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Sustainable Transport Planning and Decision-making

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Transportation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2021) | Viewed by 15755

Special Issue Editors

Department of Electric, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy
Interests: transport planning; sustainable mobility; demand responsive transport; public participation in transport decisions; transport modeling and simulation; public transport; active mobility; planning for accessibility
Università degli Studi di Catania, Italy
Interests: participatory transport planning; decision-support methods; simulation models for passenger and freight transport policy-making
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
Interests: transportation and land use; spatial analysis; participatory transport planning; transport and social inclusion; geographic information systems; planning for accessibility
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to launch a new Special Issue focusing on recent developments in the field of decision-making in transport planning in terms of its relationship to sustainable mobility.

Transport comprises complex systems that influence the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of a community, affecting citizens’ quality of life, as well as specific concerns of general stakeholders. Further complexity in the transport decision-making processes is added by the conflicting interests of the several actors involved in it and the evaluation of multiple and heterogeneous aspects which should be conducted in order to find solutions that are both well accepted and technically sound. The planning objectives cannot therefore be exhausted in evaluations that guarantee the optimal solution with respect to a single criterion. Indeed, they must be oriented to guarantee the sustainability of decisions in all its dimensions, ensuring flexibility and resilience of the solutions envisaged in order to overcome the disruptive challenges to which our communities are currently subjected to.

In this respect, the traditional transport planning approach, where the decision is the result of an analysis conducted by transport experts aimed at finding the best solution through quantitative methods, has shown many limitations. 

Based on this premise, the goal of the SI is to collect high-quality papers addressing contemporary challenges and innovation aimed at improving transport sustainability with respect to traditional planning objectives and decision-making process. Contributions can deal with state-of-the art research, models, policies, empirical studies, and case studies in this research area.

A non-exhaustive nor binding list of possible topics of interests is reported below:

  • Multicriteria decision-making approaches for transport planning;
  • Stakeholder engagement and participatory decision-making methods;
  • Transport planning and policies in the age of disruption;
  • Transport policy and sustainability;
  • Spatial decision support methods and tools in transport planning;
  • Social and environmental sustainability of transport solutions;
  • New forms of mobility to enhance transport sustainability;
  • Emerging technologies for sustainable transportation systems;
  • Sustainable transport planning and decision-making in the aftermath of COVID-19. 

Dr. Giuseppe Inturri
Dr. Michela Le Pira
Dr. Nadia Giuffrida
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

  • Public participation 
  • Sustainable mobility 
  • Shared mobility 
  • Spatial planning 
  • Transport decision-making 
  • Multicriteria analysis

