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Car-Free Cities: Urban Planning Strategies to Reduce Private Transport
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Car-Free Cities: Urban Planning Strategies to Reduce Private Transport

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2023) | Viewed by 12968

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Xavier Úbeda Cartañá

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
GRAM (Mediterranean Environmental Research Group), Department of Geography, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Interests: forests fire; forests ecology; prescribed fires, soils, hydrology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Joan Tort Donada

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geography, University of Barcelona (UB), Barcelona, Spain
Interests: urban and regional planning; land-use impacts and changes; urban and environmental systems; urban studies
Dr. Albert Santasusagna Riu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geography, Water Research Institute (IdRA), University of Barcelona (UB), Barcelona, Spain
Interests: sustainable cities; urban planning; urban conflicts; environmental management; water management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Urban development of cities has coexisted with various types of mobility throughout history. At the beginning of the 20th century, a new actor broke into the urban public space: the car. The progressive increase of vehicles in cities forced to reconfigure urban space as it had been proposed up to that moment. The result was a public space with new rules, where the citizen became a pedestrian and the car determined the rest of mobility as a consequence of its presence in the centre of the road, the priority of passage and its high speeds. Fortunately, the problems associated with the dominance of the car in the city (traffic congestion, environmental pollution, reduction of other mobility) have led to the recent implementation of new policies and strategies for urban sustainability that prioritize the partial or total reduction of private transport. 

This Special Issue of Sustainability calls for original research papers that collect experiences, plans and urban projects in favour of good practices to improve the living conditions of citizens through a reduction, control or prohibition of the car in the city. However, research that addresses the promotion of sustainable urban mobility alternatives and analyses the evolution of urban networks in relation to the emergence of private transport is also welcome. In addition, studies on the effects of COVID-19 on urban mobility and direct consequences of the decline in private transportation during the pandemic will be greatly appreciated. We seek contributions that address these and other challenges with a focus on policies, plans and projects from local, but also regional and global perspectives. 

Sincerely yours,

Prof. Dr. Xavier Úbeda Cartañá
Prof. Dr. Joan Tort Donada
Dr. Albert Santasusagna Riu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable mobility
  • urban mobility
  • transport policy
  • sustainable urban planning
  • urban planning
  • green space
  • urban health
  • urban accessibility

