SUM-Net: Sustainable Urban Mobility Network
In the society in which efficient use of energy is an urgent agenda, it is evident that the current level of dependence on private cars is not sustainable. While use of other, more environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable modes of transportation—including walking, cycling, and mass transit—bring about the benefit of reducing energy consumption, a large part of the public might not be ready to change their traveling habits unless they actually see that a reasonable level of mobility could be maintained.
The project aims to develop and test a theory for a new digital solution that supports the analysis of urban mobility and the design of route plans with a particular focus on people who rely on walking, cycling, and mass transit subject to various social and physical (or physiological) constraints. It takes the form of an integrated spatial database—called “Sustainable Urban Mobility Network” (SUM-Net)—with extended network analytic functionality. It will contribute to the advancement of digitalization in spatial planning by increasing the knowledge on how to integrate a plurality of spatial data models, each using a different geometric construct, and formulate a variety of spatial optimization and decision problems, each having a different set of goals and restrictions. Its major contribution to society, on the other hand, will be twofold: 1) to give governmental agencies a means to measure and assess their citizens’ true accessibility to various facilities, services, and opportunities through environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable modes of transportation, and 2) to give a wide range of travelers—including those who are physically and/or socially disadvantaged—a means to customize routes that meet their specific needs.
Project period: 2022-2024
Financing: Formas