The current dynamics of cities require mixed mobility systems, designed to allow the coexistence of multiple ways of getting around, in integrated systems and in the generation of well-being for those who live there. What is the winning combination in these cases? We answer that question in the following article.
Leaving the house on foot, taking a bus to the public bicycle drop-off point, picking up a bike there and riding it to your destination is now a possibility. But there are also those who drive to the metro station and take a train to work, thus combining comfort, economy and time. They say that there is no accounting for taste; and there are options for mobility needs.
More and more urban planners, mobility experts and citizens agree that a mobility solution alone does not respond to the needs of urban spaces today. Success seems to lie in the sum of possibilities in which the public and the private are constantly integrated.
How can we build and adapt cities so that they respond better to the needs of their inhabitants and to smart mobility schemes? By listening to, observing and understanding their citizens.
“Only cities that are willing to understand, learn, make decisions and act on reality can guarantee intelligent mobility, which is nothing more than understanding the needs of citizens and urban areas in order to offer alternatives that allow optimizing travel, reducing motorized trips and their externalities.”, says Fernando Pérez, mobility analyst at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES).
According to Fernández, the strategy, after understanding the citizens, responds to the construction of a shared commitment. The balance between the public scheme and individual means of transport manages to satisfy both individual and collective needs and generate, in short, an atmosphere of well-being for all the inhabitants of a territory.
Thinking about mobility means thinking about citizens, how they take ownership of the territory, its routes, its flows and its daily dynamics.. For this reason, it is important to think about generating, in addition to policies or new media, conversations that encourage joint work and, above all, a citizen culture that translates into appropriation of the media and shared use of the resources that are available to everyone.
In addition to the above, “the quality of mobility in cities is closely linked to the way in which the city is planned. It is necessary to know how the urban development platform is structured in order to recognize and articulate the fundamental ecological and social structures with the functional and service systems in such a way that it allows citizens to access the activities, products and offers in the city and to adequately connect the different urban demands,” emphasizes Fernández.
Smart mobility requires smart mobility dynamics where citizens recognise themselves, take ownership and make the most of the resources available to them for their own and collective use. In short, cities designed for everyone.