Recreational Active Travel (RAT), including walking and jogging for leisure, provides substantial health benefits, yet its gender disparities remain underexplored, particularly in high-density Asian cities. We examine gender-specific RAT patterns in Hong Kong using crowdsourced Strava data, integrating macro-level built environment (BE) and micro-level street environment (SE) attributes. We analyze about one million RAT activities recorded in October 2023, disaggregated by gender across 280,000 street segments citywide. Street view images are employed to extract objective and subjective SE features including perceived qualities. We revealed pronounced spatiotemporal gender disparities. Male RAT volume is five times higher than female RAT volume, with the gap widening at night as female activity declines by 26% compared to 21% for males. On weekends, however, female activity increases sharply by 24%, while male activity rises only 2%, suggesting that women face greater weekday constraints. Females also exhibit stronger environmental sensitivity, while footbridges and POI density positively influence RAT for both genders. Micro-SE features such as ocean views and sidewalks promote RAT, whereas signboards and floor-level barriers deter it, disproportionately affecting females. Interestingly, building density and proximity to MTR stations suppress activity particularly among males. Unexpectedly, perceived safety and proximity to police stations exert limited influence, diverging from findings in low-density Western contexts. This study introduces a scalable framework for analyzing gender-specific urban design, underscoring the need to move beyond crime-prevention paradigms. It highlights strategies for gender-inclusive urban design that prioritize accessibility, comfort, and design quality to foster active mobility in compact Asian cities. • Male outdoor exercise volume is 5× (6.5×) higher than female day (night). • Female outdoor exercise rises 42.3% on weekends vs. 26.2% for males. • Footbridges, POIs, ocean views & sidewalks boost outdoor exercise across genders. • Visual clutter and floor-level barriers disproportionately deter females. • Police stations and perceived safety are insignificant, challenging prior findings.

ABSTRACT Climate-induced mobility in African cities is often portrayed as a rational adaptive response to environmental stress, a framing that obscures the gendered, spatial, and institutional forces shaping who moves, who stays, and who is left behind. Using feminist and participatory methods, this study examines women’s experiences in four climate-vulnerable informal settlements in Accra: Agbogbloshie, Chorkor, Glefe, and Odawna. Insights from gender-segregated focus group discussions and key informant interviews reveal that adaptation emerges not from formal planning but through everyday labour, including carrying children through floodwaters, elevating belongings, and maintaining networks of mutual care. Despite being central to household and community resilience, women’s work remains largely invisible to planners. Mobility is seldom protective, while immobility shaped by poverty, caregiving roles, and insecure tenure can heighten risk. Institutional responses remain fragmented and gender-blind, highlighting the need for urban climate governance grounded in feminist ethics and local knowledge.

ABSTRACT Walking from accommodation to attractions is a routine yet consequential segment of mobility in dense heritage cities, shaping accessibility, street-level walking environment conditions, and congestion at gateways. Such pedestrian movements are particularly complex at the scenic – city interface—a transitional zone where heritage landscapes intersect with daily urban functions, creating unique pedestrian dynamics and governance challenges. This study develops a hotel-origin walkability and crowding diagnostic framework for West Lake, Hangzhou, a UNESCO cultural landscape embedded in an urban core. Using multi-source geospatial data collected in November 2024—hotel POIs (n = 1,010) with category labels, tourism-related POIs reclassified into urban functions, verified scenic entrances (n = 125), shortest walking routes to the nearest entrance, and time-sliced population heatmaps – we quantify hotel distribution, route-level cultural heritage density and pedestrian activity intensity, and entrance-level crowding dynamics. Results reveal differentiated hotel locational logics and predominantly mixed-use surroundings, alongside corridors where heritage resources and high pedestrian intensity overlap, indicating elevated congestion risk. Entrance heatmaps show stable spatial inequality in crowd loads and a pronounced late-afternoon peak. The findings offer spatial evidence for entrance management, wayfinding optimization, and route diversification at urban heritage destinations, with transferable methodological implications for planning and governance in rapidly urbanizing Asian contexts.

