Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans Research Articles

How do SUMPs Consider Factors Influencing Walkability and Cyclability? A Review of Literature and Planning Tools

Improving active mobility in settlements is one of the EU's core objectives to improve people's quality of life. EU guidelines indicate Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) as strategic planning tools to achieve sustainable results through the definition of objectives and the provision of actions. Scientific research has extensively explored numerous factors in the built environment and active mobility infrastructures that influence mobility features and demands. However, a gap exists between research and urban plans employed to promote sustainable mobility. This paper examines whether these identified factors from scientific literature have implications for enhancing active mobility actions in Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans. First, a literature review highlights recurring factors in assessing active mobility networks. Then, an overview of actions supporting walkability and cyclability within Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans applied in the Emilia-Romagna Region in Italy is conducted. The two reviews comparison points out the expected implementation gap between research and practice.

Classification of Smart and Sustainable Urban Mobility

The main purpose of this article is to identify and classify smart and sustainable urban mobility solutions in the context of three narratives for sustainable mobility: electromobility, collective transport 2.0 and low-mobility societies. The research process of this study included the following methods: review of the literature, namely, strategic European documents, sustainable urban mobility plans in chosen cities and scientific publications addressing smart and sustainable mobility, case studies of selected cities in Europe and technology mapping to visualize the study results. The main result of this study is the review of various smart and sustainable urban solutions (SSUM) and their classification within the three narratives of electromobility, collective transport 2.0 and low-mobility societies. This article expands the concept of the three narratives for sustainable mobility with the aspect of smart mobility enriched with the variety of example solutions, case studies and good practices within mobility strategies in European cities. The study results can be useful for different stakeholders engaged in developing and introducing the sustainable mobility strategies in cities. Based on the catalogue of SSUM solutions, presented case studies and good practices, they may gain the necessary knowledge, consider the possible initiatives towards green transformation in cities and finally adjust them to the citizens’ need.

Sustainable Time-Dependent Cheapest Path Problem with Integrated Collaborative Stakeholders’ Perspectives

The Sustainable Time-Dependent Cheapest Path Problem (STDCPP) entails locating a Hamiltonian path that covers all of the graph’s vertices at the lowest possible total sustainability cost. The issue is inspired by actual city logistics, where it is important to consider the opinions of diverse stakeholders in the light of sustainable urban mobility plans and service viability. To address this issue, this paper suggests a twofold contribution. First, we describe the Sustainable Time-Dependent Cheapest Path Problem and define the complex cost function, which, based on the multi-criteria decision-making approach, integrates the views of different stakeholders and sustainability elements into the route cost calculation. Second, we show that the modified problem satisfies the FIFO (First-In First-Out) property and demonstrate the applicability of the suggested approach on a real-life scenario where route sustainability is extracted from the traffic sign information system available in Flanders, Belgium.

Performing Sentiment Analysis Using Natural Language Models for Urban Policymaking: An analysis of Twitter Data in Brussels

ObjectivesMobility is a core challenge to transition towards sustainability. Cities are, therefore, rethinking their mobility to reduce negative externalities such as (greenhouse) gas emissions or congestion. When trying to implement sustainable urban mobility plans, there is often resistance from citizens. This can indicate a disconnect between the public and policymakers due to a lack of participation, coupled with the fact that current data-collection methods often used (such as travel surveys) are limited in scope. Advances in big data analysis and user-generated content provide opportunities to gain deeper insights into citizens' perceptions of mobility policy changes. This paper explores how sentiment analysis through deep learning can be used in transport planning.Materials and MethodsIn this research, we analyse the sentiments of citizens towards recent changes in mobility policy in Brussels, Belgium, through Twitter data. We analyse 1998 tweets about changing mobility policy in Brussels between July 18th, 2019 (forming of the last Brussels regional government), and December 31st, 2022 (starting date of the analyses). For our analysis, we employ two pre-trained language models: XLM-T and GPT4.ResultsOur results show that the sentiment with regard to the new mobility interventions is, as reflected by Twitter posts, not overwhelmingly negative. Furthermore, we find that the performance scores of XLM-T when no domain-specific fine-tuning has occurred (zero-shot evaluation) is fairly low (0.48). Once the model is trained on our domain-specific data, it reaches an accuracy of 0.67. When using GPT4, the model reaches an accuracy of 0.66. Additionally, GPT4 seems better suited at identifying mismatched tweets, i.e. tweets using vocabulary that has a different sentiment than the one the tweets expresses (e.g., sarcasm). This might indicate that large language models might be better suited to obtain implicit sentiments expressed in a text.ConclusionsFrom a machine learning perspective, our experiments highlight the difficulty of recognising contextual sentiment (in this case, a sentiment towards changes in mobility policies), which may differ from the sentiment reflected in the vocabulary used. This is especially important if these two sentiments do not correspond, a problem both models struggled with. Additionally, we show that GPT4 can provide additional information when performing sentiment analysis by prompting it to attribute scores to texts. This paper opens new perspectives on understanding and addressing public sentiment in urban mobility policies. The advancements in language models, and the effective integration of user-generated content, can provide policymakers with a more comprehensive understanding of public sentiment, facilitating the implementation of certain policies.Clinical RelevanceNone.

