The International Conference on ICT-Travel

ICT
The rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has greatly affected individuals’ daily activities and travel. ICT has generated a great amount of online activities and also affected individuals’ living and travel behaviors in physical spaces. Moreover, the internet and related technologies has incorporated numerous information and services into our daily lives, which enables us to achieve immediate communications by overcoming traditional temporal and locational barriers. On the other hand, the emergence of new technologies has led to new issues: how to choose between real and virtual activities? How to use time more efficiently? How to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of land use and transportation? Besides, they also offer new research opportunities. Particularly, big data have promoted the innovation in research approach and design.

The international conference of “ICT, Activity Space-Time and Mobility” aims to promote scholarly communications between international and Chinese experts, and to advance academic development in related fields. Its themes include:
The relationship between ICT and residents’ travel behavior, activities and time usage;
The changes caused by ICT regarding mobility, activities, time, and the use between virtual and real space;
Travel behavior and urban space research based upon big data.

The conference was held at Nanjing University from July 16th to 18th, 2016. It was hosted by Nanjing University, with the support of IACP, WCTR SIG D4, TRB-ADB20, and Urban China Temporal and Spatial Behavior. The conference chairs are Professor Feng Zhen from Nanjing University, Professor Jason Cao from University of Minnesota, Professor Eran Ben-Elia from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Professor Patricia Mokhtarian from Georgia Institute of Technology, and Professor Sivaramakrishnan Srinivasan from University of Florida. The conference includes plenary presentations, roundtable discussions and a fieldtrip of “Smart City Development in Nanjing”. The attendants include 18 international scholars from nine countries and regions as well as 20 Chinese scholars from eight universities and institutes. Twenty-five scholars gave presentations regarding ICT, big data, and travel behaviors. The conference also had three roundtable discussions about “ICT and behavior”, “Time use while traveling”, and “Big data, activity and urban space”.  Some attendants also conducted a field trip to the Center of Smart Nanjing and Binjiang Park.

The conference was built upon the principles of sustainability, efficiency, and communication. The attendants have actively participated in the presentations and roundtable sessions. This conference provided a platform for scholars from different countries and regions to exchange information and ideas. Both the organization and content of the conference were highly appraised by international and domestic experts. It was a successful conference.  The papers presented in this conference will be considered for publication in the special issues of Transportation and Chinese academic journals.