Cruise Ships and Urban Mobility in Mediterranean Spain

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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Urban Forum ◽

10.1007/s12132-020-09414-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Houshmand Masoumi ◽

Mohamed R. Ibrahim ◽

Atif Bilal Aslam

Keyword(s):

Middle Eastern ◽

Residential Location ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Built Environments ◽

Economic Factors ◽

Urban Mobility ◽

Location Choices ◽

Demographic Groups ◽

Transportation Modes ◽

Socio Economic Factors

AbstractThe present paper attempts to fill a part of the gap in the studies on residential location choices and their relations to urban mobility, socio-economics, and the built environment by presenting the results of a study on Alexandria, Egypt, by analysing the results of a survey in eight neighbourhoods undertaken in 2015. Four questions were answered in this study: (i) “How are the main drivers behind residential location choices in Alexandria connected to various socio-demographic groups or people with different availability to urban and built environments?”, (ii) “How are the main residential self-selections in Alexandria associated with one another and which are the most important?”, (iii) “How are the housing location-related decisions of Egyptians similar to or different from international decisions?”, and (iv) “How can planners and decision-makers use the knowledge produced by this study for urban planning and housing in Egypt?”. Library work and the results of a Χ2 test of independence show that availability of transportation modes, nice neighbourhoods, and affordability are the strongest motives behind decisions. However, socio-economic factors are generally stronger than urban mobility and spatial issues. These findings are partly different from those of high-income countries.

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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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Sharing Lisboa: A Digital Social Market to Promote Sustainable and Energy Efficient Behaviours

Climate ◽

10.3390/cli9020034 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 34

Author(s):

Catarina C. Rolim ◽

Patrícia Baptista

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

City Planning ◽

Local Level ◽

Urban Mobility ◽

Goods And Services ◽

New City ◽

Social Market ◽

The City ◽

Academic Year ◽

Change Mitigation

Several solutions and city planning policies have emerged to promote climate change and sustainable cities. The Sharing Cities program has the ambition of contributing to climate change mitigation by improving urban mobility, energy efficiency in buildings and reducing carbon emissions by successfully engaging citizens and fostering local-level innovation. A Digital Social Market (DSM), named Sharing Lisboa, was developed in Lisbon, Portugal, supported by an application (APP), enabling the exchange of goods and services bringing citizens together to support a common cause: three schools competing during one academic year (2018/2019) to win a final prize with the engagement of school community and surrounding community. Sharing Lisboa aimed to promote behaviour change and the adoption of energy-saving behaviours such as cycling and walking with the support of local businesses. Participants earned points that reverted to the cause (school) they supported. A total of 1260 users was registered in the APP, collecting more than 850,000 points through approximately 17,000 transactions. This paper explores how the DSM has the potential to become a new city service promoting its sustainable development. Furthermore, it is crucial for this concept to reach economic viability through a business model that is both profitable and useful for the city, businesses and citizens, since investment will be required for infrastructure and management of such a market.

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Playful mobilities in the Global South: A study of Pokémon Go play in Rio de Janeiro and Nairobi

New Media & Society ◽

10.1177/14614448211016400 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 146144482110164

Author(s):

Adriana de Souza e Silva ◽

Ragan Glover-Rijkse ◽

Anne Njathi ◽

Daniela de Cunto Bueno

Keyword(s):

South America ◽

Rio De Janeiro ◽

Global South ◽

Urban Spaces ◽

Urban Mobility ◽

Ordinary Life ◽

Perceptions Of Risk ◽

The Social ◽

The World ◽

Pokémon Go

Pokémon Go is the most popular location-based game worldwide. As a location-based game, Pokémon Go’s gameplay is connected to networked urban mobility. However, urban mobility differs significantly around the world. Large metropoles in South America and Africa, for example, experience ingrained social, cultural, and economic inequalities. With this in mind, we interviewed Pokémon Go players in two Global South cities, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Nairobi (Kenya), to understand how players navigate urban spaces not only based on gameplay but with broader concerns for safety. Our findings reveal that players negotiate their urban mobilities based on perceptions of risk and safety, choosing how to move around and avoiding areas known for violence and theft. These findings are relevant for understanding the social and political aspects of networked urban spaces as well as for investigating games as venues through which we can understand ordinary life, racial, gender, and socioeconomic inequalities.

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