Sustainable mobility scale: A contribution for sustainability assessment systems in urban mobility

AbstractThe number of urban mobility studies and projects in the three large metropoles of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Tehran, Istanbul, and Cairo, is growing while other large cities do not enjoy a large share. It would be efficient for those other large cities to adapt the experiences, projects, and studies of Tehran, Istanbul, and Cairo to their own contexts. This paper can help facilitate that adaptation. It investigates the transferability and generalisability of the findings of a recent publication by the lead author on mobility choices in Tehran, Istanbul, and Cairo to some other large cities of more than one million inhabitants in the MENA region. The discussion provided here can provide decision-makers in the MENA region with guidance on how to utilise the findings from a recent study on Tehran/Istanbul/Cairo in their own contexts. T-tests were conducted to test the comparability of the three base cities with a sample 57 others with populations of over one million people. The results show that it would be possible to adapt the urban mobility studies of the three base megacities to 3 to 27 cities based on different criteria. Key suggestions identified by this study include providing local accessibility, neighbourhood facilities, and cycling facilities as well as removing social and legal constraints to cycling, advertising cycling, informing people about the harm arising from the overuse of cars, and increasing street connectivity by adding intersections. According to the findings, these evidence-based recommendations can enhance sustainable mobility for the inhabitants of up to 27 large cities.

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Use of the Sustainable Mobility Efficiency Index (SMEI) for Enhancing the Sustainable Urban Mobility in Greek Cities

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13041709 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 1709

Author(s):

Maria Morfoulaki ◽

Jason Papathanasiou

Keyword(s):

Multicriteria Analysis ◽

Efficiency Index ◽

Urban Mobility ◽

Specific Procedure ◽

Sustainable Mobility ◽

European Cities ◽

Step Procedure ◽

Directorate General ◽

Alternative Measures ◽

Sustainable Urban Mobility

Since 2013, the European cities have been encouraged to develop local Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) according to the specific procedure that was launched by the Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG Move) and updated in 2019. One of the most critical steps in this 12-step procedure is the assessment—with specific criteria—of all the alternative measures and infrastructure, which will be optimally combined, in order to better satisfy the problems and the achieve the vision of each area. The aim of the current work is to present the development and implementation of a methodological framework based on the use of multicriteria analysis. The framework targets the capturing of opinions of the relevant local experts in order to evaluate alternative sustainable mobility measures, and also prioritize them using the Sustainable Mobility Efficiency Index (SMEI).

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Smart and Resilient Urban Futures for Sustainability in the Post COVID-19 Era: A Review of Policy Responses on Urban Mobility

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13116486 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (11) ◽

pp. 6486

Author(s):

Christina Kakderi ◽

Eleni Oikonomaki ◽

Ilektra Papadaki

Keyword(s):

Operations Management ◽

Smart Cities ◽

Smart Growth ◽

Urban Mobility ◽

Sustainable Mobility ◽

Health Crisis ◽

Daily Routines ◽

Policy Responses ◽

Urban Futures ◽

Made In

The COVID-19 pandemic has put lifestyles in question, changed daily routines, and limited citizen freedoms that seemed inalienable before. A human activity that has been greatly affected since the beginning of the health crisis is mobility. Focusing on mobility, we aim to discuss the transformational impact that the pandemic brought to this specific urban domain, especially with regards to the promotion of sustainability, the smart growth agenda, and the acceleration towards the smart city paradigm. We collect 60 initial policy responses related to urban mobility from cities around the world and analyze them based on the challenge they aim to address, the exact principles of smart growth and sustainable mobility that they encapsulate, as well as the level of ICT penetration. Our findings suggest that emerging strategies, although mainly temporary, are transformational, in line with the principles of smart growth and sustainable development. Most policy responses adopted during the first months of the pandemic, however, fail to leverage advancements made in the field of smart cities, and to adopt off-the-shelf solutions such as monitoring, alerting, and operations management.

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Promoting Sustainable Mobility: A Perspective from Car and Public Transport Users

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18094715 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (9) ◽

pp. 4715

Author(s):

Audrius Dėdelė ◽

Auksė Miškinytė

Keyword(s):

Public Transport ◽

Adult Population ◽

Individual Characteristics ◽

Urban Mobility ◽

Sustainable Mobility ◽

Bicycle Safety ◽

Key Factor ◽

The Individual ◽

Significant Factors

Sustainable mobility is becoming a key factor in improving the quality of life of the residents and increasing physical activity (PA) levels. The current situation of sustainable mobility and its analysis is a first step in understanding the factors that would encourage residents to discover and choose alternative modes of travel. The present study examined the factors that encourage the choice of active modes of travel among urban adult population. Walking and cycling were analyzed as the most sustainable forms of urban mobility from the perspective of car and public transport (PT) users. Total of 902 subjects aged 18 years or older were analyzed in the study to assess commuting habits in Kaunas city, Lithuania. The majority (61.1%) of the respondents used a passenger vehicle, 28.2% used PT, and only 13.5% used active modes of travel. The results showed that safer pedestrian crossings, and comfortable paths were the most significant factors that encourage walking. A wider cycling network, and bicycle safety were the most important incentives for the promotion of cycling. Our findings show that the main factors encouraging walking and cycling among car and PT users are similar, however, the individual characteristics that determine the choice of these factors vary significantly.

