Abstract
Transportation mobility is an essential part of environmental, economic, and social sustainability in the twenty-first century. Although transportation systems produce impacts on each of these pillars, there are opportunities to make improvements through efforts in multimodal planning and design, transportation technology, and policies and programming. Multimodal planning and design efforts, including nonmotorized mobility (walking and biking) as well as transit-oriented development, shift the priority away from vehicular modes. Collectively, complete streets design draws on the strengths of incorporating all modes within the roadway right-of-way. Technology advancements have continued to transform the transportation field and have enabled opportunities for intelligent transportation systems, connected and autonomous vehicles, as well as a more holistic approach to urban planning through smart cities. Lastly, policies and programming that support sustainable approaches such as adoption of sustainable transportation rating systems, encouragement of safe routes to schools, as well as support for vision zero policies, which aim to reduce roadway-related deaths, are critical in supporting sustainable transportation systems. In combination, all of these efforts can encourage transportation systems where issues of air quality, safety, equity, efficiency, and overall mobility are improved for all users.
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Oswald Beiler, M. (2023). Urban Approaches to Sustainability: Transportation. In: Brinkmann, R. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Sustainability. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-01949-4_172
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