“In my view the greatest challenge is to understand how we can keep cities accessible in a way that is inclusive, healthy and sustainable.”

Research focus: travel behaviour, land use-transport interaction, mobility innovations, sustainability, health, inclusion

Dick Ettema is professor of Urban Accessibility and Social Inclusion in the Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning in Utrecht University.

Research focus on accessibility of cities

His research focuses on how accessibility of cities and urban regions changes as a result of demographic, economic, societal and technological developments, and how this affects citizens’ daily activity and travel patterns, their health and social inclusion and the sustainability of transportation. Topics addressed in his research and teaching include:

• Improving theoretical models of accessibility, travel and equity
• Implications of accessibility for (inequalities in) travel, health and well-being
• The relationship between households’ locational decisions, travel behavior and accessibility
• The impact of new transport services (Mobility as a Service, Car and Bicycle sharing systems) on travel, accessibility and equity
• How does a transition to sustainable transportation impact on transportation and land use planning, travel behaviour and equity
  
  

Background

Ettema studied Architecture and Spatial Planning at Eindhoven University of Technology, from where he received a doctorate in 1996 for his thesis, ‘Activity Travel Demand Modelling’. He subsequently worked for various consultancy firms - Hague Consulting Group and Grontmij (now Sweco) - from 1996 to 2003. Since 2003 he’s been affiliated with Utrecht University (Social Geography and Planning), where he currently holds the chair ‘Urban Accessibility and Social Inclusion’.