Anastasia Patsouri (p)

Thomas Brenner

Digital applications are transforming the functioning of cities, proposing solutions to urban challenges. Digital transport solutions have become a representative example of the implementation of sustainable mobility strategies in cities. This research focuses in the case of on-demand Ridepooling and aims to investigate whether on-demand Ridepooling is a sustainable urban mobility solution. Can on-demand Ridepooling contribute to the sustainable development of urban areas and can it really provide solutions to the urban mobility challenges cities face today? What is a sustainable mobility solution and how is it measured? These are the driving questions of this research, that presents an interdisciplinary comparative assessment of on-demand Ridepooling in Germany and Greece. Unique operational data of on-demand Ridepooling in Germany are published for the first time. Operations are predicted and simulated for Greece, where on- demand Ridepooling doesn’t exist yet. Moreover, significant literature review on sustainable mobility indicators is presented. The relation of on-demand Ridepooling to the three pillars of urban sustainable development is examined. Furthermore, a selection of interviews with key stakeholders, planners, and transport experts provides unique insights regarding the differentiated paths those two countries are following in shared transport solutions. Finally, policy recommendations are extracted, regarding a) the applicability of digital shared mobility solutions, such as on-demand Ridepooling and b) the synergies between public policies and market forces in order to achieve effective and sustainable mobility solutions for the urban ecosystem.

Joo Eun Chae (p), Jinhwan Oh

Thomas Brenner

South Korea’s inbound education official development assistance (ODA) has been known to be spread across regions regardless of geographic proximity. This not only negatively impacts Korea’s effectiveness to manage aid, but also to sustain aid long-term. As a follow-up study of Oh (2017), we reexamine Korea’s aid pattern by making a comparison with those of the United Kingdom, Germany, and Australia, three other member countries of the Development Assistance Committee that allocates inbound education ODA. With the empirical results confirming Korea’s lack of concentration in education ODA, we recommend establishing satellite campuses as a more viable, operative solution than the previously suggested solution of establishing a specialized agency focusing on scholarship programs. As validated by Nagoya University’s Asian Satellite Campuses Institute (ASCI), transferring much of work to the online platform reduces time and financial costs. Furthermore, satellite campuses are expected to facilitate various means of partnerships among aid donor countries that are implementing similar programs. International collaborative efforts could help improve the quality of Korea’s inbound education and play an important role in attracting bright prospective students. Thus, Korea could utilize online education platform to overcome severe geographic obstacles in distance education and increase effectiveness of its inbound education ODA.