The rapid growth of e-commerce has significantly increased direct-to-consumer deliveries, putting competitive and environmental pressure on urban last-mile logistics. Out-of-home (OOH) delivery options, particularly parcel lockers, are increasingly integrated into city mobility strategies to reduce congestion and emissions. However, the role of mobile applications front-ending these networks remains under-researched. This study aims to evaluate the user experience (UX) and functional adequacy across three major parcel-locker apps in Poland: InPost Mobile, DPD Mobile, and ORLEN Paczka. A cross-sectional, mixed-methods approach combining in situ corridor testing and structured post-task questionnaires was employed with 30 users at real locker locations in Katowice. The results indicate that interface simplicity, predictable information flow, and technical stability are the dimensions most consistently associated with higher user ratings. InPost Mobile consistently achieved the highest ratings due to its focus on core workflows, whereas applications emphasizing broader functional coverage (ORLEN Paczka) exhibited usability trade-offs, and DPD Mobile underperformed in speed and stability. Because the study relied on a small convenience sample (n = 30) in a single city and was skewed toward younger adults (18–24), the findings should be interpreted as exploratory and primarily reflective of a digitally proficient demographic rather than the broader user population.

ABSTRACT In densely built-up cities, physical constraints and intensive land use increasingly limit the expansion of road networks and underground rail systems, leading to growing interest in alternative urban transportation modes such as urban air mobility (UAM) and drones. As these aerial systems are expected to operate within complex urban environments, ensuring their safety has become a critical planning challenge. However, quantitative safety assessment is constrained by the lack of empirical accident data due to their limited commercialization. This study estimates accident frequencies and potential human casualties associated with UAM and drone operations by adapting established aviation safety proxies, including the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Target Level of Safety (TLS), Boeing’s Statistical Summary of Commercial Jet Airplane Accidents (SSCJA), and the UK Risk of Travel (ROT) statistics. Using a projected UAM flight network for Seoul in 2035 and scenario-based assumptions for drone-based urban logistics, the expected numbers of crashes, takeoff/landing accidents, and fatalities are calculated. To address uncertainty arising from the application of conventional aviation metrics to emerging urban air systems, a one-way sensitivity analysis (±10–30%) is conducted. The results show that predicted accident and fatality levels for UAM remain low even under conservative assumptions, whereas drone logistics scenarios produce higher accident counts due to high operational frequency. Sensitivity analysis confirms bounded risk ranges rather than single-point estimates. The findings highlight the importance of managing takeoff and landing risks and support integrating UAM and drone operations into smart city platforms for urban safety management.

This study tackles inefficient urban mobility in Indian cities by showing how bus trip rate (trip generation) modelling can strengthen public transit planning and mitigate congestion and pollution. Predictive models are developed across multiple Indian cities using multiple linear regression (MLR) and artificial neural networks (ANN), finding that ANN consistently achieves higher predictive accuracy – especially in high-density contexts – by capturing non-linear relationships in mobility patterns. Sensitivity analysis highlights trip purpose and age as dominant predictors: bus reliance varies by trip purpose, while ridership declines with age, particularly among older populations. Population density positively influences bus use, underscoring stronger dependence on public transport in dense areas. Gender also proves significant, reinforcing the need for safer, more accessible, gender-inclusive systems to enhance women’s mobility. These results motivate targeted interventions – route optimisation tailored to diverse travel needs, improved access for vulnerable users and gender-sensitive policies – alongside strengthening networks in dense corridors, integrating inclusive infrastructure and aligning with national sustainability agendas (e.g., Smart Cities Mission, National Action Plan on Climate Change). To address prior limitations, a generalised model is proposed that integrates common socio-demographic drivers in developing-economy contexts and is applicable across cities of varying sizes.

ABSTRACT Automated Train Operations (ATO) are increasingly central to smart city mobility strategies, yet their safety implications remain underexplored from a systems planning perspective. This study reframes ATO safety as a question of urban mobility resilience and infrastructure transition, examining how integrated modelling can support evidence-based planning for next-generation rail systems. Using Sydney Metro’s Northwest corridor as an empirical case, the research develops a hybrid Fuzzy-Markov and cross-sectional systems modelling approach to evaluate safety performance across staged operational efficiency thresholds (<70%, <80%, <90%). Simulation results indicate that lower-efficiency transition scenarios converge more rapidly towards optimal safety performance, while near-optimal systems exhibit slower stabilisation dynamics. These findings reveal nonlinear safety transition patterns that are critical for infrastructure phasing, risk governance, and investment sequencing in automated rail environments. The analysis further identifies five system-level challenges embedded within the corridor’s eight-station Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) architecture, highlighting the interaction between digital infrastructure, operational integration, and urban-scale risk management. Results demonstrate that the ITS-enabled ATO regime delivers measurably stronger system resilience and safety convergence compared with legacy operations. Beyond technical validation, the study provides urban planners and transport authorities with a decision-support model capable of visualising safety trajectories during major technological transitions. The paper contributes to urban mobility scholarship by integrating probabilistic modelling with cross-sectional systems analytics to support strategic planning for automated rail in smart cities.

