How Urban Structure Constrains Sustainable Mobility Choices: Comparison of Copenhagen and Oporto

Abstract

Urban passenger mobility has undergone significant changes over the past few decades with travel patterns becoming increasingly more complex and difficult to predict and manage. There is an extensive discussion in the literature on the interaction of land use and transport and of their combined influence on mobility patterns. However, this vast but somehow disarticulated research field has been, so far, unable to build consensus. There is clearly a need for further research in order to shed light on the intricate web of forces acting on urban structure and travel behaviour to encourage practical implementation of integrated land-use and transport policies. In this paper we discuss how different metropolitan structures constrain mobility choices made available to their inhabitants. The structural accessibility layer was used to analyze the current land-use and transport conditions provided by two distinct metropolitan areas—Greater Copenhagen and Greater Oporto. Urban structure is regarded here as an enabler of travel choices, and its role in mobility management is discussed under this perspective, looking not at how land-use and transport policies can be used to influence travel behaviour but highlighting that these policies are crucial for providing baseline conditions for sustainable travel choices and have a role in constraining unsustainable ones. This analysis reveals the sustainability of mobility choices made available by each urban structure analyzed. Comparison of potential mobility (enabled by urban structure) with actual mobility choices reveals the role of urban structure and of urban planning in mobility management, highlighting its role in enabling desired, and constraining undesired, travel choices.