Special call for papers: Mobility and Logistics in the Era of the Coronavirus Pandemic
The coronavirus (also known as COVID-19) outbreak that started in December 2019 has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. The pandemic which currently unfolds has already affected societies across all continents. In addition to the tragic loss of life and the misery brought about by the illness, societies have experienced an unprecedented turbulence due to severe limitations on social contacts and movements. In an attempt to minimize the spread of the virus, an array of measures aimed at social-distancing and self-isolations have been introduced in one country after the other. This led to the cancellation of events, full closure of public amenities, quarantines, regional curfews and closing borders. Consequently, both passengers and goods transport have been dramatically hindered with ramifications for mobility and logistics providers.
The spread of the virus is facilitated by mobility and mobility is affected by the circumstances related to combating the pandemic. It is thus crucial to develop theories, methods and models to better understand the underlying relations between the social and economic dimensions of mobility and logistics on one hand and the spread of the virus on the other hand. Such advancement can contribute to the development of more resilient mobility and logistics systems.
This call for papers aims to advance our knowledge on the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on transport and vice-versa, i.e. the impacts of transport on the coronavirus pandemic. The call welcomes methodological and theoretical developments as well as advanced applications and empirical analysis related to the call topic.
Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
- Applications of epidemiological models to mobility
- The role of accessibility and connectivity in facilitating pandemics
- Evolution and resilience of the aviation networks and market players
- Impacts of health risks on route choice, mode choice, destination choice and trip cancellation
- Measures to mitigate the impacts of an epidemic on mobility and logistics
- Public transport and shared mobility as propagators
- Social networks in mobility and their relation to virus spreading
- Design and impacts of mitigation measures on travel demand and service supply
- Impacts of uncertainty on long-distance travel demand, in particular air travel
- Including system resilience considerations in transport appraisal
- Government policies supporting service providers (e.g. airlines and public transport companies)
- The effects of travel restrictions on the use of ICT for social and work purposes
- The aftermath: how to develop more resilient mobility and logistics systems
Given the urgency of the subject matter, papers will be handled by the editorial team as soon as they are submitted and will be processed and published independently in one of the forthcoming issues.
In case of inquiries please contact Editor-in-Chief, Oded Cats, ejtir@tudelft.nl
