Next Generation Tools for advanced mobility solutions: Next4Mob
Urban mobility is undergoing epochal changes from technological and social viewpoints, already started a few years ago and that will extend in a horizon of the next decades. New transportation technologies are quickly becoming available to the public. Examples include individual electric devices, solutions of shared transport or, even, mobility-as-a-service applications. Additionally, individual transport modes such as bicycling are getting increasingly popular as cities expand the accessible areas to metropolitan configurations. In the meanwhile, traditional vehicles such as cars, buses or trucks are experiencing transformations oriented toward greener and more automated technologies. In this revolution unfolding, quantitative tools are more necessary than ever to help stakeholders and managers in decision-making on transport and mobility systems. Falling under the recent name of digital twins, these models follow a data-driven philosophy and in general assume as in economic models that people behave in a rational manner. Next4Mob will go beyond this framework by building the basis for the next generation of mobility planning tools, based on creating an instrument that simulates the interaction of planning actors, stated preferences from citizens, and air quality impacts. The potential of the developed tool will be tested in the context of Valladolid (Spain), where it is being promoted the implementation of a low emission zone. For this reason, the public transport company AUVASA, which is in charge of transport systems in Valladolid, takes part in this proposal. Furthermore, the Next4Mob tool will have the potential to be fully scalable and adaptable to other cities in Spain and in the rest of the continent.