Urban sustainability mobility assessment: indicators proposal

Sustainability Assessment through Urban Accessibility Indicators and GIS in a Middle-Sized World Heritage City: The Case of Cáceres, Spain

The main objective of the research consists of quantifying the degree of sustainability of the city of Cáceres in terms of the inhabitant’s accessibility to public services through the use of GIS tools and urban indicators, taking into account two areas of study: The Historic Centre (PCH) and the city as a whole. The methodology applied is based on the criteria proposed by the Spanish Government derived from the Spanish Strategy for Urban and Local Sustainability (EESUL), which suggests suitable indicators for analysing urban environments. The degree of sustainability of the study areas, applied to the field of mobility and accessibility to public services, is evaluated through numerical calculations complementing the study with accessibility maps obtained using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools. The results show that the city of Cáceres is sustainable in terms of accessibility to bus stops, organic waste containers, household waste recycling centre, schools and education, health centres, and public administration. However, bike parking coverage and lanes, clothes and oil collection, and sports centres need to be further enhanced. In conclusion, there is little disparity in the results between the PCH and the city as a whole, not influenced by the fact that one of the areas is a consolidated historic area. This research has allowed some gaps in the topic to be addressed. However, the main limitation of this methodology consists in the need to have a considerable amount of initial starting data to be able to carry out the research. Finally, the sustainability analysis using urban indicators is considered a valuable source of information for the local manager, becoming a real planning tool in medium-sized cities.

Smart Urban Mobility System Evaluation Model Adaptation to Vilnius, Montreal and Weimar Cities

To date, there is no developed and validated way to assess urban smartness. When evaluating smart city mobility systems, different authors distinguish different indicators. After analysing the evaluation indicators of the transport system presented in the scientific articles, the most relevant and influential indicators were selected. This article develops a hierarchical evaluation model for evaluating a smart city transportation system. The indicators are divided into five groups called “factors”. Several indicators are assigned to each of the listed groups. A hybrid multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method was used to calculate the significance of the selected indicators and to compare urban mobility systems. The applied multi-criteria evaluation methods were simple additive weighting (SAW), complex proportional assessment (COPRAS), and technique for order preference by similiarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). The significance of factors and indicators was determined by expert evaluation methods: the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), direct, when experts evaluate the criteria as a percentage (sum of evaluations of all criteria 100%) and ranking (prioritisation). The evaluation and comparison of mobility systems were performed in two stages: when the multi-criteria evaluation is performed according to the indicators of each factor separately and when performing a comprehensive assessment of the smart mobility system according to the integrated significance of the indicators. A leading city is identified and ranked according to the smartness level. The aim of this article is to create a hierarchical evaluation model of the smart mobility systems, to compare the smartness level of Vilnius, Montreal, and Weimar mobility systems, and to create a ranking.

Shared mobility in post-COVID era: New challenges and opportunities

This study is aimed at exploring the challenges and opportunities that the COVID-19 outbreak presents to the sustainability of shared mobility. To date, the sustainability of shared mobility has received little attention in the literature, and this study determines its central constructs that are critical to the sustainability of shared mobility. We accordingly conducted a three-phase Delphi approach composed of both qualitative and quantitative methods. Feedback was obtained from 18 international experts who are very knowledgeable regarding civil engineering and shared mobility, initially finding 18 challenges and 18 opportunities. Finally, we identified 12 key constructs as highly critical to the sustainability of shared mobility. The current work is an attempt to address gaps in exploring the challenges and opportunities that the COVID-19 outbreak has created in shared mobility, particularly when a comprehensive examination is needed. This study will serve as an inspiration and catalog for new studies within this field.