Sustainable mobility in cities: Benchmarking level of service for shared micro-mobility services

In this article, we explore the intersection of motherhood, mothering and mobility practices in Johannesburg, South Africa, and London, UK. Using an a posteriori mode of comparison that focuses on processes rather than repeated patterns, and drawing on assemblage theory, we examine the challenges of mothering and mobility in major cities of both the Global South and North. This approach enables us to show how the material and non-material shape everyday experiences of motherhood. In doing so, we argue that urban spaces are active components in the assemblages that make mothering both possible and challenging, rather than passive backdrops to human activities. By demonstrating how cities enable or constrain maternal mobility, we highlight the need for urban design and mobility policies that more explicitly account for mothers’ lived realities.

Informal transport systems constitute a major component of urban mobility in cities of the Global South, particularly where formal public transport provision is limited. In Nigerian cities, commercial motorcycles dominate everyday mobility, yet their perceived relationship with urban crime remains insufficiently examined. This study quantitatively investigates the relationship between commercial motorcycle operations and urban crime perception in Ibadan North. Anchored in Routine Activity Theory and Crime Opportunity Theory, the study adopts a mixed-methods design integrating a cross-sectional survey of 226 residents, secondary police crime records, and geospatial analysis using Kernel Density Estimation (KDE). Respondents were predominantly male (63.3%), formally educated (92.8%), with a mean age of 32.6 years; 51.4% were self-employed and 31.4% were students. Pearson correlation analysis indicates a weak positive relationship (R² = 0.06) between registered commercial motorcycles and recorded crime cases, while Chi-square analysis reveals a statistically significant association between perceived motorcycle-related crime and perceived levels of urban criminality (χ² = 35.48, p &lt; 0.001). Spatial analysis identifies five major crime hotspots accounting for 68.4% of reported incidents, with the highest density along the Sabo–Adamasingba corridor. Overall, urban crime perception is more strongly shaped by routine exposure within informal mobility environments and socio-economic positioning than by aggregate crime trends, underscoring the need for perception-sensitive and spatially targeted transport–security interventions that protect safety without undermining access or livelihoods

The rapid growth of app-based motorcycle taxi services has transformed urban mobility in Indonesian cities, including South Tangerang, while simultaneously raising concerns about service quality, safety, and the fairness of performance evaluation systems. This study aims to explore passengers’ perceptions of online motorcycle taxi drivers’ performance using a qualitative phenomenological approach. A total of 30 active users were selected through purposive sampling, focusing on passengers who regularly use ride-hailing services and have experience providing ratings or reviews. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, non-participatory observations, and documentation of user reviews. The analysis followed Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña’s interactive model, encompassing data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing. The findings reveal five key themes shaping passengers’ perceptions: riding safety, driver responsiveness, communication and service etiquette, cleanliness and professional appearance, and perceived fairness of the rating algorithm. A statistical simulation based on respondents’ rating distributions produced an average score of 4.13 with a standard deviation of 1.11, indicating considerable variation in user experiences. These variations were strongly influenced by contextual factors such as traffic congestion, weather conditions, and route complexity. The study concludes that evaluating driver performance in app-based transportation services should not rely solely on technical skills, but must also integrate soft skills and situational operational factors. The findings highlight the need for improved training, a more transparent rating system, and algorithmic adjustments to support service quality and driver sustainability.

Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft are anticipated to become a cornerstone of future urban air mobility (UAM) and intelligent three-dimensional transportation systems in smart cities. Enhancing passenger comfort is crucial for improving public acceptance of eVTOLs. However, motion sickness (MS) monitoring and mitigation pose key challenges in this context. This paper presents a comprehensive review of MS research for eVTOL applications, focusing on mixed MS induced by the combined effects of physical motion and visual stimuli in intelligent eVTOL cockpits. The underlying theories and MS-related eVTOL characteristics are first examined, based on which the technologies capable of quantifying and estimating mixed MS are then reviewed. The usage of multi-modal visual and physiological signals combined with classical MS theories is highlighted. Subsequently, the methods for MS alleviation in eVTOLs are investigated. Lastly, this work delineates critical challenges stemming from eVTOL feature complexity, eVTOL-specific MS data scarcity, intricate mixed MS modeling, and its neglect in intelligent flight systems. A potential monitoring and mitigating framework for MS in eVTOL is proposed to bridge these gaps and advance practical development.

