Transportation Engineering (Jun 2024)
A smart KPI system for reinforcing sustainable urban mobility plans under pandemic crises
Abstract
The latest worldwide application of social distancing measures highlighted dramatic effects on the daily life, mobility, well-being, mental health, and economic activity of citizens during the pandemic. Unfortunately, societies were unprepared to confront a pandemic and applied movement restriction measures, often harsh and unbalanced, creating confusion, uncertainty, and annoyance to communities. In this paper, we reviewed a wide array of databases to categorise the mobility management measures implemented internationally in response to the social distancing restrictions that had to be taken during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, to comprehensively assess the measures implemented to contain the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of the local community, we conducted focus group interviews with specific population groups that may have been affected to a greater extent. These groups consisted of vulnerable road users, such as mobility-impaired people and people who are facing severe health problems, representatives of the local economy and businesses and representatives of institutional stakeholders and policymakers. Our research showed that in the post-pandemic era, accessibility and not mobility should be at the heart of economic and social welfare. At the same time, the assurance of physical activity, which is strongly associated with the mental health of citizens, and the protection of the local economy are issues of outermost importance. However, local authorities were unprepared to manage these issues and often made fragmented and punitive decisions. By recognising the need for a regional or metropolitan emergency mechanism, this study aims to introduce a new system of indicators specifically adapted to the particularities and challenges encountered during the pandemic, accounts for local communities' unique needs and requirements, and complies with the general principles of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs). In the future, the SUMP methodology should be revised to be able to handle and manage mobility systems under pandemic conditions.
