Guillermo Velázquez and Laura Garrido successfully defend their Doctoral Theses.
Guillermo Velázquez defended his doctoral thesis, entitled "Behavioral factors underlying the adoption of Smart Mobility solutions", last Thursday, September 5, obtaining the qualification of Outstanding Laude with International Mention. In it he states that the "unstoppable growth of cities is posing enormous sustainability challenges. These challenges raise the need to find innovative urban solutions that help reduce inefficiencies and externalities, while ensuring the benefits of urban agglomerations." And that "smart mobility solutions arise from the transposition of ICT and disruptive models into the field of urban mobility".
Throughout this thesis, three behavioral studies are developed in the city of Madrid and "the hypotheses and analyses carried out focus on the role of both behavioral factors traditionally related to transport and more novel factors related to technology; thus obtaining an answer to the research question of the present study, focused on what behavioral traits underlie the decision of users to adopt and use intelligent mobility solutions".
The objective of Guillermo Velázquez's thesis is "to improve public policies, focusing on how different factors of human behavior can be exploited to promote a more sustainable future of urban mobility."
Laura Garrido Maza defended her thesis "Impact of public support mechanisms on the performance of public private partnerships. An empirical analysis of road projects in Spain" a few days later, on September 12. In his research, which also deserved the qualification of Outstanding Laude with International Mention, he argues that "budgetary constraints are driving many governments to encourage private financing of transport infrastructures through public-private partnerships (PPPs)" and that a "better understanding of the performance of PPPs and the factors that can influence it is a key aspect for governments when it comes to implement" support mechanisms that improve the financial viability of PPP projects.
Laura Garrido's research consists of "two differentiated analyses, at macro and micro levels, with the aim of providing a greater understanding of the possible positive effects of public support on the performance of projects, but also of the potential risks that a poor design of support mechanisms can entail for governments and for society."
The objective of this thesis is "to improve the current empirical knowledge about the impacts that public support for PPP projects can have on the projects themselves, the administration and society, taking Spain as a case study".
