Environmental assessment of daily mobility for the design of neighbourhoods: Coupling mobility microsimulation and life-cycle assessment

Abstract

This paper aims to develop an environmental assessment methodology of daily mobility for neighbourhoods. Thus, a microsimulation model represents mobility at an individual scale, which is coupled with a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for private cars and public transport to provide a holistic environmental assessment. The model is calibrated using census data and regional mobility surveys, providing information on population, jobs, dwellings, mobility and car fleets. The methodology is applied to a real neighbourhood project in Paris suburbs. Aggregated results show low environmental impacts of mobility compared to previous studies, with 276 kg CO2-eq per individual per year, reflecting the selected central and accessible location. Leveraging the microsimulation approach, disaggregated results highlight strong heterogeneity within both residents and employees, with respectively 17 % and 5 % of each group being responsible for half the emissions. Microsimulation further allows for estimating the effect of various levers to improve the project design. Although location exerts the greatest influence on the environmental impacts of mobility, reducing parking availability also proves very efficient, especially for residents. These findings support the use of microsimulation – instead of common mean approaches – to capture the heterogeneity of mobility behaviours and better estimate responses to levers in neighbourhood design.