The aim of this book is to highlight the great potential of decentralized (i.e. local or urban) energy policies in achieving environmentally-benign developments for modern cities. Urban sustainability is placed in the context of the debate on global sustainable development. A wide array of policy initiatives is discussed and evaluated, ranging from market-based energy policies to technological innovation policies for the energy sector. A theoretical framework for technology adoption processes is developed and empirically tested. The main question addressed is: which are the critical success factors for successful urban energy policies? This question is also dealt with in a meta-analytic context by assessing and comparing the performance of energy policies in various European cities, with a particular view to renewable energy.

A major strategy to reduce transport congestion and other social costs of transport is to ensure that travellers make the best decisions, based on real time information. A wide range of technological systems have been developed to provide this information, but little is known about how travellers actually respond to it. This book offers an overview of various transport telematics options and provides an appropriate methodological framework, followed by a presentation of results from actual applications of these telematics systems from a range of European countries in various transport sectors. The empirical results are supplemented by analytical models and geographic information systems representations with a view on generalizing these findings and identifying the key parameters which determine user response.

The aim of this book is to highlight the great potential of decentralized (i.e. local or urban) energy policies in achieving environmentally-benign developments for modern cities. Urban sustainability is placed in the context of the debate on global sustainable development. A wide array of policy initiatives is discussed and evaluated, ranging from market-based energy policies to technological innovation policies for the energy sector. A theoretical framework for technology adoption processes is developed and empirically tested. The main question addressed is: which are the critical success factors for successful urban energy policies? This question is also dealt with in a meta-analytic context by assessing and comparing the performance of energy policies in various European cities, with a particular view to renewable energy.