Speaker
Description
The mobility crisis highlights the need to transition toward environmentally sustainable and socially equitable transportation systems. Over the past century, car-centric environments (Urry, 2004) perpetuated the illusion of accessibility while contributing to urban sprawl, resource consumption, and soil depletion. Dependency on automobiles exacerbates pollution while widening social inequalities (Sheller, 2018). Although it is recognized as a systemic problem, its impact on urban form remains a critical concern for planners (Boussauw et al. 2023).
Coastal and city-port regions, where global and local flows interact (Hein et al., 2023) face unique challenges that further complicate mobility systems. Water and land transport’s interplay is often poorly integrated, while territorial morphologies heighten climate and hydrogeological risks (IPCC, 2021). These areas suffer from ecological vulnerabilities: biodiversity loss, water pollution, high-density residential and tourist settlements pressure. These factors contribute to heightened air pollution, unequal access to services, and degraded public spaces.
To address these challenges, the MERCIE project—Eco-Sustainable Models for Collaborative, Integrated, and Inclusive Urban Regeneration of the Land-Sea System—aims to foster sustainable mobility in coastal areas. Coordinated by the Department of Architecture (DiARC) of the “Federico II” University of Naples and funded by the iNEST Innovation Ecosystem (NEXTGenerationEU), MERCIE identifies three goals: protect and restore biodiversity and ecosystems, ensure equitable access to territorial resources, and improve quality of life for all.
To achieve these goals, it develops a Collaborative Spatial Decision Support System (C-SDSS) demo, to facilitate decision-making processes for local authorities and public entities, supporting the sustainable transformation of territories through targeted interventions. By leveraging quanti-qualitative spatial data (citizen-science approach), the platform enables users to co-design scenarios, exploring impacts of different decisions on mobility and land-sea interface regeneration (Geertman et al., 2013). Quantitative data are derived from spatial analyses, official databases, mapping, and statistical surveys on modal share, user flows and travel times. Qualitative data, meanwhile, are developed using psychometric constructs to assess factors such as attitudes toward active mobility, the influence of perceived risk on transport choices, and the role of heritage in shaping mobility patterns. These qualitative insights are further enriched through co-exploration activities in Urban Living Lab (ULL) workshops (JPI Urban Europe, 2015), also with the involvement of local public administrations and transport management. Then, a co-design phase ensures that diverse stakeholder perspectives are integrated into the decision-making process.
MERCIE focuses on the case study of Campi Flegrei, the coastal western part of the Metropolitan Area of Naples, South Italy. This area presents a compelling case study due to its rich natural and cultural heritage, its exposure to environmental risks (most recently the bradyseism crisis which came to worldwide attention), and its dense urbanization. Campi Flegrei features a variety of hydrographical systems (sea, lakes, rivers), as well as diverse coastal typologies. It also serves as a nexus of multiple transport modes: public and private systems, railways, and waterborne routes to the islands of Ischia and Procida. The region's complexity makes it ideal for testing the methodology and exploring its potential for sustainable mobility planning.
This paper presents the preliminary findings of MERCIE and discusses the challenges associated with transferring the proposed methodology to other coastal areas. While the case study highlights the potential of the C-SDSS to address complex mobility issues in sustainable and inclusive manner, its broader applicability will be useful in knowledge and technological transfer to account for the unique characteristics of different coastal regions, after due validation and site-specific adaptation.
By addressing mobility through an integrated, collaborative, and mixed data-driven approach, the MERCIE project underscores the transformative potential of sustainable transportation systems in coastal regions to support multi-stakeholders’ decision making processes.
References
Boussauw, K., Papa, E., and Fransen, K. (2023) Car Dependency and Urban Form. Urban Planning, 8(3), 1–5.
Geertman, S., Stillwell, J., & Toppen, F. (2013). Planning Support Systems for Sustainable Urban Development. Springer.
Hein, C., van Mil, Y., & Ažman Momirski, L. (2023). Port City Atlas. TU Delft OPEN Publishing.
IPCC (2021). Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Cambridge University Press.
JPI Urban Europe (2015) Strategic research and innovation agenda: transition towards sustainable and liveable urban futures. JPI Urban Europe (Accessed 09/01/25)
Sheller, M. (2018). Mobility Justice: The Politics of Movement in an Age of Extremes. Verso Books.
Urry, J. (2004). The ‘System’ of Automobility. Theory, Culture & Society, 21(4-5), 25–39.
| Keywords | decision-making, land-sea system, citizen science |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
