Português
The already established consortium of Aston University (UK), University College London (UK), Ruralis University (Norway), University of Turin (Italy), and University Institute of Lisbon (Portugal) will seek funding from the EU's ‘100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030’ initiative. Our proposal includes developing a scalable tool to evaluate and guide urban mobility policies, supporting sustainable development and the 15-minute city concept, especially post-COVID-19. This tool will analyze mobility's complex nature, integrating environmental sustainability and regional urban system characteristics like geography and demographics. AIenhanced, it will assess impacts on affordability and accessibility, providing localized insights. We seek pumppriming
funds for two residential workshops at Aston University to solidify collaboration, complete application writing, and establish a proof of concept
The expected opportunity will arise in: - Cluster 5 - Climate, Energy and Mobility.
Destination 2 - Topic: Cross-sectoral solutions for the climate transition - Type of action: Driving Urban Transition 2025 which will open in September 2025, calls to be published in July 2025 under the HORIZON-2025MISS-CIT02*
The main purpose of the project is to design a data-driven policy tool that considers the heterogeneous characteristics of the RUS in terms of their (i) geography, (ii) industrial fabric and economic landscape, (iii) sociodemographic characteristics that are likely to shape the way mobility systems and transport policies are designed for efficient 15-minute cities. We will rely on an innovative data-driven and multi-national approach to account for understanding, modeling and predicting such characteristics by integrating a custom-built innovative AI engine in every region that will participate. The project will yield a basic tool for testing the impact of various mobility policies on factors like residential affordability, age-specific accessibility, and commuting patterns (e.g., partial commuters) which heavily rely on specific local characteristics (e.g., industrial concentration of manufacturing vis-à-vis services, which have different land requirements and attract different typology of commuters and draws from the automated insight provided by the AI modeling and prediction engine).
Our approach applies advanced methodologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and agent-based modelling in assessing socioeconomic and built environment components of mobility patterns. We embed multi-tiered governance perspectives that will foster the partnership of local governments with stakeholders and academia, thereby enhancing collaborative efforts toward sustainable urban mobility.
Our expected project outcomes include (i) the development of robust conceptual frameworks that underlie urban mobility in a governance-multilayer setting, (ii) a toolbox for the evaluation of the efficiency and sustainability of the 15-minute city approach in the new paradigm and with a specific focus on (iii) the postpandemic characteristics of the user base. Moreover, we provide (iv) innovative strategies for assessing and managing mobility including AI-enabled modelling and prediction, and (v) the identification of best practices showing alternative development paths.
Smart Paths for Sustainable Mobility Systems (SMARTPATHS) seeks to develop a
portable, replicable, scalable decision support framework for governing and evaluating innovative mobility and proximity policies within the framework of regional urban systems from the perspective of sociodemographic accessibility, CO2 reduction, and fiscal sustainability. This tool will be capable of accounting for RUS’
sociodemographic and geographical characteristics, and to address planned and unplanned disruptive events.
| Research Centre | Research Group | Role in Project | Begin Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BRU-Iscte | Management Research Group | Partner | 2025-04-01 | 2026-03-31 |
| Institution | Country | Role in Project | Begin Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ruralis University (RU) | Norway | Partner | 2025-04-01 | 2026-03-31 |
| UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON (UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON) | United Kingdom | Partner | 2025-04-01 | 2026-03-31 |
| ASTON UNIVERSITY (ASTON UNIVERSITY) | United Kingdom | Leader | 2025-04-01 | 2026-03-31 |
| Università degli Studi di Torino – IT (Università degli Studi di Torino – IT) | Italy | Partner | 2025-04-01 | 2026-03-31 |
| Name | Affiliation | Role in Project | Begin Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maria José Sousa | Professora Associada (com Agregação) (DCPPP); Integrated Researcher (BRU-Iscte); | Researcher | 2025-04-01 | 2026-03-31 |
| Reference/Code | Funding DOI | Funding Type | Funding Program | Funding Amount (Global) | Funding Amount (Local) | Begin Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PPHE25\100564 | -- | Contract | The British Academy - Horizon Europe Pump Priming collaboration between UK and EU partners 2025 - United Kingdom | 11618 | 0 | 2025-04-01 | 2026-03-31 |
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With the objective to increase the research activity directed towards the achievement of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the possibility of associating scientific projects with the Sustainable Development Goals is now available in Ciência_Iscte. These are the Sustainable Development Goals identified for this project. For more detailed information on the Sustainable Development Goals, click here.
