Home » Academe (Page 2)
Category Archives: Academe
Article share: On AI as a tool for urban planning
Here is a quick share of an article on AI and its application to urban planning. I haven’t written about artificial intelligence here except maybe mentioning it along the lines of intelligent transport systems (ITS). There were what were termed as Expert Systems but AI now (including its potentials) is much more than the expert systems developed in the past.
Sanchez, T. (June 20, 2025) “In Urban Planning, AI Prompting Could be the New Design Thinking,” Planetizen, https://www.planetizen.com/blogs/135418-urban-planning-ai-prompting-could-be-new-design-thinking [Last accessed: 7/17/2025]
To quote from the article:
“Working across disciplines is essential. Collaborating with architects, landscape architects, engineers, artists, and technologists brings in diverse perspectives that can help spark new ideas. AI integrates knowledge and techniques from each of these fields. Contributing to a culture where planners feel free to experiment, where trying something new is encouraged rather than being frowned upon, is key to real innovation. Whether engaging with colleagues or prompting an AI model, creativity thrives in conversation and collaboration…
Cities should be shaped by creative thinking, and today’s challenges demand more of it than ever. Planners are in a unique position to combine deep local knowledge with new technologies, such as AI, to imagine, design, plan, and implement. AI should be seen not as a shortcut, but it has incredible potential as a partner or assistant with encyclopedic knowledge that helps planners stretch their creativity even further. As Wright advises, planners should challenge themselves with constraints to spark creativity: For instance, “What would you do if you had to write an entire zoning ordinance with 10 rules or less to make a sustainable built environment?” Such exercises encourage us to set clearer goals and find better solutions.
By combining traditional tools with emerging technologies, planners can design places that are not only functional but also vibrant, equitable, and resilient.”
What do you think about AI and its applications to urban planning including transportation and traffic?
–
Let’s act on road safety crisis!
May is Road Safety Month. It’s quite ironic that we started the month with some of the most gruesome crashes including one at SCTEX and another at NAIA. There is indeed a crisis on road safety but many are in denial or perhaps insensitive to the impacts of these crashes. We need to act and only together can we be most effective in reducing the risks for all road users.
So what can one do? How can one contribute to making roads safer? Sharing this poster from the Road Safety Research Laboratory (RSRL) of the National Center for Transportation Studies (NCTS) of the University of the Philippines:
–
Article share: On improving the Philippines’ transport system
I share this article on the desire for a sustainable transportation system for the country. This was written by a former Assistant Secretary of the Department of Transportation (on secondment) who has returned to teach at the School of Urban and Regional Planning of the University of the Philippines Diliman. Here is the article published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer:
To quote from the article:
“The present condition of the Philippine public transport system is indispensable to the desired transition from more sustainable, in this case, electric forms of transportation—to a better public transportation system. A good public transportation system is defined by reliability, accessibility, safety, and security…
The imperative to consolidate is clear and crucial. It is not just a technical necessity, but a pathway to inclusive growth where all stakeholders benefit from the transition, and where we can truly create an inclusive and sustainable system for public transportation.
Improving public transportation, by making it cleaner, safer, and more accessible, will directly enhance the quality of lives of Filipinos.”
–
On transportation and global health – article share
I was supposed to write about the keynote lecture delivered during the 30th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (TSSP). I am sharing instead an article written by Dr. Renzo Guinto who is an Associate Professor at the SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute based at the National University of Singapore.
Here is the link to his article on the Philippine Daily Inquirer: Health at the center of transport and mobility
I will not quote from the article and leave it to my readers to read and appreciate the articles content.
–
30th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (TSSP)
I was not able to post on the conference itself but it was definitely a success including the pre conference workshop (Workshop for Young Researchers or WYRe) held for the benefit of young researchers in transportation science.
Here is the link to the TSSP’s official page featuring the program for the Technical Sessions: https://ncts.upd.edu.ph/tssp/archives/2972
There were 6 sessions with papers on public transportation, active transport, traffic engineering and others including port operations and safety. A total of 27 papers were presented and in attendance were more than 150 people, mostly from the academe. The conference was conducted in cooperation with the University of the Philippines Visayas and the City Government of Iloilo. When available, I will also later share information about the very informative and enlightening keynote lecture delivered in the morning of the conference on the topic of Global Health.
