Inclusive and collaborative advanced transport: are we really heading to sustainable mobility?

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future mobility and land use scenarios impact assessment with an urban case study

Abstract In recent years the interest in urban mobility has grown considerably, not only due to the local increase in negative externalities generated by transport, but also because recent technological innovations are offering effective solutions especially in urban context. In particular, the introduction of Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs) could radically change the mobility scenario allowing, on the one hand, a widespread diffusion of shared vehicles that could feed the stations of the mass rapid transit network, improving the attractiveness of Public Transportation (PT), and on the other, the implementation of Travel Demand Management (TDM) measures on large areas of the most densely urbanized (and congested) territory of a city, without reducing accessibility and creating social exclusion. The present study aims at evaluating, through a system of Land-Use Transportation Interaction (LUTI) models, the impacts on transport demand and on population and activities location, of transportation policies oriented to both enhancing PT and restricting the individual use of the car. The case study analyzed is represented by the urban area of Rome. Several scenarios have been simulated and compared by means of sustainability indicators. Preliminary results show that the improvement of PT services, combined with the introduction of car use restriction and car free areas, do induce not only a significant modal shift towards more sustainable transportation modes, but also a limitation of urban sprawl

Facing the complexity of transport models and innovative developments in sustainable mobility

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Activity location and mobility costs

The paper fits into the general themes of land use - transport planning (Nuzzolo and Coppola, 2008a and 2008b) and accessibility (Geurs and van Wee 2004) in urban areas. It's widely recognized in academia the need for integration between mobility and land use policies in accordance with the objectives of environmental sustainability and quality of life in urban areas (Nuzzolo and Coppola, 2007; te Brömmelstroet and Bertolini, 2011). Furthermore, in recent years travel behaviours are changing in urban areas due to the increase in oil prices, the recession of Western economies, the resulting lack of financial resources for public transport subsidies. For this reasons, technicians and scientists are trying to find solutions in the short and long term to make existing transport system more efficient. In this sense the search for integrated solutions including systems engineering, transport and urban planning is a priority not only in the scientific debate but also in the operative field. Despite an extensive literature on the land use-transport interaction has been produced, simple tools for land - use transport integrated planning are not as much used; in particular tools that can support the choices of location of new activities in the definition of urban or regional plans are not widely applied (Hull et al. 2012). According to this premise, the goal of the work is to develop a tool to support the choices of activities location, which is based on accessibility and transport costs indicators. Assuming that one of the goal of integrated land use – transport planning is the minimization of generalized transportation costs (Nuzzolo and Coppola, 2010), in compliance with the objectives of environmental sustainability and quality of life, the tool computes the “access cost” of activities, providing an estimation in monetary terms of the advantages and disadvantages of locating an activity in a particular zone of the urban area; the tool provide

Urban from and sustainability: modelling evidences from the empirical case study of RomeE

It is widely accepted that a connection exists between the shape, size and density of an urban area and its sustainability. However, consensus is lacking about the extent and characteristics of this relationship. Certain urban forms appear to be more sustainable in some respects, for example in reducing travel, but unfavourable in other aspects, as the environmental quality or social inequalities; furthermore, some forms may be sustainable locally, but not at the city wide scale (Burton et al. 2013). A number of empirical studies dealing with the influence of urban form on sustainability has not been conclusive and comes out with mixed outcomes. In order to provide empirical insights to this debate, this study investigates the relation between urban form and sustainability in terms of economic, social and environmental characteristics of the transport-land use integrated system, by comparing three different urban forms: compact, TOD and sprawl. The main research question is: does urban form, in terms of density and distribution of activities, impact the sustainability levels of urban areas? To give an answer to this question, the paper proposes a methodology for assessing urban forms, based on a system of Land-Use and Transport Interactions (LUTI) models. This has been designed and applied able to simulate the behaviour of both dwellers and transport users and how they react to changing conditions. A system of indicators has been then set up to systematically test and compare three urban scenarios, which differ in terms of density and distribution of activities and to assess to what extent different urban structures achieve or not sustainability in terms of economic, environmental and social impacts. More details are provided in the methodological section. © AET 2014 and contributors 2 This study presents some innovations points with regard to the existing literature. First, while already existing studies mainly focus of the assessment on a single urban form (with the exception of some more recent studies, Echenique et al., 2012), in this study we compare three urban structures. An additional difference with present literature is that most studies focus on small scale and local factors influencing travel behaviour and its consequence on sustainability level, while in this research we analyse the interaction between urban form and sustainable travel behaviour at the city wide scale. Finally, another novelty regards a specific application of utility based models, which are usually used for simulate the LUT system performance in terms of transport network speed or congestion. In this study we instead integrate them in a scenario analysis and in particular addressing sustainability and equity issues as managing the side effects of growth such as sprawl, congestion, housing affordability, pollution, energy consumption and loss of open spaces. In this way, we do not examine the effect of urban form only by parameter of travel (distance, time, frequency), but we propose a more complete sustainability assessments. Nevertheless, it is important to stress that in this study we do not take into account health and well-being aspects of sustainability, putting this focus off at future steps of the research. The paper is organized as follows. In Section 2 we refer to the existing literature and to the debate on the relations between urban form and sustainability. Section 3 describes the research design and in particular the system of models and the assessment indicators system. In Section 4 we discuss the results of the application to the empirical case study of Rome. Conclusions are drawn in Section 5

