Advancing sustainable urban mobility: insights from best practices and case studies

Abstract

Cities continue to expand along with the growth of population, while our mobility systems often fail to meet the demands for social, environmental and economic sustainability. The second industrial revolution enabled the extensive use of private vehicles, posing various challenges to the sustainability of such systems. Luckily, several best practices aiming at tackling this issue have been identified in the past, facilitating progress towards sustainability. Nowadays, this progress is strongly supported by the call for cities to develop Sustainable Mobility Plans (SUMPS), which stands as an opportunity for best practices to be implemented in coordination with relevant policies. This research identifies the best practices that promote a modal shift, while it investigates their alignment with the strategy that enhances public transport services, encourages active mobility and disincentivizes private vehicle usage. Therefore, the presentation of these practices, introduces a set of initiatives that under aforementioned strategy promotes a modal shift. Furthermore, through the identification of best practices in various locations, several insights and inferences are drawn, providing useful guidance.