The interaction between transport infrastructures and the development of the territory is a phenomenon known and studied in the literature [1]. The presence of transport infrastructures improves the accessibility of places that become more attractive, both for the location of residences and for the location of commercial and productive activities. Numerous studies have highlighted the strong impact that transport infrastructures have on the value of properties, on the development of the territory and demographic movements.

For transport planning, it is essential to be able to assess these impacts before building important infrastructures, such as high-speed railways or motorways, in order to achieve balanced social and economic development of the territory on which they are located. The transport/territory interaction models able to predict these effects must be calibrated on real data.

In this context, it is useful to have suitable methodologies for assessing the effects of the construction of transport infrastructures over time. The increasing availability and easy access to satellite data open up new possibilities for studying these problems.

In this research project, we propose to use satellite data to highlight how, over time, the construction of new transport infrastructure has influenced the distribution of activities in the area. These analyses can be used to calibrate specific transport/territory interaction models for the territories under study.

The project will study the phenomenon in some territories different from the socio-economic point of view: a European context and one related to developing countries, where the interaction is usually faster and more evident.

The objective of the overall research is broad: within it the student will collect and examine the available satellite data, their possible use for territorial analysis, will choose the territorial areas that are considered to be subject to analysis and will verify if and how it is possible to identify from such data the territorial dynamics related to the presence of important transport infrastructures.

Moreover, a study of the state-of-the-art will be necessary to see what has been already done in the proposed research fields.

The student/s will be supervised by prof. Mariano Gallo (https://www.unisannio.it/user/405/contatti), PhD in Transportation Engineering and Full Professor of Transports at the University of Sannio, with expertise in Transportation Network Design Problems; by prof. Silvia Ullo (https://www.unisannio.it/user/622/contatti), Master of Science in Technology at MIT Sloan School and graduated from the University of Naples in Electronic Engineering with expertise in satellite data analysis.

The students will also collaborate with PhD students at the University of Sannio.

The results of the research will be disseminated in conferences and/or international journals.

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