to the planning of urban light rail transit to parking analysis and the making of policy. His recent book 'Rethinking Parking' unpacks the way we think about parking and offers a pathway to parking reform.
Abstract Synopsis
Much of our urban parking policy is based on mid-twentieth conditions when there were barely one million cars on Australian roads, compared to over twenty million today. In that post war period, with car ownership increasing, we cut and pasted a range of parking policies from the United States. Those policies reflected a view of parking from the driver's seat and even today, key narratives about parking reaffirm the needs of the driver. That view has tended to overlook the damage that parking causes to the attractiveness of the destination.
Parking reform is an evolving issue in many North American cities, largely driven by issues of housing cost and public space management. These reforms are enabled by new parking technologies and innovative mobility economies.
Access-based cost-benefit analysis
Isaac Mann
The University of Sydney
Isaac is an experienced professional in Transport Engineering and Planning, with a diverse background spanning the private, public, and academic sectors. He holds a degree in Civil Engineering (Honours) with the University Medal from The University of Sydney and is currently a PhD Candidate researching transport economics. Isaac's academic contributions include published papers on econometrics and cost-benefit analysis of transport investments, as well as responses to parliamentary inquiries and conference presentations on behalf of The University of Sydney.
Abstract Synopsis
Current methods of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) for transport investments rely on travel-time savings for potential users. This approach presents a consistent and significant historical trend of forecast inaccuracy, and thus has been questioned and criticized. Access, or the ease of reaching valued destinations, can be used as an alternative. Access features a strong correlation with land value which can be measured through hedonic analysis, and subsequently, access gains offered by a transport initiative can be monetised via property uplift.
Co-Author
Professor David Levinson
The University of Sydney
Prof. David Levinson teaches at the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney (official profile), where he leads TransportLab and the Transport Engineering research group, and directs the Master of Transport. He is an honorary affiliate of the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, where he is also a member of the Board of Advice. His research interests span transport, from engineering and design, through policy and planning, to geography and economics. His most recent research emphasises transport-land use interactions, accessibility, and transport system evolution as well as traffic programming.
Assessing our 10/15/20/30-minute cities/neighbourhoods policy outcomes
Dr Anthony Kimpton
University of Southern Queensland
Anthony is a Lecturer of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Southern Queensland, and former senior data scientist within the Australian Bureau of Statistics and transportation web application developer with the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN). Sustainable and socially-equitable regional and metropolitan development is his mission and his research expertise includes capitalising on big and open data to both: examine the efficacy and outcomes of land use and transport policy standards; and to develop PlanTech that supports effective decision making and prioritisation of our most disadvantaged neighbourhood communities.
Abstract Synopsis
Australian planning increasingly focuses on travel-time metrics (e.g., 10-, 20-, 30-minute cities) for fairness across urban, suburban, and regional areas. However, distance-based benchmarks still dominate, often neglecting factors like pedestrian environments, public transport schedules, and cyclist safety.
This presentation explores using open data (OpenStreetMap, Open Topography, GTFS) and multimodal tools (e.g., r5r) to model travel times and trip chains. These approaches support better planning, policy assessments, and prioritization of underserved communities, enhancing active transport viability.
Impact of Emerging Vehicle Safety Technologies on Insurance Claim Severity
Heshani Rupasinghe
Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Centre of Accident Research and Road Safety Queensland (CARRS-Q)
Heshani Rupasinghe is a PhD scholar at CARRS-Q with a Civil Engineering background. Prior to commencing her PhD, she completed her Master of Science degree at Thammasat University, Thailand and her Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka. She is passionate about analysing travel behaviour mechanisms in a techno-economic paradigm shift of emerging vehicle technologies. She uses advanced econometrics and machine-learning approaches to examine the relevant travel behaviour mechanisms.
Abstract Synopsis
The motor vehicle industry’s adoption of technologies like ADAS and Alternative Fuel Vehicles (AFVs) promises safety and environmental benefits but also introduces challenges, such as differing crash impacts from electric vehicles’ design and weight. In mixed traffic environments, policies must address these complexities to enhance safety and manage claim severity effectively.
This study uses crash and insurance data from Southeast Queensland (2014–2023) to analyze how vehicle body types, fuel types, and ADAS features influence claim severity. By modeling these factors together, the research aims to guide road safety policies, improve risk assessments, and refine insurance premiums, fostering a safer and more efficient transport system.
Co-Author
Dr. Shimul Haque
Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
Haque is a Professor of Transportation Engineering at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Australia. He is a specialist in econometrics and artificial intelligence applications in transport engineering and traffic safety. In recognition of his high impact research in the area of road safety and transport engineering, Dr. Haque has been appointed as an Associate Editor of Accident Analysis and Prevention, the premier journal in road safety and Associate Editor of the ASCE – Journal of Transportation Engineering, a prestigious journal within Civil Engineering published by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