This study presents an intelligent system for dynamic urban traffic management, focused on the automatic adjustment of speed limits and the activation of lanes as parking areas to optimize urban traffic. Using realistic scenarios simulated in the SUMO (Simulation of Urban MObility) platform and controlled by a neural network implemented in Python, the system effectively responds to variable conditions such as vehicle density, traffic flow, and other factors. To evaluate the achieved optimization, the results are compared using various traffic performance indicators, including congestion levels, average speed, travel time, among others. Through adaptive real-time behavior, the system achieves greater traffic fluidity, reduced congestion, and better use of available infrastructure. The designed control system significantly improves performance compared to uncontrolled scenarios: on average, it reduces travel time by 16 %, CO₂ emissions by 13 %, waiting time by 12 %, and accident probability by 15 %, while traffic flow increases by 11 %. The results show that this approach can effectively complement traditional traffic light control and adapt to diverse urban contexts, positioning itself as a promising solution to improve mobility in modern cities.

Smart Traffic Light Systems (STLS) are vital for managing traffic congestion and enhancing mobility in modern smart cities. Ensuring real-time communication among traffic lights, key generation, and distribution must be highly efficient to avoid delays that could impact system responsiveness and security. However, existing group key distribution protocols remain inadequate regarding computational efficiency and limited scalability in resource-constrained environments. To address this challenge, we propose a lightweight authentication and group key distribution scheme integrating two-layer mutual authentication based on Lucas polynomials with a sub-group hierarchical structure formed by K-Means clustering. This design reduces the polynomial degree to the sub-group size and employs lightweight primitives such as hash and XOR to minimize computation. The scheme was validated through NS-2 simulations using real traffic light deployment data from Surabaya, Indonesia. These improvements directly result in enhanced energy efficiency with up to 41%. Scalability analysis shows that energy increases only by 0.000144 J per node, confirming sub-linear scalability. Comparative evaluation shows reductions of 78% in computation time, 72% in setup time, and 87% in latency. The scheme also ensures robust security, maintaining key confidentiality, resistance to node compromise, and replay resistance, making efficient and secure real-time STLS. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. License details: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Objective - This article seeks to identify and understand the barriers to the adoption of active modes of transport in urban travel in a small city with a population of less than 20,000 inhabitants. Methodology - The methodology adopted consists of a bibliographic review and the application of a questionnaire to a sample of the population according to the IBGE Census. Originality/relevance - The article also presents information on the profile of urban travel in a city with a population of less than 20,000 inhabitants (small-sized), which represents the majority of Brazilian municipalities. Most studies on this topic involve cities with a population of over 60,000 inhabitants, medium-sized cities and large centers, therefore, there is a gap in studies of sustainable urban mobility in small cities. Results - The results showed the predominance of automobile use in the municipality and some of the factors that influence this choice of mode of transport are related to flexibility of schedules, speed, easy access, safety (robbery), ease of travel and environmental comfort. Theoretical/methodological contributions – The literature review meets the conceptual needs of topics related to small cities and the adaptation of a specific questionnaire for this context. This review not only grounds the research in relevant theories, but also identifies gaps in existing knowledge, allowing for the development of more robust approaches. Adapting the questionnaire is a crucial step, as it considers the particularities and challenges faced by these cities, ensuring that the questions formulated are relevant and appropriate to the local reality. In this way, the theoretical and methodological contributions are intertwined, providing a solid framework for the analysis and interpretation of data, in addition to enabling a better understanding of the social and economic phenomena that permeate small urban centers. Social and environmental contributions – These data indicate that the local government has not effectively promoted the concept of sustainable urban mobility, thus being at odds with the guidelines of the country's current urban mobility policy. The results of this research can be used by municipal public managers to encourage the use of active modes of transport, especially for short journeys, and contribute to the development of a healthier city.

