Query: oslo mobility

title: Mobile technologies and personalized environmental information for supporting sustainable mobility in Oslo: The Citi Sense MOB approach
abstract: Urban and peri urban growth is increasing world wide and Europe is now one of the most u rbanized continents in the world. Oslo is one of the fastest growing cities in Europe. This creates pressure on its infrastructure, including traffic and environmental urban quality. Additionally, vehicular traffic is a major contributor to CO 2 emissions, which impacts climate change. It is r ecognized that air quality is a major factor for human health however, although different measures have been implemented, improving air quality and lowering carbon emissions still remains an unsolved problem in Oslo. The main objective of Citi Sense MOB is to demonstrate how using innovative technology to continuously measure environmental data at the road level combined with innovative Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can help to create a dynamic city infrastructure for realtime city management, access to personalized environmental information and sustainable development. The output from the project will be mobile services for citizens and authorities based on the use of near real time data on air quality and CO 2 emissions at road level. T he societal importance of these services arises from a need to mitigate the effects of air pollution and climate change, and to combat respiratory diseases related to traffic related air pollution. In order to motivate citizens to use the information generated by the project, Citi Sense MOB will provide them with personalized environmental information, as for instance alerting systems when pollution levels exceed a critical threshold. Customized information will also be provided to authorities consisting of detailed air quality maps at high spatial resolution and an evaluation of possibilities to reduce CO 2 emissions by improving driving practices in public urban fleets.

title: Bike sharing use in conjunction to public transport: Exploring spatiotemporal, age and gender dimensions in Oslo, Norway
abstract: Bike sharing could provide a key role in a transition towards a less car dependent and more sustainable, healthy and socially inclusive urban transport future. This paper investigates two important prerequisites for bike sharing to fulfil these premises: Does it synergise rather than compete with current alternatives to car based urban mobility; and is it inclusively accessible across population and spatial segments? Drawing on complete 2016 2017 trip records of the Oslo (Norway) bike sharing system, this paper analyses the potential use of bike sharing for accessing, egressing and interchanging public transport and explores its age and gender dimensions. Bike sharing ridership is substantially higher on routes that either start or end with metro/rail connectivity, whilst controlling for other factors, such as route distance, elevation, urban form, time of day and bike dock capacities. However, our results also reveal that bike sharing both as a stand alone system and in conjunction with public transport is less accessible to, suited to, and used by women and older age groups. Especially gender biases appear profound, multifaceted, and intersected by spatial inequalities favouring central male dominated employment areas. These findings are discussed to derive policy and design directions regarding multimodal integration, dock expansion, rental limitations, and the introduction of e bikes, to improve the performance, multimodal integration, gender equality and overall socio spatial inclusiveness of bike sharing.

title: The governance of attractive public transport: Informal institutions, institutional entrepreneurs, and problem solving know how in Oslo and Amsterdam
abstract: Public authorities are under mounting pressure to promote more sustainable urban mobility, including a modal shift from cars. With an empirical focus on Oslo and Amsterdam metropolitan areas, this paper analyses how the interplay between formal frameworks, informal institutions, and individuals' agency can contribute to making public transport more attractive in relation to other modes. Findings indicate that formal frameworks, informal institutions, and key actors co exist and interact in complementary, substitutive, and accommodating manner; they work alongside each other to facilitate collective decision making on issues ranging from integrating land use and transport to dealing with budget constraints. By identifying these types of interaction, this study shows that, to advance transport sustainability, authorities not only need insight on what policies to design, but can also benefit from understanding how policy making and implementation unfold. A broader insight offered by the paper is that financial performance goals appear as a main policy driver in public transport, eclipsing sustainability concerns.

title: Ambient air pollution exposure, residential mobility and term birth weight in Oslo, Norway.
abstract: Environmental exposure during pregnancy may have lifelong health consequences for the offspring and some studies have association between maternal exposure to air pollution during pregnancy and offspring's birth weight. However, many of these studies do not take into account small scale variations in exposure, residential mobility, and work addresses during pregnancy. We used information from the National Birth Registry of Norway to examine associations between ambient environmental exposure such as air pollution and temperature, and offspring's birth weight taking advantage of information on migration history and work address in a large population based cohort. A dispersion model was used to estimate ambient air pollution levels at all residential addresses and work addresses for a total of 25,229 pregnancies between 1999 and 2002 in Oslo, Norway. Ambient exposure to traffic pollution for the entire pregnancy was associated with a reduction in term birth weight in crude analyzes when comparing children of the highest and lowest exposed mothers. No evidence for an association between exposure to traffic pollution at home and work addresses and term birth weight after adjustment for covariates known to influence birth weight during pregnancy. After stratification, small statistically non significant reductions were present but only for multiparious mothers. This group also had less residential mobility and less employment during pregnancy. The overall findings suggest no clear association between term birth weight and traffic pollution exposure during pregnancy. However, mobility patterns could introduce possible confounding when examining small scale variations in exposure by using addresses. This could be of importance in future studies.

