Achieving Urban Travel Sustainability after a Pandemic: Clean, Efficient and Inclusive Decarbonization Strategies for Livable Cities

Dear Colleagues,

The Covid-19 pandemic will transform urban travel in ways that are difficult to predict. The world needs a transformation of cities towards sustainable travel and must design new systems post-pandemic that reflect and take advantage of changing dynamics, and address new challenges. The pandemic has already had a massive impact on mobility behaviour during the lock-downs all around the world. How might this affect mobility behaviour once the restrictions are lifted? Individual (e.g. automotive) mobility may surge and public transport could potentially suffer due to social proximity concerns. Working from home might become much more common, and last mile delivery systems may further substitute for passenger trips. The political response has also shown that massive and rapid changes are possible if the situation requires it. This may encourage local and national policy makers to take a much more active role, using economic stimulus packages to boost sustainable urban transport systems, modes and technologies such as electrification. On the freight side, how will changes in shopping patterns affect logistics and delivery systems?  What issues are increased “last mile” delivery creating around the world, and how can these be addressed via rationalizing systems and shifting to cleaner modes like electric vehicles? How can non-motorized modes be used for these services?

Meanwhile, cities will continue to cut air pollutant emissions and will strongly need to decarbonize, with targets of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 or sooner proliferating in line with IPCC projections of needed reductions (IPCC 2018 1.5 degree report). The transportation sector plays a critical role as it currently accounts for about 23% of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions (IPCC 2014).  Equitable, inclusive development will continue to be a key objective of the New Urban Agenda (United Nations 2017). Transport infrastructure investments will be a critical factor in shaping cities, determining the emissions and energy intensity of mobility and providing access to essential social and economic opportunities across demographic and income groups.

In the post pandemic world, there will be substantial potential to improve urban access, air quality, safety, and the quality of life in cities along with reducing greenhouse gas emissions if an integrated policy approach is applied that combines all intervention areas for transport policy and involves all levels of government. This can be viewed as (a) clean (low carbon, low pollutant emissions), (b) efficient (here meaning general compact urban form and optimal use of streetscapes for a range of activities), and (c) inclusive (providing robust, affordable transportation options for all members of society). A package that achieves low-carbon passenger and freight transport and fosters sustainable development reflects all three of these aspects. It includes achieving avoided journeys through compact urban design and shifts to more efficient modes of transport including active transport and micro-mobility systems, uptake of improved vehicle and engine performance technologies, low-carbon fuels, investments in related infrastructure, and changes in the built environment. The electrification of the vehicle fleet will play a vital role in achieving low carbon transport and can help to lead to lower-power, more urban-friendly vehicles.

This Special Issue invites research papers focusing on:

• How Covid-19 has changed and could permanently change urban transportation patterns going forward such as passenger travel patterns and freight movement and delivery systems;
• How policies can help to guide post-pandemic patterns toward greater sustainability;
• What measures will help avoid increases in private (especially solo) vehicle trips and promote transit and pooled ride sharing;
• The potential role of, and electrification of lower powered, lighter urban vehicles, and micro-mobility options, especially cycling;
• Interactions between last mile delivery and passenger trips, and how these delivery systems could be optimized and made more sustainable;
• The potential for electrification of commercial vehicle services;
• The role of urban planning to create environments where traffic is reduced, with more shared and active mobility;
• The role of data and indicators in measuring the sustainability impacts of e-mobility and share mobility; and
• The role of urban planning and other policies in creating more sustainable shared and e-mobility systems post-pandemic.

Papers can include evaluations of projects and policies, comparative assessments, data-driven analysis for specific cities, and broader evaluations of trends and policies around the world.

Dr. Lewis Fulton
Dr. Oliver Lah
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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.

• climate action
• urbanization
• transport
• electric mobility