Transport Mode Choice for Residents in a Tourist Destination: The Long Road to Sustainability (the Case of Mallorca, Spain)

Sustainable mobility policies may encounter social, economic, and cultural barriers to successful implementation that need to be assessed. In this sense, knowledge of the population’s mobility habits and their relationship with transport modes is particularly essential. Along these lines, a study was carried out of the patterns of transport modes chosen concerning various social and territorial variables on the island of Mallorca based on the most recent mobility surveys. The study shows that the choice of mode is influenced by a wide range of factors, such as gender, age group, motive for the trip, occupation, region of residence, duration of the trip, and proximity to Palma, the capital of the island. The results indicate that private vehicles are the most often chosen mode of transport. Private vehicles are mainly used by working men between 30 and 44 years old for journeys between home and work, which do not exceed 30 min and are preferably in areas close to Palma. Sustainable modes are little used, although they are mainly used by women, young people, and retired people for work purposes and for access to educational and health centers. The demand for transport generated by the resident population and tourist activity and the negative externalities generated by mobility in private vehicles are closely related on a municipal level (Pearson’s coefficient 0.84, p = 0.00). However, the modal distribution does not seem to be directly related to these factors. Instead, it develops a more conditioned distribution by access to rail transport infrastructures and other geographical factors. In recent years, the Balearic Islands’ public administration launched the Balearic Islands Sectorial Mobility Plan 2019–2026, which aims to promote sustainable modes and reduce the use of private vehicles. This plan represents a considerable economic investment, but will also require great institutional coordination and cultural changes in the population’s perception of mobility. The study shows that the implementation of sustainable modes on the island requires a global vision of mobility issues that integrates urban planning and tourism planning to make the land-use model more sustainable.

Testing Platforms as Drivers for Positive-Energy Living Laboratories

The development of city-driven urban laboratories was considered a priority by the European Commission through Action 3.2 of the Strategic Energy Technology Plan. In this context, positive-energy districts laboratories could take the role of urban drivers toward innovation and sustainability in cities. These urban labs can provide real-life facilities with innovative co-creation processes and, at the same time, provide testing, experimenting, and prototyping of innovative technologies. In this scope, the authors of this work want to share the very first results of an empirical study using the testing facilities provided by the members of the Joint Program on Smart Cities of the European Energy Research Alliance as positive-energy districts laboratories. Six climatic regions are studied as boundary conditions, covering temperate and continental climates. Four scales of action are analyzed: Building, campus, urban, and virtual, with building and campus scales being the most frequent. Most of these laboratories focus on energy applications followed by networks, storage systems, and energy loads characterization. Many of these laboratories are regulated by ICT technologies but few of them consider social aspects, lighting, waste, and water systems. A SWOT analysis is performed to highlight the critical points of the testing facilities in order to replicate optimized configurations under other conditions. This statistical study provides guidelines on integration, localization, functionality, and technology modularity aspects. The use of these guidelines will ensure optimal replications, as well as identify possibilities and opportunities to share testing facilities of/between the positive-energy district laboratories.

Sustainability transition evaluation of urban transportation using fuzzy logic method-the case of Jiangsu Province

City sprawl and rapid increase of petroleum-fueled passenger vehicles has attracted a lot of attention due to concerns of resource energy scarcity and associated environmental damage. This paper uses the transition theory of socio-technical system from the multi-level perspective to analyze the internal mechanism of urban transportation’s transition process and find the most sustainable measures to promote transition. A set of evaluation indicators are constructed for the urban transportation sustainability transition from macro landscape, meso regime and micro niche. Then these indicators are applied to 13 cities in Jiangsu Province and calculate scores of each using triangular fuzzy logic method. The results show that: most cities are in the ‘medium’ stage of transportation transition, while only 4 cities in the ‘relatively poor’ stage. Development of micro niche plays vital role in promoting the transition of urban transportation towards sustainability. Adequate infrastructure support and detailed implementation policies should be developed to protect the steady growth of innovation niches.

The Effectiveness of Urban Cycle Lanes: From Dyscrasias to Potential Solutions

This paper studies the effectiveness of urban cycle lanes, with cycling being one of the most common practices for promoting sustainable mobility in urban areas. Despite a growing interest, the use of cycling in Italian cities has not gained a large consensus yet. Nevertheless, the presence and the extension of cycle lanes are considered as quantitative indicators for measuring the livability of cities. Actually, the lack in assessing the global quality of cycle networks asks for a major attention in the definition of these indicators. Starting from these considerations, the present study tries to propose a different approach to assess the real effectiveness of an urban cycle network. By defining some typological clusters of anomalies (dyscrasias) that can impede a safe and comfortable use of bicycles, the study achieves the definition of a method to evaluate the real effectiveness of an urban cycle lane. The case study of Naples represents a first trial both to check the method and to assess the state of the existing urban lane in order to verify its effectiveness.