Urban mobility in Lisbon faces persistent constraints driven not only by congestion, parking scarcity, and emissions but also by deeper structural issues such as fragmented governance and limited cross-peripheral public transport connectivity. These shortcomings hinder integrated mobility planning and motivate the exploration of Shared Autonomous Vehicles (SAVs) as a complementary urban transport solution. Existing SAV frameworks rarely integrate governance coordination, data interoperability, and contextual adaptation for medium-sized European cities. This study addresses this gap by designing and validating a reference model for the deployment of SAVs in Lisbon using a design–science approach combining a literature review, enterprise architecture modelling, and stakeholder validation. The proposed model contributes the following: (i) a governance coordination framework for multi-actor urban mobility ecosystems; (ii) an integrated digital and application architecture supporting multimodal services and user trust mechanisms; and (iii) a technology layer enabling V2X communication and interoperable mobility data flows. The model is demonstrated through Lisbon-specific scenarios aligned with local sustainable mobility strategies. Scenario interpretation is informed by literature-based performance benchmarks—including travel-time reductions of 13–42%, energy-use reductions of 12%, and GHG reductions of 5.6%—which are used as reference indicators rather than simulation outputs. The resulting framework bridges strategic policy and implementable system architecture, supporting the transition towards integrated, sustainable, and autonomous mobility in medium-sized European cities.

This study explores the digital transformation and public value created through the target city’s smart city Mobile Payment APP and digital city token system within the context of sustainable governance in Taiwan. Adopting a convergent mixed-methods research design, this research integrates quantitative Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA) surveys of 632 users with qualitative in-depth semi-structured interviews involving eight key stakeholders (namely, government officials, system developers, affiliated merchants, and citizen representatives). This methodology assesses service quality, user satisfaction, and cross-sector collaboration effects. The findings reveal that the mobile payment platform significantly enhances digital service delivery; fosters user engagement; and supports sustainable urban development goals, particularly net-zero carbon emissions. However, the IPA results highlight critical service gaps in the “Priority Improvement Zone,” specifically regarding the insufficient number of affiliated merchants and inconvenient information search functions. Qualitative findings attribute these gaps to cross-departmental administrative barriers and security-focused design trade-offs. This study contributes empirical evidence on the integration of financial technology and public service innovation as a means to advance smart governance and sustainable urban ecosystems. The results provide actionable insights for policymakers, city planners, and service designers focused on promoting digital public services that facilitate economic vitality, environmental sustainability, and collaborative governance.

Taxis play an important role in providing passenger mobility in many cities of the world. In a recent IRU/EU report taxis are considered as part of the collective public transport chain. The Land Transport Authority in Singapore states clearly in their website that while public transport is the most efficient means of travel, taxis bridge the gap between commuting and driving a car. In this context taxis can be considered as a complementary mobility option to public transport rather than as a competitive one. Currently many cities in the world have taxi fleets, where taxis are utilized by many local and foreign residences as well as by tourists and visitors. Riding a taxi should be a pleasant, comfortable, convenient and relatively affordable experience. In order for cities to continue providing acceptable taxi level of service the taxi fleet has to increase to meet the expected demand. The literature shows a limited number of taxi fleet prediction techniques. Towards this end this research identifies and reviews a number of taxi fleet prediction models, namely the model based on taxi availability indicator, the Hara model. The research further develops a generic algorithm of algebraic equations to estimate future taxi fleet requirements in cities of the world. This research demonstrates the utilization of the 3 models in estimating future taxi fleet requirement in a hypothetical city case study.

Urban mobility in African cities is dominated by informal systems—such as minibuses, motorcycle taxis, and tricycles—that provide vital services yet remain marginalized in formal planning and smart city visions. This conceptual paper introduces the Phygital Mobility Framework (PMF), a three-tiered model that integrates physical infrastructure, digital technologies, and inclusive governance to envision sustainable and context-specific transport futures. Developed through a conceptual synthesis of international mobility debates, African transport realities, digital innovation, and service research, the PMF positions mobility not only as access but as a catalyst for equity, well-being, and climate resilience. Rather than viewing informality as a deficit, the framework reframes it as a foundational asset for building scalable and inclusive systems. By advancing an Afrocentric and Afro-optimist perspective, the PMF offers a fresh alternative to dominant mobility paradigms and provides scholars, policymakers, and development actors with a roadmap to align transport transitions with both the lived realities of African cities and the ambitions of SDGs 11 and 13.

Climate-friendly mobility in cities. Planning for carbon reduction in the long term in four European cities