Dr Hannah Budnitz

Hannah is a post-doctoral researcher, whose work at the TSU focuses on the transition to electric mobility in the UK from the social, behavioural and policy perspectives.

She completed her PhD at the University of Birmingham, where she was researching the relationship between travel choices, internet accessibility and extreme weather, and the opportunities that trends in improving ICT and increasing space-time flexibility of work and travel offer for more resilient responses to transport disruption. Prior to starting her doctoral studies, Hannah worked as a transport planner in the UK for first Arup, then Reading Borough Council. She also holds a BA in Urban Studies from Columbia University and an MSc in City and Regional Planning from Cardiff University.

As part of the ITEM project, Hannah is researching the processes and policies that enable the transition to electric mobility in Bristol and whether they are also fair, equitable, and inclusive. By comparing Bristol with three other medium-sized cities across Europe at different stages in the transition, multiple aspects of social justice are assessed using a multi-perspective and mixed methods approach.

Hannah is currently supporting Oxfordshire County Council in a trial of electric car clubs located at some of the public EV charging hubs that were installed through the Park and Charge project. As part of the Park and Charge project, Hannah researched barriers to electric vehicle adoption, particularly where at-home charging is not achievable due to residential parking layouts and urban form, and investigated the acceptability of a combined parking and charging service as a solution in Oxfordshire.

Hannah is also interested in the interactions between land use, telecommunications technology, activity patterns, and accessibility, as well as transport’s role in tackling climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Hannah was one of the authors of the Pathways to Zero Carbon Oxfordshire report, and this work has led to ongoing discussions with local stakeholders, including to explore the potential delivery of further innovative transport schemes through public-private-academic partnerships such as that formed for the Park and Charge project. She has won Business Engagement and OPEN seed funding to make the case for and now trial electric car clubs at the Park and Charge hubs.

Hannah tweets (@HBudnitz) and writes a monthly blog and sometimes for professional and wider audiences via publications such as Citti Magazine, The Conversation, The Planner and transportXtra.

Budnitz, H., Tranos, E. and Chapman, L., (2023). Whether weather causes contention: assessing the ongoing resilience opportunity of telecommuting. GeoJournal, 88(1), pp.613-638.

Budnitz, H. and Tranos, E., (2022). Working from home and digital divides: resilience during the pandemic. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 112(4), pp.893-913.

Budnitz, H., Tranos, E. and Chapman, L., (2021). The potential for telecommuting to offer sustainable and resilient accessibility. In Urban Form and Accessibility (pp. 157-171). Elsevier.

Budnitz, H., Tranos, E. and Chapman, L., (2020). Telecommuting and other trips: an English case study. Journal of Transport Geography, 85, p.102713.

Budnitz, H., Tranos, E. and Chapman, L., (2019). Responding to stormy weather: choosing which journeys to make. Travel behaviour and society, 18.

See Google Scholar for full overview of publications