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Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan and Health Security

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13084403 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 4403

Author(s):

Ilenia Spadaro ◽

Francesca Pirlone

Keyword(s):

Virus Disease ◽

Methodological Approach ◽

Point Of View ◽

Urban Mobility ◽

Territorial Development ◽

Sustainable Mobility ◽

Development Environment ◽

Health Security ◽

European Guidelines ◽

Sustainable Urban Mobility

The topic of sustainable mobility is now a priority at the urban level. Today’s cities are often very busy, polluted, and dangerous. Therefore, to encourage sustainable mobility is important; it brings territorial development, environment, health, society, and economy benefits. The corona virus disease-19 (COVID) emergency, which occurred at the beginning of 2020, highlighted the already critical situation in many cities and how our mobility habits were not, even before, so sustainable. Within sustainable mobility, the concept of safety and security is important to consider. In the literature, safe mobility is often associated with the theme of accidents. The pandemic has highlighted the need to consider safety also from a health point of view. Municipalities, as known, also according to European guidelines, have a specific tool at their disposal to promote sustainable mobility: the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP). This paper intends to propose a methodological approach aimed at integrating the health security aspect in the SUMP. In this research, in order to promote safe mobility, different aspects were considered: accidents, risk perception, and health emergencies. For each aspect, specific indicators and good practices were proposed for the achievement and monitoring of the expected results. The paper refers to the European context with particular attention to Italy; La Spezia was chosen as a case study.

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Review of Whole System Simulation Methodologies for Assessing Mobility as a Service (MaaS) as an Enabler for Sustainable Urban Mobility

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13105591 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (10) ◽

pp. 5591

Author(s):

Mark Muller ◽

Seri Park ◽

Ross Lee ◽

Brett Fusco ◽

Gonçalo Homem de Almeida Correia

Keyword(s):

Urban Areas ◽

Mode Choice ◽

Urban Mobility ◽

City Region ◽

Sustainable Mobility ◽

Simulation Tools ◽

Future Assessment ◽

Transportation Simulation ◽

Sustainable Urban Mobility ◽

The Impact

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is an emerging concept that is being advanced as an effective approach to improve the sustainability of mobility, especially in densely populated urban areas. MaaS can be defined as the integration of various transport modes into a single service, accessible on demand, via a seamless digital planning and payment application. Recent studies have shown the potential reduction in the size of automobile fleets, with corresponding predicted improvements in congestion and environmental impact, that might be realized by the advent of automated vehicles as part of future MaaS systems. However, the limiting assumptions made by these studies point to the difficult challenge of predicting how the complex interactions of user demographics and mode choice, vehicle automation, and governance models will impact sustainable mobility. The work documented in this paper focused on identifying available methodologies for assessing the sustainability impact of potential MaaS implementations from a whole system (STEEP—social, technical, economic, environmental, and political) perspective. In this research, a review was conducted of current simulation tools and models, relative to their ability to support transportation planners, to assess the MaaS concept, holistically, at a city level. The results presented include: a summary of the literature review, a weighted ranking of relevant transportation simulation tools per the assessment criteria, and identification of key gaps in the current state of the art. The gaps include capturing the interaction of demographic changes, mode choice, induced demand, and land use in a single framework that can rapidly explore the impact of alternative MaaS scenarios, on sustainable mobility, for a given city region. These gaps will guide future assessment methodologies for urban mobility systems, and ultimately assist informed decision-making.

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THE GOVERNMENTAL PERSPECTIVE IN THE URBAN MOBILITY PLAN-MAKING: THE CASE OF PERIPHERAL MUNICIPALITIES OF THE RIO DE JANEIRO METROPOLITAN AREA

Revista Produção e Desenvolvimento ◽

10.32358/rpd.2017.v3.256 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

pp. 117-135 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Igor Godeiro de Oliveira Maranhão ◽

Romulo Dante Orrico Filho ◽

Enilson Medeiros dos Santos

Keyword(s):

Metropolitan Area ◽

Rio De Janeiro ◽

The State ◽

Urban Mobility ◽

Sustainable Mobility ◽

Master Plans ◽

Design And Implementation ◽

The Subject ◽

Sustainable Urban Mobility ◽

Plan Making

This paper analyzes the main challenges of the design and implementation of sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMP) after the law 12,587 in 2012, called the National Urban Mobility Policy (PNMU, in Portuguese). With the new law, municipalities within a population of more than 20,000 inhabitants, as well as those required by law to draw up master plans, are now compelled to elaborate mobility plans. However, only 171 of almost 3,400 municipalities required to prepare the plans were ready by 2015, the first deadline, later extended to 2018. This paper examines a set of municipalities in the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area and tries to understand what are the main challenges to achieving the goal of sustainable mobility and the main differences between the European and the Brazilian governmental perspectives in the subject. A survey on the main barriers was applied in five local entities, and in the state and national levels entities. Four methods of hierarchization were applied. Among the factors that stand out most are the lack of resources to elaborate the plan, lack of integration between levels of government and problems with training and lack of personal in the responsible agencies of the municipalities.