title: The role of life events and context in type of car share uptake: Comparing users of peer to peer and cooperative programs in Oslo, Norway
abstract: This paper builds on a survey of existing users of two car sharing schemes in Oslo, namely Nabobil (peer to peer scheme P2P) and Bilkollektivet (cooperative scheme Coop) to understand how the following factors lead to active (or passive) car sharing i. key life events; ii. adoption/retention challenges; iii. acceptability; and iv. infrastructural needs. The conceptual framework of this study is informed by mobility biographies and social practice theory. A web based questionnaire was distributed by the two service providers to their members, and approximately 1,724 users of P2P and 1,117 users of Coop participated in the survey. The survey collected information on travel behaviour, preferences, life stages, mobility biography of the household, and life events possibly leading to car sharing. Results highlight that using P2P scheme emerged as statistically significant for students moving to Oslo and for employees starting in new jobs. For the Coop members, the birth of first or later children were statistically significant events in households' decision to start with car sharing. Along with differences in meanings, skills, materiality and practices of carsharing, users of the two schemes varied with respect to spatial details as well proximity to transit stops, access to high frequency public transport services, walking/cycling infrastructure and, parking facilities. Further, for carsharing to become popular, ample institutional trust, capable of off setting any lack of trust that users may have, needs to be built.

title: From functional bonds to place identity: Place attachment of Polish migrants living in London and Oslo
abstract: The relationship between spatial mobility and place attachment has always been an important part of the psychology of place. However, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the context of international migration. Thus, this paper brings together the existing scholarship on place attachment and migration studies in order to discuss the development of place attachment among settled migrants, focusing on the example of Poles living in London and Oslo. Drawing on 60 semi structured in depth interviews, it is argued that people's bonding with a new place of residence could be described more adequately as a dynamic process rather than through static typologies. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that different aspects of place attachment, namely place dependence, place discovered, place identity, and place inherited, often coexist and may emerge gradually in the process of adaptation to a new urban setting.

title: From novelty to normality: reproducing car sharing practices in transitions to sustainable mobility
abstract: This article investigates the role of practices in sustainability transitions. Employing a social practices approach, we analyze the reproduction of car sharing practices and discuss its role in transitions to sustainable mobility. We assemble data from interviews with 39 households using car sharing in Oslo, Norway, and show three specific ways of reproducing car sharing practices: (a) FUSS: Frequent, Unplanned, Short term, and Small car use, (b) POLL: Planned, Occasional, Longer term, and Larger car use; and (c)  Elected from Range of Cars. After examining contributing factors, especially the role of provider and user contexts, we turn to how car sharing relates to other household practices. We highlight how car dependent activities and substitutes for daily car use contribute to the reproduction of car sharing. We then discuss how the reproduction of a new practice can help to explain the process through which a niche based practice becomes a regime based practice in the transition from one mobility regime to a new one. The article shows that by understanding the reproduction of practices as several different performances, a social practices approach can contribute to understanding the normalization of new mobility practices in sustainability transitions.

title: Mobility and urban quality of life: a comparison of the hedonic pricing and subjective well being methods
abstract: There is no consensus about the relation between urban scale and quality of life. Quality of life in Oslo and the rest of Norway is compared using two commonly employed methods to measure geographical variation in quality of life: hedonic pricing based on the Rosen Roback model and analysis of subjective well being. Since the hedonic pricing approach assumes that households are perfectly mobile, the population is divided into mobility quartiles. The methods arrive at the same conclusion for the most mobile population group quality of life is higher in Oslo but different conclusions are reached for other mobility groups.

title: Effects of a multicomponent high intensity exercise program on physical function and health related quality of life in older adults with or at risk of mobility disability after discharge from hospital: a randomised controlled trial
abstract: Many older people suffer from mobility limitations and reduced health related quality of life (HRQOL) after discharge from hospital. A consensus regarding the most effective exercise program to optimize physical function and HRQOL after discharge is lacking. This study investigates the effects of a group based multicomponent high intensity exercise program on physical function and HRQOL in older adults with or at risk of mobility disability after discharge from hospital.  This single blinded parallel group randomised controlled trial recruited eighty nine home dwelling older people (65 89 years) while inpatient at medical wards at a general hospital in Oslo, Norway. Baseline testing was conducted median 49 (25 percentile, 75 percentile) (26, 116) days after discharge, before randomisation to an intervention group or a control group. The intervention group performed a group based exercise program led by a physiotherapist twice a week for 4 months. Both groups were instructed in a home based exercise program and were encouraged to exercise according to World Health Organisation's recommendations for physical activity in older people. The primary outcome, physical performance, was measured by the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) Secondary outcomes were 6 min walk test (6MWT) Berg Balance Scale (BBS) grip strength, Body Mass Index (BMI) and HRQOL (the Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF 36) Data were analysed according to the intention to treat principle. Between group differences were assessed using independent samples t test.  The groups were comparable at baseline. Intention to treat analysis showed that the intervention group improved their functional capacity (6MWT) and the physical component summary of SF 36 significantly compared to the control group. No further between group differences in change from baseline to 4 months follow up were found.  A high intensity multicomponent exercise program significantly improved functional capacity and physical HRQOL in older adults with or at risk of mobility disability after discharge from hospital. The study suggests that this population can benefit from systematic group exercise after hospital initial rehabilitation has ended.

title: How school accountability affects teacher mobility and teacher sorting
abstract: We study how the introduction of school accountability affects teacher mobility and sorting. We exploit that lower secondary schools in Oslo became formally accountable to the school district authority for student achievement in 2003 and that the ranking of these schools, based on a value added measure, became public information in 2005. Using a double and a triple difference estimator, we find substantially increased teacher mobility after the reform. Most teachers who changed their jobs due to the reform left the profession. Nevertheless, leaving teachers were replaced by other high ability teachers, yielding a positive sorting effect after the second part of the reform.