The PhD Course in Infrastructures and Transport aims to train a professional, multidisciplinary, highly qualified and integrated scientific figure. Its main topics include: the infrastructures and human settlement planning and management; the acquisition, analysis and management of geographic and spatial information; the integrated mobility; the construction and the operational service of the infrastructures and conventional and innovative transport systems, focusing on those with improved environmental friendly performances.
The PhD Course consists of two curricula:
1. Curriculum INFRASTRUCTURES, TRANSPORT SYSTEMS AND GEOMATICS
The Curriculum "Infrastructures, transport systems and geomatics" will allow the acquirement, in-depth examination, development and implementation of actual and advanced technical methodologies for civil engineering works design and construction.
The main interest will be pointed on the realization and management of large linear infrastructures, integrated in transportation networks (roads, railways, harbours, airports), taking into consideration the preservation of a good human equilibrium and the safeguard of territory and environment, considering economic and financial conditions.
Therefore, the Curriculum accomplishes applied research and advanced training tasks, that are not otherwise offered by “La Sapienza” (and by other Italian Universities); this point is especially important in the actual time, in which in Italy several issues have to be solved related to efficiency, functionality and safety of infrastructures and road, railway and airport systems. For these problems, although there are now other (immaterial) infrastructures, adequate actions are required in the next years. In fact, Italy needs to reach a sustainable development (respect to environment and safety) so that national economy can compete at a global level; that is why the Curriculum offers a very professional path, addressed toward a field that is extremely important in social and economic progress, coherently with sustainable development.
In particular, the main objectives of scientific activities concern: transportation safety, protection of environment and geo-territorial structure, raw materials saving, etc..
In addition to new research development, a big attention will be pointed to the results diffusion, toward final users (engineering agencies, public works companies, public administrations, other authorities, etc.); best opportunities to transfer innovative knowledge in technical practice (design and construction of civil infrastructures) will be exploited.
Therefore, scientific and educational objectives of the Curriculum “Infrastructures, transport systems and geomatics” are:
- advanced design and construction methods for transportation infrastructures, especially regarding construction processes and integrated design procedures, with the aim to ensure the increase of safety and the preservation of environment, the measure of economic or financial resources employable and retractable.
- construction materials recycling and re-use, by means of the analysis of mechanical and ecological characteristics of waste products.
- territorial analysis, according to methodologies and geomatics techniques that, through the acquisition, management (modeling and analysis) and dissemination of territorial information, allowing study of the territory in the design and service phases of civil infrastructures and monitoring their impact.
- environmental sustainability of infrastructures, especially referred to hydro-geological problems, with the aim to recognize – also in advance – interactions between territory and transportation networks.
2. Curriculum TRANSPORT AND LAND-USE PLANNING
Transportation of people and goods has always been a key factor for the progress of culture and welfare in complex societies. In particular, during the last decades the transport sector assumed a crucial role for the growth of our modern and globalized economies, in addition to its self-great importance: nowadays in Europe, it represents alone about 10% of the GDP. On the other hand, transport has an impact of increasing relevance on land-use, urban environment and energy consumption, so that the need of guaranteeing its sustainability became a issue of primary urgency.
The chaotic development of many cities and industrial areas, without suitable road infrastructures and transit services, leaded to high congestion levels which imply frustrating travel times and massive polluting emissions.
Moreover, in the next 25 years travel demand is expected to double, therefore things are not going to get better without proper interventions aimed at rationing the available resources in terms of time, space and energy.
At the same time, the problems of traffic and mobility in general have contributed significantly to the decrease in urban quality, in terms of both environmental conditions for human health, and with respect to the functionality and beauty of public spaces. In addition, outside urban centres transportation networks have contributed to an increase in sprawl, land consumption, and landscape degradation. Policies, plans, and projects are often ineffective when it comes to addressing these problems and, in Italy especially, are characterized by economic inefficiency and conflicts with inhabitants.
The curriculum in “Transport and land-use planning” is meant to address these issues, by providing to young researchers a great variety of technical instruments in a multidisciplinary scientific environment; this way allowing them to give original answers to such relevant questions through a systemic approach. PhD students will then be able to:
- design transport systems, by setting their functional characteristics and performances
- evaluate the effects and the impacts of transport system modifications from different perspectives, to support final decisions through proper technical, social, economical and environmental analyses
- understand the totality of interactions between transportation networks and territory in order to guarantee the safeguarding of the environment, protection of the landscape, and improvement of settlement organization, and at the same time seizing the opportunities for economic and social development that can support the feasibility and sustainability of works
- delineate transport planning processes in which instruments for analysing, simulating, and evaluating networks and their effects on the territory are organically linked to the listening, participation and deliberation activities provided by European regulations and the most advanced planning methodologies.
The curriculum in “Transport and land-use planning” includes the following lines of research:
- design of transport networks
- design of transport systems and their components
- transport demand modelling
- simulation of transport networks
- integration of land use and transportation planning
- integrated planning of transport systems and public space
- transport networks for environmental and landscape quality
- policies, plans, and assessment tools for transport and land use planning
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