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Abstract
Sustainable Development (SD) is a fundamental objective in the European Union (EU) and transport is considered one of the key challenges necessary to achieve it. Although transport is mostly contested from the environmental dimension, an investigation of peer-reviewed literature along with EU policy documents suggests that the transport and accessibility (T&A) criteria of infrastructure, accessibility distance, and multimodality can positively contribute to SD. However, despite this synergetic relation between T&A and SD, a practical analysis of such enablers is unknown at the regional European level. Therefore, this study investigates the Mediterranean as a study area by analyzing 79 identified passenger ports as passenger transport land-sea interaction points. Based on open access data, port infrastructure and ship accessibility, hinterland accessibility, and multimodality are evaluated as the passenger T&A enablers for SD. Comparative geo-spatial analyses are also carried out among the passenger ports’ levels of enablers by using the data normalization method. These data driven comprehensive analytical results can bring added value to SD policy and planning initiatives in the Mediterranean. This study may also contribute to the development of relevant passenger port performance indicators for boosting port or regional competition and attractiveness towards SD.
Highlights
The opportunity for access and a fluidity of movement to and from an area are intrinsic to sustainable growth and mobility has a significant effect on a region’s competitiveness and prosperity [1,2]
The results of the geo-spatial analysis carried out on the individual enablers suggests that the level of passenger multimodality is comparatively lower among the analyzed ports in relation to other enablers, such as ship accessibility infrastructure and hinterland distances
Considering the volume of passengers carried onboard a single cruise ship, this study’s findings on satisfactory levels of ship accessibility infrastructure may be translated into the availability of a sufficient passenger handling infrastructure for the analyzed ports
Summary
The opportunity for access and a fluidity of movement to and from an area are intrinsic to sustainable growth and mobility has a significant effect on a region’s competitiveness and prosperity [1,2]. Insufficient transport and accessibility (T&A) options are claimed to have a depopulating effect in peripheral areas [14], which may result in a subsequent littorization This urbanization process, due to demographic concentration in the coastal areas where cities play an important role [15,16], is considered a serious challenge to achieving sustainable development (SD) [17]. The European Commission (EC) 1992 Green Paper is one such initiative and it lays out a framework for a common strategy of sustainable mobility, aiming to contain the environmental impacts of transport while allowing it to fulfill its economic and social functions, which later results in a policy strategy for common transport in the EU [20,29]. The guidelines encompass transportation infrastructure and passenger multimodality, this study identified a knowledge gap concerning practical analyses on T&A enabling factors for SD at the regional European scale. We conclude the paper with future study recommendations and highlight the relevance of integrating this study’s results with planning processes that aim to achieve SD
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