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) for university communities: Modeling preferences for integrated public transport bundles

In order to investigate the role that Mobility as a Service (MaaS) could play in university communities to reduce car dependency and moderate car-oriented travel behavior, this paper examines individuals’ stated interest in adopting MaaS bundles in academic environments, where its potential is still largely underexplored. The study involves a large-scale survey campaign carried out within a university community in Milan (Italy), comprising 1873 answers from faculty members, technical-administrative staff, and students. The paper discusses the factors affecting behavioral intentions towards a potential MaaS adoption on the basis of aggregate statistics and discrete choice models estimates. This research highlights that there is a real opportunity to market MaaS in university communities, but an accurate user-centered design of the MaaS solutions is needed, based on individuals’ preferences and actual mobility needs. Results suggest that MaaS has a broader potential user base among individuals under 35 years old and Public Transport subscribers, and that MaaS bundles involving shared mobility services are attractive by residents in the city center, while reserved parking at interchange facilities is more attractive to commuters coming from suburban areas

Random-Parameters Behavioral Models to Investigate Determinants of Perceived Safety in Railway Stations

Recent studies have highlighted the existence of a gap between actual and perceived safety and have shown that feelings of insecurity can affect individuals? travel behavior before and during the journey. In this paper, a methodology is proposed for assessing determinants of travelers? perception of safety and security in railway stations. The methodological approach includes focus groups, stated preference (SP) surveys, and the estimation of behavioral models with fixed parameters (Binomial Logit) and random parameters (Mixed Logit). The estimation results for a medium-sized railway station (Frosinone, Italy) confirmed that safety and security measures are not equally perceived by individuals and the use of random-parameters models leads to more robust estimates. The proposed modeling approach allows the identification of the interventions that should be prioritized to increase travelers? perceived levels of safety, highlighting those factors, such as, for the considered case study, the presence of security personnel and the level of decorum and maintenance, which are perceived by users as more important than others (e.g., surveillance cameras)

Improving Urban Cyclability and Perceived Bikeability: A Decision Support System for the City of Milan, Italy

This paper presents a Decision Support System (DSS) designed to enhance cyclability and perceived bikeability in urban areas, with an application to the city of Milan, Italy, focusing on cycling toward the urban university campuses of Politecnico di Milano. Despite the increasing emphasis on sustainable urban mobility, research gaps remain in optimizing cycling infrastructure development based on both observable factors (e.g., availability and quality of cycleways) and latent factors (e.g., cyclists’ perceived safety and security). The objective of this study is to address these gaps by developing a DSS, based on a macroscopic multimodal transport simulation model, to facilitate an in-depth analysis and prioritization of cycling transport policies. Findings from the DSS simulations indicate that strategic enhancements to cycling infrastructure can shift user preferences toward safer and more dedicated cycling routes, despite potential increases in travel time and distance. This paper concludes that implementing a DSS not only supports more informed policymaking but also encourages sustainable urban development by improving the overall cycling experience in cities, highlighting the importance of addressing both tangible and intangible factors in the design and prioritization of cycling infrastructure projects

Testing a gravity-based accessibility instrument to engage stakeholders into integrated LUT planning

The paper starts from the concern that while there is a large body of literature focusing on the theoretical definitions and measurements of accessibility, the extent to which such measures are used in planning practice is less clear. Previous reviews of accessibility instruments have in fact identified a gap between the clear theoretical assumptions and the infrequent applications of accessibility instruments in spatial and transport planning. In this paper we present the results of a structured-workshop involving private and public stakeholders to test usability of gravity-based accessibility measures (GraBaM) to assess integrated land-use and transport policies. The research is part of the COST Action TU1002 “Accessibility Instruments for Planning Practice” during which different accessibility instruments where tested for different case studies. Here we report on the empirical case study of Rome