How to Monitor and Assess Sustainable Urban Mobility? An Application of Sustainable Urban Mobility Indicators in Four Greek Municipalities.

Abstract

The importance of transport systems and their ability to contribute to the economic robustness of a geographic area and the well-being of its inhabitants is noticeable and well documented worldwide. Nevertheless, it is also broadly acknowledged that transportation projects, especially those oriented towards the extensive use of private auto-mobiles, have the capacity to affect sustainable development and, consequently, the quality of people’s life via the production of numerous negative externalities such as noise, greenhouse gases and air pollution, accidents, traffic congestions, etc. Hence, several European cities, in order to mitigate these negative effects and achieve European Union policy goals, have developed Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs). However, there is still a gap on how this progress can be monitored and assessed in quantitative terms. In this paper, thirteen Sustainable Urban Mobility (core) Indicators, as they have been recently proposed by the European Commission, are implemented and estimated in four Greek municipalities with different characteristics, namely: Nea Smirni, Aigaleo, Nafplio and Xylokastro. This research aims to reinforce objectivity in the assessment of sustainable mobility by following a data-driven quantitative approach. In addition, it performs a comparative analysis so that to identify major mobility problems per municipality. At the end, this study presents some paradigms regarding how a standardized assessment of sustainable mobility using Sustainable Mobility Indicators can lead to highly effective mobility measures and sophisticated monitoring frameworks for the future.