• Energy Research

The lockdown and social distancing policies to reduce COVID-19 spread and perceived safety threats of COVID-19 significantly affected people’s travel behavior. Greece has been suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic, and people’s mobility behavior has been greatly affected. This study aims at: (1) exploring the variations in individuals’ trip frequencies by mode and purpose before and after the COVID-19 outbreak; (2) understanding the effects of individual differences (i.e., sociodemographic details) and perceptions towards COVID-19 (i.e., the perceived threats of COVID-19) on people’s mobility behavior changes after the outbreak; (3) underlining the individuals’ perceptions of the COVID-19 threat on the willingness of public transportation usage. Overall, 403 responses were collected in late 2020. A series of random parameter Probit modeling results reveal multiple individual and perception factors affecting the changes in mobility behavior in Greece. The results from structural equation modeling indicate that perceived COVID-19 threats affect the attitudes and subjective norms towards people’s intentions to use public transportation. The results from this study provide valuable insights for transportation authorities to develop effective strategies to manage traffic during the spread of disease for a possible future epidemic.

Electric vehicles (EVs) have the potential to lead the transition in road transportation from traditional petroleum mobility to electric mobility. Despite many environmental benefits, the market penetration rate of EVs is still low in most developing countries. Recently, Pakistan formulated its first EV policy for 2020–2025 to accelerate EV adoption. This study aims to explore the factors, including environmental concerns, perceived ease of use, effort expectancy, social influence, and perceived facilitating conditions, affecting individuals’ behavioral intentions to purchase EVs in Pakistan. The hypotheses were developed based on the literature, and an online questionnaire survey was conducted in Lahore, Pakistan, to collect the relevant data. The partial least square path modeling approach of structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesis. The results confirmed that the environmental concerns, perceived ease of use, and effort expectancy positively affect the public’s intentions to use EVs in the future. However, social influence and facilitating conditions did not significantly contribute to EV adoption in the present study. The findings suggest that the EV manufacturers aiming to accelerate EV adoption should develop marketing strategies to disseminate information regarding the environmental benefits of EVs and enhance clarity about EVs’ performance and usage.

Sustainable development has become an immense challenge, one further complicated by rapid population growth in developing countries. Therefore, analyzing the existing compactness of urban areas is essential for guiding future urban development. Most of the previous research on urban compactness has been conducted in developed countries, whereas limited research has been conducted on urban compactness in developing countries. This study fills this research gap and contributes to the current body of knowledge by offering empirical evidence of compactness measurement based on the existing urban form using Multan city as its context. Multan is a metropolitan city in the growing phase, so measuring its compactness for the promotion of sustainable development is crucial. For this research study, various indicators are adopted from the literature, such as land cover changes, density, land use, road network, congestion index, walkability index, and shape performance index, in order to evaluate compactness. The above-mentioned indicators were analyzed using ArcMap and ERDAS IMAGINE software. This study concludes that Multan city presently lies between compactness and dispersion. To achieve full compactness, highly dense vertical development with a better public transport network should be encouraged. In addition, the prevailing building regulations should be revised to increase the floor area ratio, and incentives should be devised for developers to promote vertical infill development. Moreover, there is an emerging need to formulate and implement compact city policies. By retaining the compact character of Multan city, sustainable development will be promoted. Ultimately, this research study would be a valuable resource for urban planners, decision-makers, and relevant authorities in proposing future compactness policies for sustainable development. This research can be applied to other cities with similar demographic characteristics, population, area, geographical conditions, and structure to that of Multan.