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 4789 KiB  
Article
Optimizing the Location of Park-and-Ride Facilities in Suburban and Urban Areas Considering the Characteristics of Coverage Requirements
by Huasheng Liu, Yu Li, Jin Li, Bowen Hou and Shuzhi Zhao
Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1502; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14031502 - 27 Jan 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2209
Abstract
Within the scope of sustainability, the development of park-and-ride (P&R) facilities can reduce the exhaust emissions of motor vehicles and help build an environmentally friendly society. The location of P&R facilities is the primary consideration in planning, and it plays a decisive role [...] Read more.
Within the scope of sustainability, the development of park-and-ride (P&R) facilities can reduce the exhaust emissions of motor vehicles and help build an environmentally friendly society. The location of P&R facilities is the primary consideration in planning, and it plays a decisive role in their transportation, environmental and economic benefits. Given the difficulty of obtaining full data information of traffic network attributes and travel demand characteristics, in this study the P&R facilities in the outer suburbs and cities as were taken as the research object, with a simplified transportation network, improving the principle of nearby selection and 0–1 demand coverage in existing research. By analyzing the P&R facility coverage and demand intensity characteristics, a P&R facility location model considering the coverage demand characteristics was constructed, and a solution algorithm is proposed. The validity of the established model was verified by comparing the existing location model and conducting sensitivity analysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Transport Planning and Decision-making)
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18 pages, 1699 KiB  
Article
Identifying and Prioritizing Sustainable Urban Mobility Barriers through a Modified Delphi-AHP Approach
by Konstantina Anastasiadou, Nikolaos Gavanas, Christos Pyrgidis and Magda Pitsiava-Latinopoulou
Sustainability 2021, 13(18), 10386; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su131810386 - 17 Sep 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2800
Abstract
Sustainable urban mobility has been the epicenter both at the scientific and administrative level during the last decades, with a high number of relevant research projects, awareness campaigns, and other initiatives taking place at the local, national, and international level. However, many urban [...] Read more.
Sustainable urban mobility has been the epicenter both at the scientific and administrative level during the last decades, with a high number of relevant research projects, awareness campaigns, and other initiatives taking place at the local, national, and international level. However, many urban areas have so far achieved limited results in this direction because of political, institutional, organizational, technological, infrastructural, and socio-economic barriers as well as unforeseeable (e.g., COVID-19) conditions. The overall aim of the present research study is to support policy-making by proposing a methodology that identifies and prioritizes the sustainable mobility barriers for a specific urban area, with a view to developing effective policies. Towards this purpose, this work provides, in the first phase, a comprehensive inventory of barriers based on a literature review. In the second phase, a methodology using as a basic scientific tool a modified Delphi-AHP is proposed for the adaptation of this inventory to a specific urban area and for both the evaluation and prioritization of sustainable mobility barriers. The whole process is then applied in Thessaloniki, Greece, a European city suffering from many problems related to sustainable mobility. The above pilot application confirms that this approach can be integrated as a supporting tool in the first steps of sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMPs). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Transport Planning and Decision-making)
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18 pages, 4542 KiB  
Article
Speed Optimization for Container Ship Fleet Deployment Considering Fuel Consumption
by Chao-Feng Gao and Zhi-Hua Hu
Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 5242; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13095242 - 07 May 2021
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 2795
Abstract
In recent years, low energy consumption has become the common choice of economic development in the world. In order to control energy consumption, shipping line speed optimization has become strategically important. to reduce fuel consumption, this study optimizes the container ship fleet deployment [...] Read more.
In recent years, low energy consumption has become the common choice of economic development in the world. In order to control energy consumption, shipping line speed optimization has become strategically important. to reduce fuel consumption, this study optimizes the container ship fleet deployment problem by adopting the strategy of adjusting each leg of each route’s sailing speed. To calculate fuel consumption more accurately, both sailing speed and the ship’s payload are considered. A multi-objective mixed integer nonlinear programming model is established to optimize the allocation of liner routes with multiple ship types on multiple routes. A linear outer-approximation algorithm and an improved piecewise linear approximation algorithm are used for linearization. If segments of an interval increase, the results will be more accurate but will take more time to compute. As fuel prices increase, to make trade-offs among economic and environmental considerations, the shipping company is adopting the “adding ship and slow down its speed” strategy, which verifies the validity and applicability of the established model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Transport Planning and Decision-making)
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27 pages, 1695 KiB  
Article
Sustainable Mobility Driven Prioritization of New Vehicle Technologies, Based on a New Decision-Aiding Methodology
by Konstantina Anastasiadou
Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 4760; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13094760 - 23 Apr 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2470
Abstract
In an era of environmental and socio-economic crisis, sustainable transport planning is vital as ever, especially given that the transport sector is responsible for the greatest part of total air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. New vehicle technologies, such as autonomous and electric [...] Read more.
In an era of environmental and socio-economic crisis, sustainable transport planning is vital as ever, especially given that the transport sector is responsible for the greatest part of total air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. New vehicle technologies, such as autonomous and electric vehicles, emerge as promising alternatives, creating, however, both opportunities and challenges and raising questions relating to their performance. Can these new vehicle technologies really perform better than conventional ones in terms of sustainable mobility? Which one of them constitutes the optimum solution? How does each alternative perform with regard to different evaluation criteria, such as air pollution or road safety? In order to answer such questions, and to select the optimum solution, a comparison between autonomous, electric, autonomous electric and conventional vehicles is executed, based on a set of social, economic and environmental criteria. For this purpose, a new decision-aiding methodology, allowing for a holistic evaluation of the alternatives through a comprehensive literature review and experts’ participation, is applied. It is mainly based on the combined application of two hybrid multi-criteria analysis models, creating a more solid background towards optimum decision-making, thus constituting an important decision support tool for project appraisal and funding within the framework of sustainability in any sector. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Transport Planning and Decision-making)
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18 pages, 28216 KiB  
Article
Using Combined Bus Rapid Transit and Buses in a Dedicated Bus Lane to Enhance Urban Transportation Sustainability
by Chinnawat Hoonsiri, Siriluk Chiarakorn and Vasin Kiattikomol
Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3052; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13063052 - 10 Mar 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3232
Abstract
Combined bus rapid transit and buses in a dedicated bus lane (CBBD) is a measure that bus rapid transit (BRT) operators implement to reduce overlapping routes between BRT and fixed-route buses. The CBBD measure can combine the passengers of both systems on the [...] Read more.
Combined bus rapid transit and buses in a dedicated bus lane (CBBD) is a measure that bus rapid transit (BRT) operators implement to reduce overlapping routes between BRT and fixed-route buses. The CBBD measure can combine the passengers of both systems on the same route, which helps increase passenger demand for the BRT, and reduce fuel consumption and emissions from utilizing the exclusive lanes for the combined route. However, the CBBD could affect some bus and BRT passengers in terms of either losing or gaining travel time-saving benefits depending on their travel pattern. This research proposed a methodology to determine the travel distance initiating disadvantage for BRT passengers (DDB) to justify the potential success of the CBBD operations. The number of passengers gaining a benefit from the CBBD was sensitive to the distance between the CBBD stops and the operational period of the CBBD. The CBBD reform would be beneficial to transit agencies to improve the travel time of passengers and be able to promote environmental sustainability for the public transportation system in urban cities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Transport Planning and Decision-making)
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