Examining Sustainable Mobility Planning and Design for Smart Urban Development in Metropolitan Areas

Meeting the European Green Deal’s goal of climate neutrality by 2050 calls for a 90 percent decrease in emissions from the transportation sector. Thus, there is need to accelerate the shift to more sustainable mobility for integrated and smarter multimodal and intermodal mobility. In European countries, more than 70% of the inhabitants live in metropolitan areas. Achieving low-carbon and more sustainable mobility is important to ensuring sustainable urban infrastructure. However, current mobility planning frameworks do not consider the key factors and strategies that encourage residents to choose sustainable transport modes. Hence, there is a need to identify the most efficient actions that should be employed either in the short or long term to achieve accessible, safe, cost-effective, and green transport systems specifically through the development of sustainable public transportation. Moreover, a paradigm shift is needed to explore the synergy between transportation and its relationship to the city. Accordingly, this article presents an action plan as an approach to assess key strategies needed to foster sustainable and smart mobility planning and design by deploying effective strategies and design solutions that support different green means of transportation for smart urban development. Qualitative data on sustainable mobility planning and design strategies was collected via secondary sources from the literature, and descriptive data analysis was carried out. Findings from this study identify internal and external factors required to promote sustainable multimodal and intermodal mobility based on the city’s transport policies and actions. Implications from this study provide a use case for the technological requirements required for electric mobility planning, design, and system operation for the actualization of sustainable public transportation to improve smart urban development.