After successful completion of the course, students are able to...
... assess and analyze the most important elements of benefit-cost analyses of large transport infrastructure projects and evaluate the urban development perspectives originating from these projects.
Topics of the seminar and the field trip (excursion)
- Spatial & infrastructure planning in Austria and Europe
- Basic overview (legal competencies, public authorities, stakeholders, instruments)
- Research on large infrastructure planning in Austria and Europe (esp. highways, high-speed trains)
- National highways / cross border cooperation
- High-speed / national rail tracks and cross-border train lines
- Planning of mega-projects
- Economic planning tools & methods
- Urban planning of large projects (elevated urban highways, tunnels)
- Benefit-cost analysis – frameworks at the Austrian and European level
- Risk assessment in planning (planning, funding, construction risks)
- Corridor planning, TEN networks (in cases where urban projects are part of TEN networks)
- Urban development – benefits of urban neighborhoods, spaces, from tearing down huge elevated highways, and constructing underground highway tunnels and railways)
- Possible case studies: Ludwigshafen, Düsseldorf, Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Heidelberg, Bruck/Mur
- Collection of information on Boston and Seattle projects & preparation of the excursion
- Assessment methods of potential benefits for urban spaces and neighborhoods in the centers of Boston an Seattle
- Quality of urban spaces (e.g., green infrastructure)
- Quality of life (e.g., reduction of noise and pollution)
- Effects on property values (hedonic prices)
- Basic overview, short summaries and papers, presentations for workshops
Literature, presentations, discussion, preparation of the excursion and reports, workshops, excursion
