THE ISSUE

Intelligent Solutions Sustaining Urban Economies

Project Introduction

This project brings together a consortium of regional research clusters whose core members are already pursuing research and technology development (RTD) in programmes that map on to their local or regional transport policy priorities. Common themes of expertise within the consortium apply to the fields of Traffic, Health and Environment (THE); the objective of the project is to apply this research base to achieve Intelligent Solutions for Sustaining Urban Economies. This project is funded by the European Union FP7 programme and coordinated by Leicester City Council.

Several research areas are identified that deal directly with headline themes of the EUs FP7 Calls:

Transport impacts on urban mobility
Transport greening
Health, safety and security of citizens
Associated economic impacts

Project Background

THE ISSUE project has created a vibrant partnership of regional research clusters to bring together and co-ordinate already existing and projected RTD programmes relevant to Traffic and Health and Environment; both within the clusters and more widely in the broader European research community. Tensioning RTD actions against regional economic objectives will be the next step.

This approach paves the way to shape the application of research outputs towards the delivery of regional strategies by developing a framework for co-ordinating research actions and exploitation.

THE ISSUE is unique as it brings together a range of EU partners to strengthen and support urban economies through:

Identification and multi-modal support of additional partners to widen and enhance this collaborative network.
Providing the basis for a vast number of transport related follow-on work with international commercial and academic partners.

“In 1998, the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP, an Advisory Committee of independent experts that provides advice to government departments on the health effects of air pollutants) estimated that on average, up to 24,000 people in the UK die prematurely every year as a result of short-term exposure to air pollution-with thousands more hospitalised. Research by the European Environment Agency suggested that the UK death rate could be as high as 50,000. Studies in other countries have suggested that the risks from poor air quality could be even higher.”

Project Partners

The core partners of THE ISSUE project are: