Urban Mobility Plans Research Articles

Sustainable mobility in Lyon: should we hang private car drivers?

Incriminated for negative externalities such as both local and global pollution, noise, sealing extension or public space high consumption, private cars have been perceived as a factor of un-sustainable mobility since the early 80’s by urban planners and designers. In the new paradigm of the so-called “sustainable city” urban planners and designers target now a modification of social behaviour and particularly social mobility practices. The production of transport alternatives and restrictions to automobiles in city centres through car-parking limitations and fare systems as developed in urban mobility plans (Plans de Deplacements Urbains) are unfortunately too weak to generate a modal shift ripple-effect in French cities. Considering the last issue of the French national institute of statistics and economic studies’ survey (Hubert, 2009) the modal-share in favour of car-transit remains the same for the period of time between 1994 and 2008 for the biggest French cities, in spite of steady efforts for the development of public transportation alternatives such as the diffusion of the tramway’s comeback (from Grenoble 1986, to Dijon 2013). According to a series of relatively recent research papers (Kaufmann, 2002 ; Lefevre & Offner, 1990) focused on the “economically irrational” behaviour of the majority of private-car drivers concerning the question of modal shift, a research framework has been developed. This frameworks specially focuses on the disconnect between the rationalities of resistant car-driver’s social mobility practices in the metropolitan space, compared to the rationale of urban mobility masterplans has, assuming that user’s “tactics” answer planner’s “strategies” (De Certeau, 1990). This approach of identifying this disconnect between rationalities in planning and rationalities in social practices in the urban mobility context is aimed to extend to the complex perception of urban environments by car-drivers, to identify new targets of modal-split policies to be structured as new action-levers. This perception will deal with several issues orchestrated through urban design projects such as public spaces, physical distances or parking constraints. The second main issue of this conceptual framework deals with rationalities of user’s mobility practices. The axiological rationality (Boudon, 1995) seems to be heuristic to question values and practices, searching for the rationale behind the conclusions that users draw when making mobility decisions (for example “the car is faster in my situation”). This justification process needs to be finely analyzed in combination with several concepts, norms and values that “make sense” for the individual. We propose the hypothesis that the combination of perception biases and axiological rationalities could helps to explain behaviors defined as “irrational” for urban mobility planners and to delineate the major levers of social acceptation and adoption of so-called sustainable urban environments.

The evaluation of the environmental impact and the external factors of urban transport in Constanta

Transport activities are known to have a substantial negative environmental impact especially when referring to the urban transport. Studies have shown that external costs (as accidents, congestion, air emissions, climate change or noise) are an important subject of the European Union, that is why were carried out several research projects. This paper will highlight the current requirements and methodologies used by the European Union regarding the impact of the external costs of urban transport in most of the growth poles of Europe. Taking into consideration that Constanta is considered to be one of the seven major growth poles of Romania for the 2014-2020 period, this study aims at analyzing how the results of similar studies made in others centers of the European Union can be applied in Constanta, showing different methodologies and evaluations regarding the external costs and their impact. We will analyze how the conclusions obtained in previous projects are applicable to data collected by us throughout a field research on the technical description of the means of transport used it this city. As methodology, we will use one that was adopted by the European Union regarding the estimation of urban external costs, taking into consideration that each externality has a different method for estimating it. The results of this study may be useful in developing the sustainable urban mobility plan for Constanta, as a strategic plan design to reduce the impact of urban transport for a better quality of life at present and in the future. Through this paper we will get an insight into the urban transport in Constanta, but also data on external costs generated by the urban transport, given that road transport is considered to be the most polluting transport mode.

Carbon estimation and urban mobility plans: Opportunities in a context of austerity

Considering the constant increase of greenhouse gas (GHG) transport emissions in the past years and the consequent global warming, their reduction must be one of the most important goals in mobility planning. However, mobility plans do not always target GHG reduction for political reasons and a lack of adequate methodologies. Practically, carbon emissions are often considered secondary to mobility planning, which can be addressed indirectly by introducing measures for other purposes, but whose GHG effects are not carefully quantified. This decision is relevant when austerity is called for, when the real costs of transport measures have to be clearly expressed for consistent allocation of scarce funds. In this paper, a method is proposed to include the economic impact of GHG emissions on a mobility plan through a monetization process. The unitary value of GHG emissions has been inferred through a meta-analysis of about 700 studies and a meta-regression function. The case study proposed illustrates the concrete application and the potential of such a method. Moreover, the importance of a long-term strategy in obtaining a consistent GHG reduction and of a congruent valuation strategy to appraise its impacts is confirmed.

Emission Inventory Of Road Transportation In São Paulo City

Official numbers from 20112 show that the road transportation was responsible for about 54% of the energy consumption in São Paulo City. The urban fleet in the capital is responsible for a significant amount of local pollutants emissions that causes degradation of air quality, at the same time, it is the biggest contributor of greenhouse gases. These facts led the Institute of Energy and Environment to produce the Emission Inventory of Road Transportation in São Paulo City for the reference-year 2012, which estimates the CO, NOx¬¬, NMHC, aldehydes, PM, CH4, N2O and CO2 emissions and represents them in the urban road net. Furthermore, the Inventory also demonstrates as result an hourly profile of the emission rate, disaggregated by categories of vehicles, fuels, technological generations, etc. This methodological approach, applied for the first time in Brazil, encompassed the GPS monitoring data to define the activity-rate of the municipal buses fleet, whereas, for the activity-rate of cars, motorcycles and trucks was performed simulations using transportation modelling. Thus, the Inventory can be used as a baseline to simulate mitigation emissions measures contemplated in the Urban Mobility Plan of São Paulo, as reference to formulate actions for vehicles control (as PROCONVE regulations, local traffic restriction programs, vehicle inspection, etc.), or as a tool for monitoring the Climate Change Municipal Policy targets. The data can also, in the future, feed atmospheric pollutants dispersion models, meaning an important step for the next studies to obtain more accurate correlations between the concentration of monitored air pollutants and its impacts on human health.

Sustainable Urban Mobility Towards Smart Mobility: the Case Study of Bari Area, Italy

In the last decades, sustainable mobility policies have seen a growing interest. Furthermore, in the international debate, this concept has increasingly been linked to the most innovative one of smart mobility, which is part of the more general paradigm of Smart City. The primary goal of the work is to make a review of policies, programs, projects for sustainable urban mobility and of smart mobility solutions in Bari area. The second goal is to make an assessment on trends of urban mobility in order to evaluate its sustainability and smartness. A comforting picture, focused on matching the local strategies to European programs, is shown. Finally, a consideration on how the framework “smart” may improve urban mobility planning is proposed.

Sustainable Urban Mobility: Challenges, Initiatives and Planning

The growth of cities is not spontaneous and uncontrollable but guided and shaped by human interaction and by physical infrastructure. However, urban expansion around the world is characterised by uncontrolled urban sprawl leading to inefficient use of space and natural resources. Interactions between humans and opportunities for innovations are constrained by low density and social segregation. For the cities and towns to function efficiently, accessibility is essential to carry the goods and for services. But accessible cities are being encouraged to shift towards more sustainable modes of transportation and draw more travelers in different modes of transport including sidewalks. Mobility is about more than just the mode of transport available. Urban planning and design should focus on how to bring people and places together, by creating cities that focus on accessibility and optimal urban densities, rather than simply increasing the length of urban transport infrastructure. This paper gives a brief review of urban planning initiatives taken by government of Indian towards a sustainable urban mobility plans and outlines urban planning challenges for the local urban bodies, urban designers and policy makers.

Advance Audit - Practical Audit Tool for Improving Urban Mobility Plans

This paper presents the methodology and the results of the ADVANCE project. ADVANCE supports cities and municipalities on their way towards a more sustainable urban mobility, thus assisting them to set up and improve the quality of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) and policies. ADVANCE has developed an audit scheme designed by an interdisciplinary team of mobility experts, to assess the quality of the cities' mobility plans. Thereby, it contributes to the take-up of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans in Europe.

A CO2-saving-based Methodology to Measure the Impact of the SUMP in European Cities: Application to the City of Burgos

Urban mobility in Europe is always a responsibility of the municipalities which propose measures to reduce CO2 emissions in terms of mobility aimed at reducing individual private transport (car). The European Commission's Action Plan on Urban Mobility calls for an increase in the take-up of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans in Europe. SUMPs aim to create a sustainable urban transport system. Europe has got some long term initiatives and has been using some evaluation procedures. Nevertheless, the weak point with the SUMPs in Spain, has been the lack of concern about the evaluation and the effectiveness of the measures implemented in a SUMP. For this reason, it is difficult to know exactly whether or not the SUMPs have positively influenced in the modal split of the cities, and its contribution to reduce CO2 levels.The case of the City of Burgos is a very illustrative example as it developed a CiViTAS project during the years 2005-2009, with a total investment of 6M€. The results have been considered as “very successful” even at European level. The modal split has changed considerably for better and the cost-effectiveness ratio of the SUMP in the city can be measured with the CO2 ton saved, specifically 36 € per CO2 ton saved, which is fully satisfactory and in line with calculations from other European researchers. Additionally, the authors propose a single formula to measure the effectiveness of the activities developed under the umbrella of a SUMP.

Assessing the requirements of urban traffic calming within the framework of sustainable urban mobility planning

Road traffic calming measures have been gradually spreading in cities since the 1960s. Therefore — in line with a sustainable transport planning approach — the revision and redistribution of urban transport and public surfaces have also come into the spotlight. In this context several traffic calming methods and techniques have evolved from point-based to areawide interventions. Their positive effects on traffic safety and the environment are indisputable. However, there are serious requirements concerning the application of these instruments, which need to be taken into account to prevent or minimize undesirable side-effects. Despite technical aspects and conditions that are well-known from the international literature, strategic aspects (economic effects and system-level prerequisites of traffic calming) are relatively ambiguous. The aim of this paper is to review the possible measures of road traffic calming, to demonstrate the effect-mechanism and to explore the way towards a consistent policy assessm...

Encouraging good practice in the development of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans

The European Commission's 2009 Action Plan for Urban Transport identified, as its first Action, the provision of guidance on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans. The 2011 White Paper subsequently envisaged that there might be a mandatory requirement for such Plans for cities over a certain size, and that the allocation of regional and cohesion funds might be made conditional on the submission and auditing of such Plans. Since then, substantial progress has been made in the development of guidance for the preparation of SUMPs, leading to the publication of guidance in 2013. The purpose of this paper is to review experience with the provision of such guidance, at a European and national level, assess the underpinning research and identify areas in which further research is needed.The paper reviews the background to the preparation of guidance at a European level and also at a national level in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Scandinavia, Spain and the UK. It identifies the weaknesses in the preparation of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans highlighted by those preparing the guidance, and by the underpinning research. On this basis it lists the principal barriers to effective plan development and implementation. Subsequently it reviews the research which has been undertaken to overcome those barriers, the extent to which current guidance reflects the findings of that research and our understanding of the process of policy transfer. Finally, it highlights eight research needs which should contribute to overcoming the remaining barriers.

Planning Sustainable Mobility in Polycentric Regions: Testing a Participatory Approach in Six Regions of Europe

This paper first discusses polycentric regions, their features and how they can be detected by means of indicators of regional structure and mobility patterns, and why polycentric regions will be increasingly relevant to the future of mobility planning in the EU landscape. The paper discusses then the experience of six polycentric regions - Marche (IT), Central Alentejo (PT), Central Macedonia (GR), Rhine Alp (AT), Heart of Slovenia (SI) and Parkstad Limburg (NL) - that applied a Future Search (www.futuresearch.net) based methodology to urban mobility planning. It provides a critical analysis of the regions’ experience using the methodology and their plans to capitalise on its outcomes. This experience is used to develop and propose a Poly-SUMP participatory planning approach, with this new acronym being used for a new planning concept, i.e. Polycentric Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans. The paper discusses the pros and cons of the Poly-SUMP approach applied to the cities of polycentric regions, as opposed to the conventional methods used to elaborate Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans at the level of individual cities.

The Ancillary Role of CO2 Reduction in Urban Transport Plans

Saving CO2 emissions constitutes one of the most delicate challenges of transport engineering. Coherently with EU and national directives, urban mobility and traffic plans should consider CO2 savings as one of the goals to be reached. In an apparent contradiction, however, the measures generally proposed within urban transport plans seem to operate primarily for different aims, such as decongestion, improvement of public or alternative transport modes, determining an ancillary role of CO2 emissions. Recently, other multidisciplinary forms of planning (e.g., SEAP) have been proposed; which also do not fully consider the complexity of the integrated transport approach. To solve this criticality, this paper presents a two-step method (balance and valuation) for considering CO2 explicitly within mobility plans.

Citizen and Stakeholder Involvement: A Precondition for Sustainable Urban Mobility

Sustainable urban mobility planning, a strategic planning concept promoted by the European Commission, considers the engagement of citizens and stakeholders throughout the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) development process as one of the key elements. Involving communities in planning is a fundamental duty of local authorities to improve decision-making and is also a requirement stipulated by EU directives and international conventions. This paper looks at academic research on participation in sustainable urban mobility planning, citizen and stakeholder engagement practices in European cities, as well as the challenges of collaborative planning and how to overcome these. The authors make the case that although some participation questions remain unsolved to date, citizen and stakeholder engagement are a precondition for sustainable urban mobility planning.

