Today, half of the world's population lives in urban areas and rapid urbanisation is expected to continue in the next decades. The growth of urban areas around the world presents many challenges and needs to be supported by the development of adequate and sustainable infrastructures.
The Highway and Urban Environment Symposium (Nicosia, Cyprus, June 11-14, 2006) is a forum for recent research on all aspects of the highway and urban environment and focuses especially on the management and environmental impact of transportation. The Proceedings describe recent research on vehicle emissions, air quality, urban runoff quality and treatment, contaminated areas, traffic management and sustainable transport strategies.
I. Vehicle Consumption and Emissions and Traffic Management: Engineering-economic simulations of sustainable transport policies, by T Zachariadis; Life cycle environmental benefits ofbiodiesel production and use in Spain, by C de la Ria, Y Lechon, H C'abal, C Lago, L Izquierdo, R Saez; Engine management for Flex Fuel plus compressed natural gas vehicles, by O Volpato, F Theunissen, R Mazara, E Verhaeven; Mobility and environment in Spain, by P J Perez-Martinez; Influence of gear changing behaviour on fuel-use and vehicular exhaust emissions, by C Beckx, L Int Panis, I De Vlieger, G Wets; Effect of speed reduction on emissions of heavy duty lorries, by L Int Panis, I De Vlieger, L Pelkmans, L Schrooten; Gender-linked disparity in vehicle exhaust emissions? Results from an activity-based survey, by C Beckx, L Int Panis, M Vanhulsel, G Wets, R Torfs; Floating Automotive Data Collection (FADC), by A Schaerf, S Kumra, R Mazara, L Pelkmans, E Verhaeven; Reducing car trip and pollutant emissions through strategic transport planning in Madrid, Spain, by A Monzon, A M Pardeiro, L A Vega; Evaluation of car control measures based on an Internet-based travel survey system, by N Harata, S Aono; Integrating cycling in Bus Rapid Transit system in Accra, by M L Quarshie; II. Air Pollution and Air Quality: Evaluation ofhydrogen peroxide in rainwater in downtown Sao Paulo, by MA Santos, J J Pedrotti, A Fornaro; The comparison of pollutant concentrations in liquid falling and deposited precipitation, and throughfall, by J Fisak et al.; Wet deposition at Llandaff station in Cardiff, by E Abogrean, G Karani, J Collins, R Cook; Monitoring the atmospheric deposition of particulate-associated urban contaminants, Coventry, UK, by S M Charlesworth, C Booty, J Beasant; Size, morphological and chemical characterization of aerosols polluting the Beijing atmosphere in January/February 2005, by S Norra, B Hundt, D Stuben, K Cen, C Liu, V Dietze, E Schultz; Air pollution levels in two Sao Paulo subway stations, by R K Fujii, P Oyola, J C R Pereira, A S Nedel, R C Cacavallo; Air quality nearby different typologies ofmotorways: Intercomparison and correlation, by C S Martins, F Ferreira; Assessment of air pollution in the vicinity of major alpine routes, by P Suppan, K Schafer, J Vergeiner, S Emeis, F Obleitner, E Griesser; The relative impact of automobile catalysts and Russian smelters on PGE deposition in Greenland, by S Rauch, J Knutsson; Cultural heritage stock at risk from air pollution, by J Watt et al; III. Contaminated Environments and Remediation: Organic Contaminants in Urban Sediments and Vertical Leaching in Road Ditches, by A-M Stromvali, M Norin, T J R Pettersson; The use of an epiphyte (Tillandsia usneoides L.) as bioindicator of heavy metal pollution in Sao Paulo, Brazil , by A M G Figueiredo et al.; On-line matrix separation for the determination of PGEs in sediments by ICP-MS, by A De Bonietal; Determination of PGE and REE in urban matrices and fingerprinting of traffic emission contamination, by M Angelone, F Spaziani, C Cremisini, A Saliuzzo; Sorption behaviour of Pt, Pd and Rh on different soil components: results of an experimental study, by J Dikikh, J-D Eckhardt, Z Berner, D Stuben; Reactive Soil Barriers for Removal of Chromium(VI) from Contaminated Soil, by A-M Stromvall, M Norin, Hlnanta; Cleaning of highway runoff using a reactive filter treatment plant -- a pilot-scale column study, by G Renman, M Hallberg, J Kocyba; Heavy metal removal efficiency in a kaolinite-sand media filtration pilot scale installation, by P J Ramisio, J M P Vieira; IV. Stormwater: Site assessment of road-edge grassed channels for highway drainage, by M Escarameia, A J Todd; Evaluation of the runoff water quality from a tunnel wash, by A E Barbosa, J Saraiva, T Leitao; An investigation of urban water and sediment ecotoxicity in relation to metal concentrations, by L Scholes, R Mensah, D M Revitt, R H Jones; Establishing a procedure to predict highway runoff quality in Portugal, by A E Barbosa; A field microcosm method to determine the impact of sediments and soils contaminated by road runoff on indigenous aquatic macroinvertebrates, by V Pettigrove, S Marshall, B Ryan, A Hoffmann; Assessment of stormwater ecotoxicity using a battery of biotests, by L Scholes, A Baun, M Seidl, E Eriksson, M Revitt, J-M Mouchel; Is catchment imperviousness a good indicator of ecosystem health?, by V Pettigrove; V. Stormwater Treatment: Evolution on pollutant removal efficiency in stormwater ponds due to changes in pond morphology, by T J R Pettersson, D Lavieille; Characterization of road runoff and innovative treatment technologies, by M Boller, S Langbein, M Steiner; Development and full scale implementation of a new treatment scheme for road runoff, by M Steiner, S Langbein, M Boller; Reactive filters for removal of dissolved metals in highway runoff, by M Hallberg, G Renman; Designing filters for copper removal for the secondary treatment of stormwater, by H Genc-Fuhrman, P Steen Mikkelsen, A Ledin; Modeling the oxygen mass balance of wet detention ponds receiving highway runoff, by H I Madsen, J Vollertsen, T Hvitved-Jacobsen; Monitoring and modeling the performance of a wet pond for treatment of highway runoff in cold climates, by J Vollertsen et al.; Can we close the long term mass balance equation for pollutants in highway ponds?, by T R Bentzen, T Larsen, M R Rasmussen; VI. Environmental Assessment and Effects: Cardiovascular and respiratory variability related to air pollution and meteorological variables in Oporto, Portugal -- preliminary study, by J M Azevedo, F Goncalves, A R Leal; Component analysis on respiratory disease variability at Sao Paulo, by F L T Goncalves, M S Coelho, M R D Latorre; Management and optimization of environmental information using integrated technology: A case study in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, by AS Nedel, P Oyola, R K Fujii, R C Cacavallo; Using Bayesian inference to manage uncertainty in probabilistic risk assessments in urban environments, by E Chacon, E De Miguel, I Iribarren; An assessment framework for urban water systems -- a new approach combining environmental systems with service supply and consumer perspectives , by C Lundehn, G M Morrison; Large area noise evaluation, by E Chung, A Bhaskar, M Kuwahara