Evaluating sustainable mobility potential through geographical accessibility and individual access, skills and appropriation

The 15-min city concept promotes accessibility to opportunities notably by encouraging the use of sustainable modes of transport for daily mobility. However, it may not be enough just to provide activities that are accessible via public transport (PT) within 15 minutes if individuals’ capacity to reach them by PT (i.e. their motility) is overlooked. By developing a score that combines geographical accessibility and individual motility, this study aims to better understand the sustainable mobility potential of the Lake Geneva region in terms of reaching goods and services by PT within 15 minutes or 30 minutes, for a time comparison. To calculate the accessibility score, we used the frequency of goods/services visits as a weighting factor, and the human needs that they can satisfy as an attractiveness factor by which to classify the destinations reachable within 15 or 30 minutes from the centroid of 1580 × 1 km 2 cells. Next, based on a self-reported survey of 10,202 individuals in the Lake Geneva region, we created a motility score that captures individuals’ access to PT, their skills in using PT, and their readiness to include activities near their residence in their mobility projects (appropriation). Then, we combine accessibility and motility scores, enabling us to identify four types of areas: with high accessibility and high motility (+A/+M), with high accessibility and low motility (+A/-M), with low accessibility and high motility (-A/+M), and with low accessibility and low motility (-A/-M). By categorising areas in this way, policy priorities can be set out either to improve PT and goods/services provision where accessibility is low, or to support individuals’ motility, enabling them to take advantage of this accessibility effortlessly with sustainable modes of transport.