A Roadmap towards Sustainable Mobility in Breda

Currently, the transportation sector is responsible for about 30% of the CO2-emissions. In the near future, this percentage is expected to increase. CO2-reduction in the mobility sector is difficult to achieve as mobility related carbon emissions are not location-specific and therefore difficult to assign. This article describes a case study performed in the city of Breda, the Netherlands in its goal to become completely carbon-neutral by the year 2044. By using traffic models and discussing the results in workshops with a diversity of municipal departments we gained a quantitative insight in assessing the potential for realizing the goal of a carbon neutral mobility system by the year 2044. The results led to the preparation of a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) including new bicycle and public transport action plans. This plan was incorporated in the new spatial development plan Breda 2030. Next to this climate action plans were set up between the municipality and private stakeholders.

Rebalancing urban mobility: a tale of four cities

The key of mobility in urban planning is not in dispute. Integrated strategies that take into account the interrelations among land use, transport supply and demand and the different transportation modes are more necessary than ever. In Europe, regulatory tools such as local mobility plans or traffic plans have been enforced for a long time, evolving into so-called sustainable urban transport plans (SUTP) – that is, plans that merge urban planning, mobility governance, social awareness and environmental safeguards to develop a vision based on sustainability and equity. Indeed, SUTP are aimed at solving typical problems in current land use, such as urban sprawl, which make clear the need for a paradigm shift from transport (or mobility) planning to land use (or city) planning, thereby producing urban mobility plans that are fully aligned with integrated urban development plans. This paper describes how SUTP are articulated across Europe according to four case studies: Peterborough (UK), Chambéry (France), Ferrara (Italy) and Pinto (Spain), to highlight variations and commonalities, both among the four national legal frameworks and the actual planning processes at the local level. Objectives, measures and indicators used in the monitoring and evaluation phases have been analysed and the results assessed. The main conclusion of the paper is that, as seen in these real-life examples, the lack of integration between spatial planning and transport strategies results in the unsustainability of urban areas and, therefore, in a significant loss of competitiveness.

Travel Demand Management – Possibilities of influencing travel behaviour

Nowadays, one of the biggest and most challenging tasks of cities is the management of urban and suburban transport. The growth of mobility and motorization in the last centuries led into a social trap that only has recently been recognized through congestion and environmental problems. The issues mostly arise in areas where travel demand is at a high level, namely in large cities. Handling urban and suburban transport problems could significantly influence the competitiveness of cities. In times of economic crisis and climate change it is crucial how to use scarce resources, therefore cost- and energy efficiency are becoming more and more important factors. Under these circumstances transport sector is also about to realize that new travel demand management tools can diminish the negative impacts while reasonable mobility needs can be satisfied. In this paper the possible tools of travel demand management are categorized focusing on innovative measures. Recommendations are concluded through international best-practices in accordance with the method of Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning.

Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning in Central Eastern Europe: Case Examples from Poland and Croatia

Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning is on Europe's top agenda for tackling urban transport challenges in cities. European Union policies call for a coordinated approach in increasing the effectiveness of urban mobility planning to achieve climate protection goals. National and local authorities require common guidance on developing and implementing such plans – with broad involvement of public authorities, transport professionals and research. Cities in Central and Eastern Europe have a long planning culture with strong focus on public transport. However, the unprecedented increase of private motorisations calls for innovative strategies to offer sustainable transport solutions to people. Two exemplary cities from the region demonstrate how sustainable transport can be maintained and even expanded. Gdynia (Poland) with its developing economy and relatively young population makes considerable efforts to reduce motor traffic demand in the area. The City's transport policy and strategy is focused on solving relevant transport problems of the city in a sustainable way. This covers the increase of bicycle use, an intelligent mix of different transport options and improving the quality of PT services by means of state of the art information and communication technologies and public participation mechanisms. Koprivnica (Croatia) stands exemplary for numerous medium-sized cities in the region with similar transport challenges. Decision makers work towards a participatory strategy for zero CO2 emission planning and management of housing estates and urban transport. With the vision of developing a regional competence centre for sustainable urban mobility planning the city will attract researchers, students and professionals in this field. Long-term vision of both cities and their dedication to actively share their experiences with other cities has the potential for up-take of sustainable urban mobility planning in the region.