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Social criteria to develop an in use holistic urban sustainable assessment tool: UHU2SAT

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/202123704031 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 237 ◽

pp. 04031

Author(s):

Antonio Sánchez Cordero ◽

Marta Videras Rodríguez ◽

Sergio Gómez Melgar ◽

José Manuel Andujar Márquez

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Research ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Sustainability Assessment ◽

Assessment Tools ◽

Urban Spaces ◽

Urban Mobility ◽

Human Comfort ◽

Operation And Maintenance ◽

Holistic Assessment ◽

Sustainability Assessment Tools

Recently, several urban sustainability assessment tools (USAT) have appeared to reduce the human impact provided by the built environment. Few of them focus on the assessment of urban spaces like squares, streets, and parks, etc., but they don’t operation and maintenance (OM) phase is not considered. It would be necessary to develop an in use holistic urban sustainable assessment tool (UHU2SAT) to specifically assess urban spaces under OM phase. This paper provides a qualitative research among 188 studies, with the aim to classify them according to the impacts they pursue: environmental (ENV), social (SOC) economic (ECO) and Others. Finally, the SOC criteria are reduced up to 21 and arranged into 4 different groups: Human comfort, Urban mobility, SOC Cohesion, and Health & safety. These SOC criteria have been discussed and revised according to the literature review to identify the most suitable indicators for the UHU2SAT. Finally, it can be concluded that this methodology could also be useful to obtain ENV and ECO criteria to provide a holistic assessment of the sustainability.

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Sustainable finance and the construction industry: new paradigms for design development

TECHNE - Journal of Technology for Architecture and Environment ◽

10.36253/techne-10600 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 79-85

Author(s):

Giancarlo Paganin

Keyword(s):

Construction Industry ◽

Design Process ◽

Sustainability Assessment ◽

Sustainable Growth ◽

Private Capital ◽

Construction Sector ◽

Design Development ◽

Assessment Systems ◽

Sustainable Finance ◽

Social Components

Enabling sustainable growth is highly dependent on the ability of private capital to invest in projects capable of achieving sustainability objectives divided into the three economic, environmental and social components. The international financial system has defined criteria for assessing the sustainability of investments, also applicable in the construction sector. Still, these criteria do not always appear integrated with the sustainability assessment systems developed by the AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) industry. This article proposes reflections on the relationships between the sustainability indicators of sustainable finance and those typically used in the AEC industry with the purpose of identifying possible impacts on the disciplines involved in the design process.

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Study to promote the sustainable mobility in university

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education ◽

10.1108/ijshe-01-2019-0031 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 20 (5) ◽

pp. 871-886

Author(s):

Ana Paula Scheffer ◽

Viviane Pagnussat Cechetti ◽

Lisandra Paola Lauermann ◽

Eliara Riasyk Porto ◽

Francisco Dalla Rosa

Keyword(s):

Urban Mobility ◽

University Campus ◽

Sustainable Mobility ◽

Urban Centers ◽

Content Type ◽

2030 Agenda ◽

Sustainable Urban Mobility ◽

Technical Features ◽

The University

Purpose The United Nations (2030 Agenda) recognize the need to work with sustainable urban mobility problems such as traffic jams, pollution, inadequate infrastructure are becoming recurring issues in urban centers, directly affecting the quality of life. Such an unsustainable system is frequently observed at universities, as these houses a large concentration of people and vehicles, without proper planning. To promote sustainable strategies at universities, this research aims to focus on the sustainable mobility plan (SMP) applied at the University of Passo Fundo (UPF). Design/methodology/approach Bibliographic research about the current mobility of the campus has been carried out. A questionnaire was distributed to understand opinions about the subject of key people. Findings The priority treatment given to vehicles, mostly, is an alert factor, which must be solved immediately, considering the need of planning and restructuring it. The suggestions of possible solutions were also relevant, and are being considered for the plan’s implementation. Originality/value This study stands out for using the 2030 Agenda, specifically Goal 11 (Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable), using the university campus as a study object. The mobility plan elaboration was constituted by several actions to fill all parts of the mentioned goal. This study stands out because its methodology can be used in other universities besides UPF and also, to a larger scale, in cities, with similar technical features.

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