–
Technical sessions at the TSSP 2024 Conference
I am sharing here the latest draft of the technical sessions for the 30th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (TSSP). The conference will be held in Iloilo City this coming September 13, 2024.
I will share the draft program for the morning plenary session in the next post.
–
Article share: Picking it up as we go: how transportation agencies can learn from university research
Here’s a quick share of an article on the JTA Research Lab. This is a good example of how transportation agencies can learn from university research and also how they can collaborate or cooperate with academe to formulate solutions to various transport problems or issues.
JTA Research Lab has been created to identify critical transportation policy questions, and get academics to help solve them. Pencils sharpened? Nathaniel P. Ford explains…
Source: Picking it up as we go: how transportation agencies can learn from university research
30th Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines
I am sharing here the First Call for Papers for the 30th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (TSSP). The conference will be held in Iloilo City almost to the day of the last time it was held there in Sept. 12, 2014.
Information on past conferences may be found here: https://ncts.upd.edu.ph/tssp/conferences
–
Lower speed limits may not slow drivers, a before-and-after study shows
I am sharing this article on drivers not reducing their speeds after speed limits have been lowered along certain roads. My first reaction after reading the article is that it is that perhaps in the US case, the after study was conducted quite early and before people have become aware, understood and adjusted to the lower speed limits. The responses or reactions to lower speed limits (particularly those posted or on signs) may vary among cities and countries. In the Philippines, where drivers and riders appear to be oblivious to speed limits, other interventions may be required including some types of traffic calming devices. This is very much a concern particularly in school zones where children are exposed to the risks of being run over by motor vehicles speeding along the roads and not minding the speed limits in the area.
Here is the Research report:
Source: Lower speed limits may not slow drivers, a before-and-after study shows
29th Annual Conference of the TSSP
The Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (TSSP) held its 29th Annual Conference today, December 7, 2023. Following is the program for the conference, which featured a panel discussion in the morning and technical sessions in the afternoon.
This was the first mainly face-to-face or in-person conference for the society since 2019. Previously, the conferences were online. As reported in the concluding part of the program, there were 84 participants who showed up at the venue while there were 30+ participants who were online via Zoom.
There were a couple of awards at the conference. These were the Best Paper Award and the Best Presentation Award. The Best Paper Award, based on the scores garnered from the blind review of the papers went to:
Maria Belen Vasquez and Jun T. Castro of UP Diliman for their paper entitled “Exploring Travel Patterns of Mobility of Care in Guiuan, Eastern Samar: Assessment of Gender and Sociodemographic Factors Using Spatial Analysis”
There was a tie for the Best Presentation Award. The two were Ms. Vasquez for the presentation of the paper on the Mobility of Care in Eastern Samar, and Mr. Erris Sancianco for the presentation of a paper he co-authored with Noriel Christopher Tiglao, Niki Jon Tolentino, Gillian Kate Hidalgo, Mary Joy Leanda, and Lester Jay Ollero entitled “Evaluating the Fuel Efficiency and Eco-Driving Potential of the EDSA Carousel using On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) and Mobile Crowdsourcing“. These papers will likely find their way to the Philippine Transportation Journal’s next issue.
Though it was not announced, a likely venue for the next conference will be Vigan, Ilocos Sur in the Northern Philippines. The likely host will be the University of Northern Philippines, the premier state university in that province. Previously and most recently, the conference was held in Cebu City (hosted by the University of San Jose-Recoletos) in 2019 and before that in Cagayan De Oro City (hosted by Xavier University) in 2018. TSSP was already organizing the 2020 conference when the pandemic struck and the country went on a lockdown. That conference was supposed to have been held in Baguio City in Benguet, and to be hosted by St. Louis University.
More information on the conference may soon be found at the TSSP’s official website: https://ncts.upd.edu.ph/tssp/
–