Transportation Problems: Analysis and Solutions

Abstract: Transportation systems are fundamental to modern society, facilitating the movement of people and goods essential for economic development and social well-being. However, the efficiency and sustainability of these systems are often challenged by various factors, leading to transportation problems such as traffic congestion, inefficient route planning, and environmental degradation. This review paper comprehensively examines the analysis and solutions to transportation problems, encompassing a range of analytical techniques and innovative approaches. Beginning with an exploration of different types of transportation problems, including route optimization and capacity planning issues, the paper delves into the analytical techniques employed, such as linear programming and heuristic algorithms. Through case studies focusing on urban transportation networks and freight systems, key challenges such as data quality and technological constraints are identified. The paper then explores solutions, including the role of intelligent transportation systems, green initiatives, and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain. Finally, it outlines future directions, including the potential of autonomous vehicles and the importance of sustainable urban mobility planning. This review provides valuable insights for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers seeking to address transportation challenges and build resilient and efficient transportation systems for the future.

INTEGRATION OF AN URBAN TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM AS AN ELEMENT OF MOBILITY PLANS

In today’s urban mobility scene, the increasing number of private cars trying to travel through the city centers is one of the most onerous problems facing urban transport. Knowing about the impact that different transport demand management models can have on the efficiency of the urban transport system may be of key importance for developing solutions in this area. This knowledge is the main goal of the considerations undertaken. The observations presented in this article took place during the formation of a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) for the Bielsko-Biała agglomeration. The author of the article is a member of the working group that prepared the SUMP project for the city. The study examined the effectiveness of mobility planning activities. The scope of these activities included collecting the data necessary to create a mobility plan, analyzing this data, building scenarios in the area of transport demand management, and designing the assessment of the adopted solutions. The article shows the procedure for creating a model of a SUMP for urban areas, which may be a prerequisite for municipal governments for effective applications for funding projects related to transport. The most important part of the analysis is the evaluation using integration indicators of selected key elements of the urban transport system of the Bielsko-Biała agglomeration in the area of transfer accessibility. Such research allows us to answer the question of whether the locations of new railway stops proposed under the agglomeration SUMP contribute to increasing the integration of the urban transport system. The current research implements one of the dimensions of mobility management projects. Related goals are, among other things, to achieve more effective integration of the urban transport system. The analyses were carried out by measuring selected properties of the transport network and a survey questionnaire.

Effects of multilevel governance on the design and implementation of sustainable mobility plans

Objectives: The polycentric nature of multilevel governance structures with multiple actors interacting at different levels can facilitate sustainability transitions. This study aims to explore the impact of multilevel governance on the design and implementation of sustainable urban mobility plans within the two-tiered government structure of Sweden. Methodology: The study is based on qualitative review of the academic literature, secondary sources including review of national policy documents and empirical insights drawn from the case study of Umeå, a medium-sized Swedish city which takes part in several national, local, and transnational initiatives to accelerate sustainability transitions. The empirical data is collected through semi-structured interviews with policy experts, policymakers, transport, and urban planners who are responsible for formulation and implementation of transport policies within national and local institutions. Results: The multilevel governance of transport and sustainable urban mobility policies in Sweden produces several positive effects for design and implementation of policies. These include clear division of responsibilities among public authorities at national, regional, and local government level which helps to overcome the problems such as lack of accountability and responsibility. Conclusions: Multilevel governance of sustainable urban mobility policies in Sweden enables local authorities to have access additional resources and knowledge exchange through networks consisting of various public and private actors.