Mobilità partecipata: Agenda XXI e buone pratiche

The prediction and realization of mobility actions, other than those already existing in a territory, often result in conflicts between proponents (for example Administrations) and population. Question not only of new road infrastructures but also new forms of mobility, such as best practice to make sector sustainable. For example we can remember some tools of sustainable mobility, as Urban Traffic Plan or Urban Mobility Plan; traffic calming measures, as areas with limited traffic, car sharing, car pooling; soft mobility as bike sharing; actions of local public transport as park and ride; communication and formative actions, as eco-driving courses and happybus (for children). Certainly construction of important infrastructures, strategic internationally, catalyze public attention because they pose problems to entire community, but very often are local works to determine conflicts. This paper focuses on this second aspect that is of major impact in our daily lives. In order to achieve adequate sustainability thresholds for mobility and a general consensus shared at different involved levels, a fundamental role is played by participation that arises as a solution to conflict aforementioned. Steps of participatory process are information, awareness, communication and training. A tool that allows you to achieve these objectives and facilitate participatory process is Agenda XXI, which, as noted, includes within it (after a survey on environmental status and highlighting present criticality studied by experts), consultation tables (forums) with different actors involved (government, population, technical, business, ...). In this paper we report main results obtained in search experience aimed at identifying best practices on sustainable mobility and its applicability thresholds useful to analyze and define, in a shared and co-responsible way, what are good actions to take to an area considered. A best practice cannot be applied in different territorial areas, because characteristics (cultural, physical or commercial development...) of each territory are various. The research wants to categorize the virtuous cases to be able to define types of actions for replication in areas with similar characteristics. From above mentioned (reconnaissance and evaluative analysis on case) it was possible to define two types of Decision Support System: first, in general, defines a database of all possible best practices on sustainable mobility and second is specific to a determinate territory (the latter is obtained by first, taking into account identified applicability thresholds). This is to set frameworks useful to administrators and people (involved in first person) to be shared in processes of Agenda XXI (forums) aimed at a participatory governance, without unnecessary conflicts.

Sustainable mobility in Lyon: should we hang private car drivers?

Incriminated for negative externalities such as both local and global pollution, noise, sealing extension or public space high consumption, private cars have been perceived as a factor of un-sustainable mobility since the early 80’s by urban planners and designers. In the new paradigm of the so-called “sustainable city” urban planners and designers target now a modification of social behaviour and particularly social mobility practices. The production of transport alternatives and restrictions to automobiles in city centres through car-parking limitations and fare systems as developed in urban mobility plans (Plans de Deplacements Urbains) are unfortunately too weak to generate a modal shift ripple-effect in French cities. Considering the last issue of the French national institute of statistics and economic studies’ survey (Hubert, 2009) the modal-share in favour of car-transit remains the same for the period of time between 1994 and 2008 for the biggest French cities, in spite of steady efforts for the development of public transportation alternatives such as the diffusion of the tramway’s comeback (from Grenoble 1986, to Dijon 2013). According to a series of relatively recent research papers (Kaufmann, 2002 ; Lefevre & Offner, 1990) focused on the “economically irrational” behaviour of the majority of private-car drivers concerning the question of modal shift, a research framework has been developed. This frameworks specially focuses on the disconnect between the rationalities of resistant car-driver’s social mobility practices in the metropolitan space, compared to the rationale of urban mobility masterplans has, assuming that user’s “tactics” answer planner’s “strategies” (De Certeau, 1990). This approach of identifying this disconnect between rationalities in planning and rationalities in social practices in the urban mobility context is aimed to extend to the complex perception of urban environments by car-drivers, to identify new targets of modal-split policies to be structured as new action-levers. This perception will deal with several issues orchestrated through urban design projects such as public spaces, physical distances or parking constraints. The second main issue of this conceptual framework deals with rationalities of user’s mobility practices. The axiological rationality (Boudon, 1995) seems to be heuristic to question values and practices, searching for the rationale behind the conclusions that users draw when making mobility decisions (for example “the car is faster in my situation”). This justification process needs to be finely analyzed in combination with several concepts, norms and values that “make sense” for the individual. We propose the hypothesis that the combination of perception biases and axiological rationalities could helps to explain behaviors defined as “irrational” for urban mobility planners and to delineate the major levers of social acceptation and adoption of so-called sustainable urban environments.

Energy efficiency in transport and mobility from an eco-efficiency viewpoint

European Union countries’ current energy policies for the transport sector promote, amongst other initiatives; urban mobility plans, the renewal of fleets of cars and industrial vehicles and the introduction of biofuel. From the point of view of eco-efficiency and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), energy policies must go further. The objective of this paper is to analyse the current transport model and the policies on energy efficiency being promoted in the EU from a LCA point of view. Special attention has been paid to private vehicles, in assessing the environmental impact of the various stages of manufacture, their use and disposal, and the consequences of plans to renew fleets. How old should a vehicle ideally be so that when it is changed, the embodied energy in the materials of the vehicle is less than the gain in energy efficiency due to changing the model for example? In addition the paper analyses the different means of transport in the energy consumption–time ratio from a LCA viewpoint. The fact that reducing transport times leads to greater energy consumption gives rise to the question: how long does nature take to repair the environmental damage caused?