Urban Mobility Plans Research Articles

Evaluating the accessibility of collective fixed-route paratransit service in developing cities: A case study of Djibouti

This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of accessibility for collective fixed-route paratransit services in Djibouti, examining current conditions through diverse data sources, including geographic information systems and household surveys. The proposed accessibility model considers walking time, waiting time, and coverage ratio. It correlates the decrease in accessibility based on walking time with the reduction in paratransit ridership. To assess the impact of waiting time, the model compares an acceptable waiting time (5 min) with the average waiting time of the service. A threshold walking time of 8 min defines the service coverage area. Results indicate that the collective fixed-route service covers only 39.49% of the city’s urban area. Although accessibility is higher in the city center, the outskirts face substantial accessibility gaps. This analysis not only reveals the spatial distribution of accessibility within the city but also highlights areas with urgent improvement needs. The study includes paratransit accessibility maps with color-coded levels of accessibility across the city. These findings contribute to the growing research on paratransit accessibility, emphasizing the integration of spatial and temporal factors for enhanced urban mobility planning. The insights from this research can support evidence-based policy-making and promote sustainable urban development in the region.

Will new tram lines enhance the connectivity and walkability? A case study of Sakarya

<p>This study investigates the impact of planned tram lines on walkability and accessibility in Sakarya, utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for spatial analysis. The research evaluates the catchment areas of proposed tram stops, assessing their suitability and coverage, and examines how these areas integrate with existing public transport routes. By calculating time-oriented catchments for 5, 8, and 10-minute walking distances, the study identifies service gaps and redundancies in the public transport network. The findings reveal that the new tram lines will enhance accessibility by extending coverage to high-density areas and potentially reducing the demand on existing bus services. The analysis also highlights the overlap between bus transit lines and tram stops, suggesting optimizations to improve network efficiency. The results offer valuable insights for urban planners, aiming to optimize Sakarya’s public transport system to be more inclusive and sustainable. This study contributes to urban mobility planning by providing a detailed understanding of how new tram lines can improve connectivity and support sustainable urban development.</p>

Sustainable mobility challenges – case study of the offshore center in Gdansk transport accessibility

Urban mobility planning is one of the key elements in building a sustainable future. Strategic management of urban transport traffic not only reduces congestion and minimises the negative impact on the environment but also positively affects the improvement of residents' quality of life. Furthermore, following the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive approved by the European Union in 2023, companies are obliged to submit annual reports on their environmental impact. One of its elements is the calculation of the organization's carbon footprint, which includes emissions caused by means of transport, including emissions from commuting to work. This case study investigates the impact of transport accessibility on employee preferences and behaviour in the context of changing the premises location, using the example of the Maritime Institute of Gdynia Maritime University (GMU), located at the newly opened Offshore Center in Gdansk seaport. The research hypothesis states that the relocation to new premises with limited transport accessibility may, as a consequence, influence the choice of commuting transportation methods among employees, potentially leading to a shift towards less sustainable means of transport. The results of the research survey prove that there is a complex interconnection between transport accessibility, commuting behaviours, and sustainable mobility initiatives. This pilot study aims to contribute to urban mobility planning by exploring how to transport accessibility influences employee behaviour and by proposing strategies to improve commuting conditions and promote more sustainable solutions.

Enhancing Urban Sustainability: Developing an Open-Source AI Framework for Smart Cities

To address the growing need for advanced tools that enable urban policymakers to conduct comprehensive cost-benefit analyses of traffic management changes, the Urbanite H2020 project has developed innovative artificial intelligence methods. Among them is a robust decision support system that assists policymakers in evaluating and selecting optimal urban mobility planning modifications by combining objective and subjective criteria. Utilising open-source microscopic traffic simulation tools, accurate digital models (or “digital twins”) of four pilot cities—Bilbao, Amsterdam, Helsinki, and Messina—were created, each addressing unique mobility challenges. These challenges include reducing private vehicle access in Bilbao’s city center, analysing the impact of increased bicycle traffic and population growth in Amsterdam, constructing a mobility-enhancing tunnel in Helsinki, and improving public transport connectivity in Messina. The research introduces five key innovations: the application of a consistent open-source simulation platform across diverse urban environments, addressing integration and consistency challenges; the pioneering use of Dexi for advanced decision support in smart cities; the implementation of advanced visualisations; and the integration of the machine learning tool, Orange, with a user-friendly GUI interface. These innovations collectively make complex data analysis accessible to non-technical users. By applying multi-label machine learning techniques, the decision-making process is accelerated by three orders of magnitude, significantly enhancing urban planning efficiency. The Urbanite project’s findings offer valuable insights into both anticipated and unexpected outcomes of mobility interventions, presenting a scalable, open-source AI-based framework for urban decision-makers worldwide.

129 Prioritising health in mobility planning: unlocking the health protential of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs)

129 Prioritising health in mobility planning: unlocking the health protential of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs)

Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan and its Influence on The Planning of Sustainable Transportation

Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan and its Influence on The Planning of Sustainable Transportation

A method to promote safe cycling powered by large language models and AI agents

This paper presents a novel information generation methodology to support safer cycling patterns in urban environments, leveraging for that Large Language Models (LLMs), AI-based agents, and open geospatial data. By processing multiple files containing previously computed urban risk levels and existing mobility infrastructure, which are generated by exploiting open data sources, our method exploits multi-layer data preprocessing procedures and prompt engineering to create easy-to-use, user-friendly assistive systems that are able to provide useful information concerning cycling safety. Through a well-defined processing pipeline based on Data Ingestion and Preparation, Agents Orchestration, and Decision Execution methodological steps, our method shows how to integrate open-source tools and datasets, ensuring reproducibility and accessibility for urban planners and cyclists. Moreover, an AI agent is also provided, which fully implements our method and acts as a proof-of-concept implementation. This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of our method in enhancing cycling safety and urban mobility planning.•A novel method that combines LLMs and AI agents is defined to enhance the processing of multi-domain open geospatial data, potentially promoting cycling safety.•It integrates urban risk data and cycling infrastructure for a more comprehensive understanding of cycling resources, which become accessible by textual or audio prompts.

Practitioner views on transport planning's evolution – A Sisyphean task still ahead?

Transport planning as a formalised profession is relatively young and there is no doubt it has evolved over time. In Europe, Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans reflect a change in emphasis from keeping traffic moving to place-based, people-centric planning. Three new developments of significance present themselves to contemporary transport planning: the collision and merging of the digital age with the motor age; a widespread sense of deep (and possibly deepening) uncertainty about the future; and the imperative to address the climate emergency and decarbonise transport. Taken together, such developments are reflected in the recent notion of Triple Access Planning which sits within a so-called ‘decide and provide’ paradigm – contrasted with traditional transport planning within the ‘predict and provide’ paradigm.The world is changing significantly with a strong sense that transport planning needs to change accordingly. This paper draws upon the ‘7 Questions Interview’ technique to explore with 23 practitioners in the UK their experience of transport planning practice over time, their hopes and fears for its future and what could be achieved, and their views on enablers of, and barriers to, positive change.The interviews reveal a strong sense that transport planning can face a Sisyphean (seemingly impossible) task of advocating measures that could push towards realisation of economic, social and environmental aspirations, only to find progress with measure approval and implementation thwarted by perennial challenges including lack of political will and public buy-in. While the three new developments mentioned represent potential catalysts for significant change, such change relies on multiple other factors. These include collaborative cross-sector working, a long-term perspective, appropriate funding and political agency, and enhanced communication skills to win hearts and minds. The paper concludes that Sisyphus may continue to struggle to push the transport planning boulder to the top of the hill; unless perhaps Hercules can lend a hand.

Traffic safety implementation at local level in line with 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: synergies, challenges and enablers

This study explores how traffic safety implementation at local level in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is characterised. By investigating interactions between traffic safety and other sustainability goals (synergies), as well as identifying contradictions between goals and conflicting interests (challenges), the study aims to pinpoint the main enablers for implementing traffic safety as part of sustainability. The emphasis lies on local authorities in Sweden representing a mature traffic safety context when viewed globally. To delve into this issue, interviews were conducted with 37 municipal employees from the city of Gothenburg, encompassing diverse roles that exemplify the significant influence Swedish local authorities wield in shaping traffic safety: as road manager and planner, in maintenance and construction phases, as employer and purchaser, and as influencer of behaviour. The study reveals several synergies between traffic safety and other sustainability goals, as well as contradictions between goals and conflicting interests posing challenges to traffic safety implementation. Main enablers for implementation of traffic safety as part of sustainability at the local level concern, for example, an integrated approach on strategic level where traffic safety could be handled as either a prerequisite (e.g. for active mobility) or a framework condition (e.g. for green cars). The necessity to bridge gaps between strategic and operational levels is also emphasised. Contradicting goals and interests are inevitable and must be managed. The study identifies the traffic strategy and strategic analyses, in the European context referred to as Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning, as a platform for traffic safety implementation as part of sustainability. Such platform highlights implementation areas in common for different target areas. The significance of integrating traffic safety in relevant activities and processes, alongside fostering horizontal collaborations across target areas, becomes apparent when striving to embed traffic safety in a wider sustainability context. While Swedish municipalities may not always recognize traffic safety as part of the sustainability agenda, existing platforms within municipalities serve as a foundation for adopting an integrated approach to traffic safety implementation. However, there is a need for a central coordinating function to ensure robust leadership in integrating traffic safety as a vital component of sustainability.

The pedestrian place in urban mobility plans in Minas Gerais (Brazil)

This research presents a survey of the Municipalities of the State of Minas Gerais (Brazil)with population above 250 thousand inhabitants that have Urban Mobility Plansanctioned according to a Federal Law. This survey is be carried out using exploratoryresearch through the recording data on the website of the Ministry of Cities, between thedays 18.09.2023 to 20.09.2023. It was found that only 53.45% of municipalities are in compliance with the legislation. When analyzing municipalities with up to 250 thousand inhabitants, it was found that only 13.11% meet the legal requirements. From this survey, it was possible to outline an overviewof Brazilian municipalities that are legally required to have Urban Mobility Plans. It wasfound that Belo Horizonte, Contagem, and Governador Valadares have plans approvedby law, allowing for an examination of their relationship with pedestrians. The outcomeis presented in forms of graphs, that compare the different Brazilian scenarios regardingthe Urban Mobility Plans focusing mainly the pedestrian way of displacement.

Core Indicators for Monitoring the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan: A Case Study

The primary objective of this paper is to validate core indicators for monitoring Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs), focusing on the Functional Urban Area in Southern Poland. Given the high concentration of the population in urban areas within the European Union (EU)—currently at 70.9% and expected to rise to 83.7% by 2050—there is an urgent need to address associated challenges such as congestion and the significant contribution of cities to transport-related greenhouse gas emissions. Effective urban mobility planning is, therefore, more critical than ever. This study aims to provide a methodological framework for determining baseline values for four essential monitoring indicators: road safety, accessibility to public mass transit, greenhouse gas emissions, and air quality. These indicators are crucial for the European Commission’s evaluation of SUMPs. By focusing on these aspects, the research aims to enhance the effectiveness of urban mobility plans, ensuring they contribute meaningfully to the EU’s transport, climate, health, and social goals as outlined in the European Green Deal and the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy.

Integrating environmental issues into the design of mobility plans: Insights from French practices

Local authorities have a strategic role in mitigating the environmental impacts of the transport sector. However, they struggle to integrate environmental issues into their decision-making processes, especially planning. In the European context of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan approach and Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs), this paper scrutinises three French localities to determine the current best practices and limitations for designing mobility plans and integrating environmental issues. Several limitations are identified: (1) limited expertise in defining and characterising actions and objectives, which complexifies plans' design, understanding, and monitoring; (2) a lack of a framework to conduct long-term quantitative environmental assessments and to use the results to influence decision effectively; and (3) monitoring processes are barely described in the documents, and the planning horizon where objectives are defined is not in sync with the indicators’ mandatory evaluation period. This French case study thus reveals that European planning practices must be further analysed and improved to deal with the rising environmental concerns, e.g. through an operational framework to design mobility plans with effective integration of environmental issues.

Reflection of the sustainable urban mobility paradigm shift in teaching at three European universities

Over the last few decades, the urban transport planning framework has changed significantly towards sustainable mobility planning. It brings new requirements for the education of transport experts. In the paper, we discuss the future of academic education concerning these changes based on case studies of two prestigious technical faculties in Germany and Poland and a social science faculty in Czechia offering study programmes related to sustainable urban mobility planning. We applied a self-assessment questionnaire to investigate how the study programmes prepare future mobility managers and present the concept of sustainable mobility to students. Our results show that the existing study programmes do not cover all steps of sustainable urban mobility plan development. We identified a few gaps common to the technical and social science faculties, such as consensus-seeking knowledge and methods, monitoring and evaluation tools and approaches, and the development of soft skills (presentation and communication skills and stakeholder involvement techniques).

Barriers and opportunities (B&O) for developing low carbon transportation (LCT) policies in Turkey

From a global perspective, climate change mitigation requires countries to consider Low-Carbon Development (LCD) policies, including “Low-Carbon Transport (LCT)” and decarbonization options, which should be ideally developed within a place-based scope. Due to the complex structure of the transportation sector, mitigation actions require not only technological but also behavioral shifts, which can be challenged by the existing legislative and socio-economic structure of a region. Therefore, it is essential to identify and assess barriers and opportunities (B&Os) as a necessary initial phase in the development of national mitigation strategies. Turkey voluntarily started climate change mitigation by preparing the legislative and political infrastructure as a part of the European Union Harmonization Process. Detection of B&Os in other dimensions required an in-depth evaluation of existing LCT barriers and instruments (B&Is) in the IPCC literature in terms of their applicability and priority for Turkey. A focus group study with transport sector representatives was conducted to evaluate 15 barriers and 19 instruments (proposing 285 B&I matrix combinations), followed by a brain-writing exercise that revealed 12 main barriers (i.e., a lack of measurable targets, an imbalanced modal split, a lack of institutional coordination and data archiving, etc.). Various opportunities have been identified, such as the increased utilization of Intelligent Transportation Systems and the timely adoption of vehicle and fuel technologies in the EU region. These opportunities would not only contribute to the development of a national climate change mitigation strategy but also facilitate the implementation of place-based action plans, including climate change action plans and sustainable urban mobility plans at the city level.

Urban mobility in the future: text analysis of mobility plans

Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) or similar documents from 17 European capitals (published between 2010 and 2021) and the European SUMP guidelines have been analysed to understand how cities shape mobility and their transport systems. Text analysis is applied to identify development tendencies in a time- and cost-effective manner, without relying on traditional deep semantic analysis techniques. In addition to traditional statistical indicators, we introduce Category Term Frequency (CTF) as a new measure in text analysis. CTF reveals the number and proportion of words belonging to the same content group, namely specific mobility-related categories. The results indicate that categories describing general aspects such as the future, general transport, environment, and society are more prominently represented compared to more forward-looking categories like automation, electromobility, and sharing. The aggregated CTF of categories describing these emerging aspects is highest in the mobility plans of Copenhagen, Helsinki, Luxembourg, and Vienna, which are considered forerunners in their implementation. In general, the analysis concludes that despite recent technological developments and new business models, the examined mobility plans barely mention terms that would imply radical changes by the 2030s. Strategic documents and, thus, urban mobility developments suggest only a slow transition towards the expected levels of sustainable and smart urban mobility. These findings may contribute to understanding and (re)considering urban and transport development strategies in Europe. Furthermore, this text analysis framework provides planners and other experts with a novel tool to identify the focal areas of mobility-related (or other) documents.

Exploring the prospects and challenges of sustainable urban mobility: Potential and limits of cycling in Venice

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the travel behavior of commuters, with soft modes emerging as reliable options for short-distance trips. This research focuses on evaluating the bike-friendliness of Venice, Italy, a unique city for its morphological and mobility characteristics. When considering daily commuting between the mainland and the historic city center in the lagoon, the bicycle is not an adopted solution. Yet, the recent construction of a bicycle and pedestrian path that runs alongside the main bridge between the mainland and historical city could alleviate the pressure on public transport and the use of cars, especially in peak hours. This contribution evaluates the potential for using bicycles to reach the historic center of Venice from the mainland, and the appropriateness of the infrastructural equipment. The quantitative analysis examines the current supply and demand in absolute values and in terms of modal share. Projecting the number of actual users under different scenarios until 2030, in accordance with the Venice Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan and other relevant plans, the inadequate provision of parking areas for bikes emerges as an unsolved issue. A revision of the mobility layout is thus required if bicycles are expected to be a competitive alternative solution.

Comparing distance-based and stress-based centralities to rank priority locations for cycling infrastructure investments in small-sized cities

The lack of technical guidelines to define investment priority locations is one of the barriers to cycling in emerging countries, limiting the preparation of urban mobility plans even when legally required. The objective of this paper is to propose and compare two approaches, with and without considering the cyclists’ perception of stress (assessed with the LTS, or Level of Traffic Stress), to determine the relative importance of road segments in the network and to rank priority locations for investments in cycling infrastructure. A case study was conducted in the city of Bariri (Brazil), for which the overall contribution of each network link to the identified cycling routes was mapped and ranked according to both criteria. The spatial distribution of differences between homologous ranks (i.e., ranks of the same network link according to different criteria) was also mapped, and the spatial autocorrelation between these differences was assessed by the Local Moran’s Index, allowing the identification of road segments of greater similarity and dissimilarity between the proposed approaches for resource allocation.

Entre zonas e planos urbanos: modelos mobilizados nos Eixos em São Paulo

Abstract This paper aims to understand if there has been an “evolution” of the articulation between urban planning and mobility planning and how it developed. To accomplish this, it analyzed three regulatory sets of the city of São Paulo: the Master Plan for Integrated Development (1971) and zoning (1972); the Strategic Master Plan (PDE) (2002) and the Land Use and Occupation Subdivision Law (LPUOS) (2004); and the 2014 PDE and the 2016 LPUOS. The paper questions the concepts behind the proposals, the relationship between the origins of the ideas and the actors and public institutional designs, and the mobilization between zoning and urban design for transformation, through a comparative cartographic analysis between the regulatory sets and interviews with managers and urban planners.

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.