Uncertainty and Triple Access Planning in European Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans: a long way to go yet?

ABSTRACT Triple Access Planning (TAP) is the idea that accessibility can be delivered through physical mobility, digital connectivity, and spatial proximity. There is great uncertainty as to how far one of these three elements will substitute for or complement the others in delivering the accessibility we need in future. Sustainable Urban Mobility (SUM) Planning is touted as a relatively new paradigm in local transport planning oriented to the achievement of a wide range of societal objectives. The paper presents a review of how well SUM Plans from eight European countries, and national guidelines from four currently account for TAP and uncertainty in their approach. Our findings suggest that while the concept of physical proximity is well-understood, other aspects of the TAP and uncertainty approach are not. Digital connectivity is largely ignored. The planning future is treated as largely certain, with no consideration of disruptive factors that might alter this future.

Distributed and collaborative system to improve traffic conditions using fuzzy logic and V2X communications

Nowadays, the increase in the number of vehicles on the roads has brought about several problems such as an increase in traffic congestion and, consequently, in polluting emissions. These problems are especially severe in urban environments. It is crucial to perform a sustainable urban mobility plan to improve the traffic and therefore, reduce the negative impacts caused by traffic jams. To this end, this paper presents a smart mobility plan that employs a collaborative driving strategy. Each vehicle tries to infer traffic conditions using its own status and the information shared by other peers. Using a fuzzy logic approach, vehicles perform decisions in accordance with the traffic levels inferred in real time. The designed mobility plan has been tested through a simulation environment and considering two types of urban areas in a typical European city (a peripheral area and a more congested city centre). If we compare the performance of traffic with and without the system designed, with our approach average speeds increase by up to 11.20 % and CO2 emissions are reduced by up to 12.27 %. Thus, our results show that the mobility plan has helped to enhance the ability of cars to be able to solve problems caused by traffic congestion and traffic jams.

SUSTAINABLE URBAN MOBILITY PLAN AS ONE OF THE TOOLS OF MANAGEMENT OF URBAN TRANSPORT SYSTEMS

The concepts of "urban mobility" and "sustainable urban mobility plan" are defined. Indicators of sustainable transport planning problems in various categories (trip activity, air pollution emissions, noise pollution, transport risk, economic productivity, general accessibility, land use impact, equity capital, transport policy) are also given, possible sub-categories are proposed and the evaluation of indicators according to the principle: A = suggested for use in almost all situations; B = proposed for use if appropriate/possible; C = proposed for use when appropriate to address specific community needs. A number of factors that should be paid attention to in the process of creating a sustainable urban mobility plan are described. It also describes the main stages of creating a plan and the features that should be considered during the planning process in order to successfully implement sharing systems in a mobility strategy.

Urban Environment’s Contributory Factors for the Adoption of Cargo Bike Usage: A Systematic Literature Review

The supply chain sector plays a crucial role in driving economic development and globalization. However, the environmental repercussions of logistics and freight transport have become more pronounced. Nowadays, there is an ever-increasing acceptance regarding the opinion that the use of more sustainable urban freight transport has the potential to offer great social, economic, and environmental benefits. This study examines and highlights, via a systematic literature review, the urban environment’s factors that can essentially influence the promotion and usage of cargo bikes for last-mile deliveries in the urban environment. The aforementioned literature review revealed the importance of the quality of the urban environment’s components for the perceived and objective safety of people who make use of cargo bikes. In particular, the most essential factors for the increased use of cargo bikes were found to be traffic load, speed limits, and heavy vehicle traffic. Bicycle infrastructure is also an important factor in bicycling acceptance, as it provides the backbone for a comfortable and safe bicycle ride. Two other factors that can seriously affect cyclists’ sense of safety are street intersections and the width and number of road lanes, as the interaction between cargo bikes and motorized vehicles increases the possibility of traffic accidents. All the above factors need to be considered via various public policies that are not isolated countermeasures but form part of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans that are currently being implemented in many European cities to ensure continuity and create a sustainable future.

Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning in the Port Areas: A Case Study

Sustainable development, urban planning, mobility, and transport planning, integrated within the context of sustainable urban mobility, have been central themes in both scientific and applied spheres over the past few decades. In port cities, it becomes particularly essential to tackle sustainability issues given the pollution and noise emanating from ships and other port-related activities. To meet mobility and transportation sustainability needs in the port area, a port should implement measures aligned with a sustainable urban mobility planning (SUMP) approach. However, many ports have thus far achieved limited results in this direction due to the absence of an approach to defining sustainable mobility solutions based on the SUMP approach for an urban area associated with the given port. The overall aim of this paper is to support the development of territorial SUMP for port areas by proposing a methodology that identifies and prioritizes sustainable mobility solutions tailored to a specific port area. The proposed methodology is applied in the Port of Bar (Montenegro) through an appropriate case study. In this case study, the methodological steps are systematically followed, resulting in the practical implementation of the selected mobility solution: the use of a hybrid bus for internal employee transportation within the port area. The undertaken case study underscores the simplicity, practical applicability, and adaptability of the proposed methodology.

An Advanced Driver Information System at Critical Points in the Multimodal Traffic Network

Enhancing traffic safety is one of the fundamental objectives of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), and it aligns closely with the principles of sustainable transport. Due to specific differences in infrastructure, vehicles, and users’ behavior, places where different modes of traffic intersect are recognized as critical points of the traffic system, making them crucial areas for the implementation of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs). The SUMPs aim to create urban mobility that is both environmentally friendly and safe for all users. The continuous development and widespread adoption of innovative ITS technologies have paved the way for a system that can provide drivers with real-time information about both immediate and potential dangers at these critical points. This paper presents a comprehensive review of prior research conducted in the field, investigating the impact of information systems on drivers’ behavior, various detection and communication solutions that can be effectively integrated into such a system, and a brief overview of the models and solutions that have been developed to warn drivers in a similar context. A review of the literature found that warning systems have a significant impact on driver behavior, which contributes to increased traffic safety. Furthermore, there are numerous solutions applicable to a multimodal environment. Yet, they mostly refer either to autonomous vehicles or require an additional unit of infrastructure for communication, which is not realistically applicable to the current state of traffic in most countries of the world. This paper proposes a system architecture framework for future research that would take advantage of widely available technologies and make the system accessible to different users in a multimodal environment.

The Increase in E-commerce Purchases and the Impact on the Newest European City Logistics Development

Background: In recent times, the advancement of urban logistics has encountered a series of pivotal challenges pertaining to the efficient distribution of goods and associated concerns such as congestion and pollution. In response, efforts have been directed towards identifying enhanced solutions. Notably, the growing development of electronic commerce of electronic commerce has underscored the necessity of devising viable approaches, both functionally and economically, to bolster the evolution of city logistics. The document focuses on a comparative analysis of e-commerce purchase demand data in Europe, focusing on two product macro-categories, namely clothing and e-grocery. It points out that the pandemic, but the health crisis has accelerated this practice. Objective: The acquired findings unequivocally validate the necessity for a fundamental reassessment of delivery transport methods, taking into account the perishability of materials, sustainable urban accessibility, and the incorporation of cutting-edge technologies. Methods: The comparison in the different European contexts and the different trends recorded with the variation of the macro product categories was defined by QGIS maps and they underline how some of the states have restored their context of demand for mobility while others have preferred online commerce by reducing physical movements. Results: Analysis of the available data revealed that between 2020 and 2022 e-commerce concerning clothing, online food purchase and home delivery these are the findings; for the clothing category,, the distribution remained very similar; for the online food purchase category, the situation is quite similar and for home delivery category of ready-to-eat restaurant and fast-food food, many countries exceeded percentages of 20%. Conclusion: This could lead to an improvement in urban mobility planning, prompting an integration of these issues within the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) and at the same time it would allow logistics service managers to be able to introduce more sustainable and efficient modal forms.

