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PA3: People, systems and vehicles: research implications for the sustainable urban environment

The FUTURES research programme is predicated on the belief that transport's capacity to support a sustainable urban environment is dependent on the need to address the interactions between and relationships concerning people, systems and vehicles. The aims of PA 3 are as follows:

1. To identify key findings emerging from the research activities in the specific context of how people, systems and vehicles interact;
2. To develop, over the lifetime of FUTURES, some generic interpretations and lessons for future research about how the exploitation of technology-based opportunities in urban transport relates to the people, systems and vehicles interactions;
3. To share knowledge and cross-fertilise ideas across the consortium membership; and
4. To draw together the high level findings from FUTURES as a Programme in terms of fundamental understandings, practical outcomes and lessons from partnership working within the consortium and with stakeholder partners.

PA 3 is led by the Management Group and operates on a regular basis through inter-activity and inter-partner email discussion. Interaction will be further supported by six-monthly residential 'away-days' (each running over two days). The away-days are open to all consortium members and involve a series of workshops with presentations and discussion centred both upon the specific research areas of FUTURES and related issues.

Three PhD studentships will be associated with PA 3. Each studentship will focus on one of the three FUTURES parameters - people, systems and vehicles. PA3 will provide a rich environment in which the research students can work and learn while at the same time potentially focusing their research within or across the research areas in PA 2 and/or PA 5.