Special Issue "Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning and Disruption Outbreaks"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Antonio Comi
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Enterprise Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00118 Rome, Italy
Interests: transport system analysis; transport planning; evaluation methods; energy and transport; maritime transport; smart cities
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Corrado Rindone
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Università degli studi Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, 89135, Reggio Calabria, Italy
Interests: transport system analysis; transport planning; evaluation methods; energy and transport; maritime transport; smart cities
Dr. Antonio Polimeni
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Enterprise Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
Interests: transport system simulation; city logistics; freight transport

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As the events due to climate change (e.g., unexpected floods) and pandemic emergencies (e.g., COVID-19) show, disruption outbreaks cause severe and diverse impacts on society and the economy, in particular in urban areas where over half of the worldwide population lives. Such events are increasing in frequency and intensity, but lack of attention to them significantly limits progress towards sustainable development. Communities must be prepared to limit disastrous effects and to face temporary restrictions.

In this context, transportation systems and their planning have been asked to have a key-role, given that the actions implemented during these stages have significant impacts on the global economy and, consequently, on social and cultural functions. Unfortunately, we can expect other major disruptions to occur in the future, and the knowledge obtained during recent events can provide a foundation for transportation planning and policymaking that can incorporate new activities (e.g., teleactivities/smart working during the COVID-19 pandemic) and promote sustainable mobility. It is thus necessary to implement effective transport planning for the adaptation of transport capacity according to the evolution of the mobility needs of people and goods.

Therefore, the aim of this Special Issue is to point out areas of research that support the development of sustainable urban mobility planning, taking into consideration that disruption outbreaks can happen and that transportation services should continue to connect the places where people live, work, and interact.

The topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:

  • urban mobility planning to prevent the negative consequences of disruption outbreaks (e.g., pandemics)
  • preparedness and training for risk reduction
  • methods and models for rethinking transport services during disruption outbreaks (e.g., pandemics)
  • reviewing planning strategies in “hypermobile” societies during disruption outbreaks (e.g., pandemics)
  • resilience of the transportation system during disruption outbreaks
  • public transport as a cornerstone for sustainable mobility, including during disruption outbreaks
  • supply chain management in disruption outbreaks
  • deliver of goods during disruption outbreaks
  • case studies
  • lesson learned from past and current disruptive events (e.g., COVID-19 pandemic)

Prof. Dr. Antonio Comi
Dr. Corrado Rindone
Dr. Antonio Polimeni
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 papers will be 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 1900 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 planning
  • city logistics
  • transit
  • public transport
  • pandemic outbreaks
  • transportation system resilience
  • society impacts and prevention actions
  • flood events
  • safety
  • resilience
  • public health
  • preparedness
  • training

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
The Impact of COVID-19 on Highway Traffic and Management: The Case Study of an Operator Perspective
Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 5320; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095320 - 10 May 2021
Viewed by 664
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic created an enormous disruption to the everyday life of the modern society. Among the various urban systems, transportation services were among those that suffered the most significant impacts, particularly severe in the case of highways. This paper addresses the challenges [...] Read more.
The COVID-19 pandemic created an enormous disruption to the everyday life of the modern society. Among the various urban systems, transportation services were among those that suffered the most significant impacts, particularly severe in the case of highways. This paper addresses the challenges and responses to the pandemic from a private highway operator’s perspective and from a multidisciplinary perspective. Highway operators faced two main challenges: on one hand, the need to cope with the potential disruption caused by the pandemic and a national lockdown for almost three months, the provision of road services, and the requirement to ensure the proper operation and maintenance, and on the other hand, the strong negative impact of the pandemic on levels of traffic. Our case study shows that the operator’s management response in question is essentially characterised by being a first response to short term impacts while balancing for workers health and safety, engineering and management, internal business management, and overall economic impact. Highway operators were hardly prepared for such an event and became more focused on prioritising their employees and clients’ safety to avoid service disruption. Regarding levels of traffic, the pandemic has had severe effects, although to a varying degree, depending on the different types of vehicles (heavy, light, passenger, freight, among other types of vehicles) and the location of highways (coastal vs. interior). The lessons learnt can be valuable in future disruptive events and for other highway concession operators. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning and Disruption Outbreaks)
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