Rail integration in the urban setting of medium-sized border cities, as in the case of the old medieval town of Maastricht with its relatively small city centre, raises many challenges. The physical space occupied by underutilized rail tracks in the centre of the city is huge, occupying...

Road infrastructure boosts economic opportunities and thus contributes to poverty alleviation. This paper investigates the causal impact of paved primary roads on poverty and income mobility in Ecuador, with particular attention to the mechanisms through which these effects materialize....

Cities are places where people commute to work and where goods are traded across space. While a large literature examines how lower commuting costs reshape cities, much less is known about within-city trade costs as a distinct force. This paper studies both channels using the construction of the...

A infraestrutura de transporte no Brasil, bem como as atividades sociais e econômicas que dela dependem, está sujeita a riscos significativos decorrentes de eventos climáticos e desastres naturais. As mudanças climáticas intensificam essa vulnerabilidade, afetando diretamente corredores...

Decarbonizing Brazil's road freight transport sector is essential to achieving the country's 2050 emission targets. To scale this effort, Brazil must transition from diesel-powered trucks to low- and zero-carbon alternatives powered by electricity or hydrogen, each requiring substantial...

Concerns have been raised regarding the equity and efficiency of Chinese healthcare systems, where improved transportation is expected to be a significant factor. The positive externalities of transport have been confirmed in many domains, but there is a lack of evidence in the field of...

How do we evaluate the welfare gains from transportation infrastructure investment? We present a quantitative spatial framework that integrates both traffic and economic responses to infrastructure investment and derive the elasticity of aggregate welfare to improvements in the transportation...

Launched in 2013, China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was originally devised to link East Asia and Europe through a network of physical and digital infrastructure. This article analyses the BRI's development in the European context by offering a comparative analysis of 727 BRI and BRI-like...

The paper aims to estimate how outward investment activity of China affects its bilateral exports at the aggregate and sectoral level in the period of recovery from the pandemic crisis. Theoretical discussion about the channels of the effect is complemented with empirical analysis (correlation...

This paper examines the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI) on residents' well-being using the difference-in-differences method based on Gallup World Poll(GWP) data from 2009 to 2018. The implementation of the BRI significantly enhances residents' well-being in participating countries,...

Transport infrastructure investment is an important tool for economic development, and its effects on labour market outcomes are often referred to when discussing the economic benefits of transport projects. However, based on theoretical models and empirical research, the effects are not...

This report provides consolidated comparative assessment of eleven Global Gateway-supported transport corridors in Africa. The report concludes that all these eleven corridors are attractive for investments. The largest benefits are expected from interventions in transport infrastructure and...

This Addendum to the Consolidated Report provides the results of the spatial multi-criteria decision modelling at fine disaggregation level (5x5 km) for eleven Global Gateway Transport Corridors, analysed and assessed in the context of the 'Corridors and Urban Systems in Africa' (CUSA) studies,...

This report investigates the issue of local actors resisting the implementation of high-speed rail (HSR) routes through the example of reactions to the Brenner Base project in Germany and Austria. In order to understand the causes of significant resistance, the report contrasts reactions to the...

The last decade has witnessed the development and implementation of two major infrastructure initiatives: China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) by the United States and the G7 countries. The escalating political confrontation...

This study evaluates the potential for Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) in Khartoum, Sudan, a rapidly urbanizing city facing critical transportation challenges. By integrating Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Spatial Multi-Criteria Analysis (SMCA), we analyze bus terminals' spatial...

We analyze how self-driving vehicles (SDVs) influence commuter behavior and returns to long-lived public transit investments. Using a commuting mode model estimated on detailed home and work location data from Greater Boston, we simulate the widespread entry of SDVs, which offer passive travel...

The Belt and Road initiative (BRI), introduced by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, is an economic and geopolitical mega-project that has become a centrepiece of China's foreign and economic policy. The original goal was to better connect the Asian economies with Europe. However, over time...

The urban transportation system is vital for efficient daily travel. Understanding how urban road network density and width influence traffic performance is crucial for informed decision-making in urban planning. In this study, we designed three homogeneous square road networks with varying...

The pandemic and the last years' geopolitical disruptions have laid bare the vulnerability of Europe's supply chains, as well as the challenges posed by insecure oil and gas supplies. In this contribution, we aim to add to this debate by raising awareness of the vulnerability of trade and supply...

We evaluate how access to international transport infrastructure promotes trade and economic development. Exploiting the gradual unfolding of transcontinental rail freight connections between China and Europe, our empirical findings indicate increasing exports from connected cities, with...

Apart from several infrastructure projects which ultimately failed, and a surprise visit by the icebreaker Xuelong off the Greenlandic capital, Nuuk, the People's Repub­lic of China has long maintained a cautious and reserved presence in the Arctic in the shadow of Russia and its fleet of...

This technical report is produced as part of the deliverables of the exploratory research project MITICA (European Commission Joint Research Centre) which investigates innovative methods for the indirect monitoring of European bridges in line with the EU priority of "A Europe fit for the digital...

This technical report is produced as part of the deliverables of the exploratory research project MITICA (European Commission Joint Research Centre) which investigates innovative methods for the indirect monitoring of European bridges in line with the EU priority of "A Europe fit for the digital...

Laos PDR is a landlocked country with a low GDP growth rate of 6% over the last few decades. GDP per capita increased to USD 2,550 in 2018 and then dropped to USD 1,880 in 2020, which has been affected by the pandemic of COVID-19 since late 2019. The services sector is the largest contributor to...