Sustainable mobility in smart cities: a document study of mobility initiatives of mid-sized Nordic smart cities

The smart city concept is being viewed as part of the urban future, integrating technological advances, multi-sectorial collaboration, and innovative open markets with strategic goals and ambitions to achieve sustainable urban development. Smart mobility is considered a vital element of the smart city, given that urban transport systems should become more efficient and sustainable. With this in mind, we raise the question: how sustainable is smart mobility? To answer this, we review smart city strategies and measures of fourteen mid-sized cities of the Nordic Smart Cities Network, identifying smart mobility goals together with proposed or implemented mobility measures. We evaluate how they align with sustainable mobility and how effective they are with the help of two analytical frameworks: a) the EU’s Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning (SUMP) objectives and b) the S.M.A.R.T. objectives. In doing so, we assess to which degree smart mobility strategies and measures in Nordic smart cities contribute to sustainable urban mobility and development, and how they contribute to achieving sustainable and smart city goals in terms of feasibility and accountability. The study reveals that measures mainly address the SUMP objectives relating to efficiency and environment, with little focus on inclusive and safe mobility planning that caters to attractive cities and high quality of urban life. Another finding is that smart mobility measures are relatively conventional, and their goals and ambitions are often stated on an abstract level and rarely measurable with specific indicators. Thus, there seems to be a lack of feasibility and accountability related to smart mobility measures, as well as a lack of focus on social sustainability.

Evaluating sustainability of urban mobility of Asian cities: An integrated approach of interval type-2 fuzzy best-worst method and MULTIMOORA

The motivation for sustainable urban mobility is driven by the need to create environmentally friendly, socially inclusive, economically viable, and healthier cities for current and future generations. It requires a comprehensive approach that combines infrastructure development, policy changes, behavioral shifts, and technological advancements to transform urban transportation systems. The importance of creating increasingly sustainable urban transportation is now greater than it has ever been. One of the attempts in this field is the sustainable urban transport index (SUTI) developed by the United Nations (UN). Although the SUTI has a comprehensive pool of criteria for the evaluation of mobility sustainability of cities, considering the criteria weights as equal and disregarding the uncertainties present in expert opinions is viewed as a significant drawback. To satisfy the aforementioned deficiency, a novel integrated approach including the best-worst method (BWM), multi-objective optimization by ratio analysis (MOORA) and MOORA plus full multiplicative form (MULTIMOORA) method is develloped and applied for the SUTI evaluation. In order to manage ambiguous linguistic approximations, the utilization of BWM is applied within the framework of interval type-2 fuzzy (IT2F) sets. While IT2F-BWM is used to prioritize the main and sub-indicators of SUTI, MULTIMOORA approach is applied to rank the Asian cities. The findings imply that the proposed approach not only provides a more scientific perspective but also provides the opportunity to perform sensitivity analysis on criteria weights. Therefore, the results obtained in this study are expected to help cities to create a road map for planning sustainable urban mobility (e.g. Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan).

Harnessing Systems Science and Co-Creation Techniques to Develop a Theory of Change towards Sustainable Transport

Integrated transport and land-use planning and reduced car dependency proffers a pathway to mobility justice and reduced transport poverty, whilst providing opportunities for potential health benefits and reducing carbon emissions. In spite of this, smaller cities and towns face opposition to the reallocation of road space away from the private car. Traditionally, transport measures have been responsive to growing car-use. To accelerate a behavioural shift to sustainable modes, an evidence-based, transformative approach is required that is consultative in nature, and inclusive of all relevant stakeholders and nurtures innovation. The study aims to achieve this by co-creating a theory of change, with a broad group of stakeholders and the community. Systems science and co-creation techniques were utilised to enable informed decision-making and foster shared learning, resulting in a theory of change formulated by stakeholders with a shared vision. Sixteen objectives were identified under five broad categories, create sustainable systems; design healthy built environments; engage society; empower people and prioritise road safety, informed by the systems-based framework Global Action Plan on Physical Activity. Assumptions, risks and key performance indicators were key elements of the theory of change. Risks identified for successful implementation of the plan were lack of funding and human resources to deliver actions, political challenges, lengthy planning processes, entrenched social norms and resistance from the community. This process, which was adopted, synthesises scientific evidence, a participatory systems approach, informed decision making and the practical application of the embedded researcher, resulting in a pragmatic theory of change to reduce car-dependency and create a shift to sustainable travel modes. The process highlights the importance of stakeholder and community engagement, from participatory mapping of the system to the development of the theory of change to generate local solutions to identified challenges. The resulting theory of change will form the basis of a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan for Kilkenny City. The theory of change can be adapted to new settings by the participatory processes outlined.