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 903 KiB  
Article
Directions of Carsharing Development in Poland—Analysis of the Need to Expand the Carsharing Zone
by Joanna Drobiazgiewicz and Agnieszka Pokorska
Sustainability 2023, 15(5), 4192; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su15054192 - 25 Feb 2023
Viewed by 1192
Abstract
One of the basic challenges of contemporary transportation policy is to reduce the share of passenger cars used as the primary means of transportation. This problem is particularly important in urban areas, where congestion generates significant economic costs and carries certain risks for [...] Read more.
One of the basic challenges of contemporary transportation policy is to reduce the share of passenger cars used as the primary means of transportation. This problem is particularly important in urban areas, where congestion generates significant economic costs and carries certain risks for the environment and air quality, and, as a result, has a negative impact on the health of residents. In recent decades, many solutions have been developed to support the reduction of car traffic, many of which are part of the concept of sustainable and shared mobility, such as public transport systems and carsharing and bike-sharing systems. The authors have focused on an in-depth analysis of the carsharing phenomenon in both theoretical and practical terms. The aim of the following considerations is to fill the gap in knowledge about the directions of global trends in the development of carsharing and to relate them to the situation in Poland. In addition, the authors carried out an analysis aimed at characterising the degree of activity of using carsharing services at the border of the zone and indicating whether there may be a connection between the location of cars in the border zone and the possibility of transferring to other means of transport. The authors also point out whether increasing the area of carsharing, in this case, seems justified. The research was conducted based on the literature, an analysis of the activities of companies providing carsharing services, an analysis of open public data in this area, and observations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Car-Free Cities: Urban Planning Strategies to Reduce Private Transport)
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32 pages, 7493 KiB  
Article
Transition towards a Sustainable Mobility in a Suburbanising Urban Area: The Case of Barcelona
by Fernando Gil-Alonso, Cristina López-Villanueva and Jenniffer Thiers-Quintana
Sustainability 2022, 14(5), 2560; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14052560 - 23 Feb 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3926
Abstract
This article aims to address the apparent contradiction between the urban demographic and migratory trends and the transition towards a more sustainable mobility that local and metropolitan governments seek. To that end, it uses the case of Barcelona, and its metropolitan area during [...] Read more.
This article aims to address the apparent contradiction between the urban demographic and migratory trends and the transition towards a more sustainable mobility that local and metropolitan governments seek. To that end, it uses the case of Barcelona, and its metropolitan area during the first decades of the 21st century, characterized by suburbanisation and gentrification. Employing demographic, mobility and transport, and air quality statistics, we intend to analyse: (a) the spatial demographic trends in the metropolitan area of Barcelona (AMB), particularly regarding the core and periphery population growth or decline; (b) trends in daily mobility and how the public and private transport mix has changed; and (c) pollution data changes confirming the success or failure of the private vehicle reduction policy. Findings confirm our initial hypothesis: the slow but steady transition towards sustainable forms of mobility in the core city and the dense contiguous municipalities is counterbalanced by what occurs in the peripheral suburbs. There, the use of private vehicles is still preeminent and growing. Nevertheless, the air quality has improved in the most central municipalities of the AMB (for which data are available), even if not all parameters have seen a similar pollution reduction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Car-Free Cities: Urban Planning Strategies to Reduce Private Transport)
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12 pages, 22647 KiB  
Article
Understanding Urban Complexity via the Spatial Diversity of Activities: An Application to Barcelona (Spain)
by Salvador Rueda Palenzuela, Albert Santasusagna Riu, Berta Cormenzana Izquierdo, Joan Tort Donada and Xavier Úbeda
Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1298; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14031298 - 24 Jan 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3013
Abstract
Urban complexity can be measured by the numerical and spatial diversity of activities in a territory. Just as biodiversity can be measured in a natural ecosystem, diversity indices can be applied to urban settings. Urban diversity presents higher values in areas where there [...] Read more.
Urban complexity can be measured by the numerical and spatial diversity of activities in a territory. Just as biodiversity can be measured in a natural ecosystem, diversity indices can be applied to urban settings. Urban diversity presents higher values in areas where there is a greater number of (economic, institutional, and social) activities with a high degree of differentiation between them. This study seeks to investigate the potential of applying an urban diversity index in a specific case study: namely, the city of Barcelona (Spain), known for the orthogonal grid plan of its Eixample district. Results show that the municipal territory of Barcelona as a whole is characterized by highly differentiated spaces according to their urban diversity values. Specifically, it is the Eixample district that presents the highest values of urban diversity, reflecting the densification of its morphology and its urban commercial policies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Car-Free Cities: Urban Planning Strategies to Reduce Private Transport)
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24 pages, 25549 KiB  
Article
The Impact of Carsharing on Transport in the City. Case Study of Tri-City in Poland
by Tomasz Neumann
Sustainability 2021, 13(2), 688; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13020688 - 12 Jan 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2581
Abstract
The work on the impact of innovative solutions in urban transport on the inhabitants’ quality of life was discussed. This paper presents the characteristics of the use of shared vehicles in the agglomeration, based on the example of the Tri-City. An analysis of [...] Read more.
The work on the impact of innovative solutions in urban transport on the inhabitants’ quality of life was discussed. This paper presents the characteristics of the use of shared vehicles in the agglomeration, based on the example of the Tri-City. An analysis of vehicles’ use in given periods of time was performed, indicating the growing interest in using this type of transport in the city. The work was divided into four chapters. The first part concerns the history of travel and urban development. The second discusses all currently available communication solutions in cities. The third chapter contains the research part. It focuses on presenting changes in vehicle availability over a more extended period. The fourth chapter describes the functioning of cars “for minutes” and the operation and use of dedicated mobile applications. The work ended with a summary of theoretical and cognitive content. A significant contribution is a brief analysis of the shared car market in the Tri-City. The available options are characterized. Also, the degree of use has been analyzed. The study concluded with theses about the further rapid development of this industry in northern Poland. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Car-Free Cities: Urban Planning Strategies to Reduce Private Transport)
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