Mobility participatory processes:Agenda21 and best practices

Abstract

The prediction and realization of mobility actions, other than those already existing in a territory, often result in conflicts between the proponents (for example Administrations) and the population. Question not only of new road infrastructures but also new forms of mobility, such as best practice to make the sector sustainable. For example we can remember some tools of sustainable mobility, as Urban Traffic Plan or Urban Mobility Plan; the traffic calming measures, as areas with limited traffic, car sharing, car pooling; soft mobility as bike sharing; actions of local public transport as park and ride; communication and formative actions, as eco-driving courses and happybus (for children).

Certainly the construction of important infrastructures, strategic internationally, catalyze public attention because they pose problems to the entire community, but very often are the local works to determine conflicts. This paper focuses on this second aspect that is of major impact in our daily lives.

In order to achieve adequate sustainability thresholds for mobility and a general consensus shared at different involved levels, a fundamental role is played by "participation" that arises as a solution to the conflict aforementioned. Steps of the participatory process are information, awareness, communication and training.

A tool that allows you to achieve these objectives and facilitate the participatory process is the Agenda XXI, which, as noted, includes within it (after a survey on the environmental status and highlighting the present criticality studied by experts), consultation  tables (forums) with the different actors involved (government, population, technical, business, ...).

In this paper we report the main results obtained in the search experience aimed at identifying best practices on sustainable mobility and its applicability thresholds useful to analyze and define, in a shared and co-responsible way, what are the good actions to take to an area considered. A best practice cannot be applied in different territorial areas, because the characteristics (cultural, physical or commercial development...) of each territory are various.

The research wants to categorize "the virtuous cases" to be able to define types of actions for replication in areas with similar characteristics.

From the above mentioned (reconnaissance and evaluative analysis on the case) it was possible to define two types of Decision Support System: the first, in general, defines a database of all possible best practices on sustainable mobility and the second is specific to a determinate territory (the latter is obtained by first, taking into account the identified applicability thresholds). This is to set the frameworks useful to administrators and people (involved in the first person) to be shared in the processes of Agenda XXI (forums) aimed at a participatory governance, without unnecessary conflicts.