Carrier-provided freight data for improved sustainable urban mobility planning

Urban freight transport is expected to increase in volume and share of motorized traffic in cities. Simultaneously, stakeholders responsible for urban development lack access to detailed data on urban freight transport. Private freight actors, i.e., carriers, collect data as part of their operations, which could potentially meet the data needs within public planning. This paper explores the possibilities of exploiting such data for improved urban mobility planning through semi-structured interviews with carriers and planners. The results show that carriers are willing to share delivery data under certain conditions and even mention benefits for their own operations if such sharing leads to more informed freight planning. Furthermore, sample data provided by carriers was explored and largely proved to contain core information on carrier movements to meet the needs of the planners. However, data on vehicles and routing was lacking. As a next step, it is suggested that a public authority initiate the collection and use of carrier-provided data to maintain trust amongst stakeholders. Additionally, efficient ways of collecting and interpreting the data must be developed to obtain consistent, useable, high-quality data for sustainable urban mobility planning.

Towards transformation-oriented planning: what can sustainable urban mobility planning (SUMP) learn from transition management (TM)?

ABSTRACT The European Commission’s concept of Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning (SUMP) aims to prepare transport planners for the challenge of fundamental transformations to achieve climate-neutral and sustainable cities. While the concept has been widely adopted by European cities over the last decade, it can be asked whether SUMP is able to trigger the required transformative change in mobility systems. This paper critically reflects on the SUMP concept by systematically comparing it with the theoretical governance framework of Transition Management (TM), which is explicitly designed to foster transformative change. Based on a literature review, we examine similarities and differences between these approaches regarding the planning dimensions of context, content and process. Drawing on this comparison, the paper demonstrates how SUMP could learn from TM in practice and research in four main ways: (i) utilising transition theory to better address transition features; (ii) using collaborative formats from TM while taking account of legitimacy concerns; (iii) incorporating backcasting approaches; and (iv) explicitly integrating experiments into the process cycle. The paper exemplifies how insights from transition research can stimulate the further development of procedures, methods and tools towards transformation-oriented planning.

Sustainability Study of Projects Financed by European Funds in Romania, the South-Muntenia Development Region

Abstract The European Nation EU is a promoter of the idea of sustainable development. Projects developed and implemented with the help of European funds can contribute significantly to the transition towards sustainability, as they facilitate innovation, development and knowledge transfer. Mainstreaming sustainability in the EU projects goes hand in hand with the development indicators set by the United Nations and, beyond that, affects regional and local development. The identification of sustainable activities requires from the beneficiaries of EU funds a good knowledge of the sustainability indicators present in the guidelines and funding applications. Even if sustainability does not have a method to be measured, it can be shown through examples of good practice in EU-funded projects. This article tries to fill this gap, contributing to a better understanding of the initiation of project activities related to sustainability by: presenting the sustainability aspects mentioned in the funding guidelines, proposing a framework for describing sustainable activities: With the help of the 5 good practice -examples of projects related to axis 4.1 Reducing carbon emissions in county municipalities through investments based on sustainable urban mobility plans we indicate examples of activities and projects aiming at sustainable urban development. In a critical discussion, we analyzed the need to build a tool to measure sustainability in projects. Finally, we draw conclusions on the potential for growth and development towards sustainability in EU-funded projects, as these projects contribute to local and therefore regional, development.