Greening urban mobility: Assessing environmental and functional characteristics of bicycle infrastructure in the post-pandemic Era

Abstract

Sustainability and CO₂ reduction are vital topics nowadays. In urban and suburban contexts, road traffic is widely recognised as one of the primary sources of CO₂ emissions. Thus, to reduce environmental pollution, there is an urgent need to replace vehicles with more sustainable transport modes. In this regard, electric bikes and scooters are emerging rapidly, especially with the advent of the Coronavirus pandemic, leading to a significant redesign of cities. Moreover, the rapid development of bike lanes is reshaping contemporary urbanism following the evidence provided by recent studies, which proved that more considerable investment in bicycle infrastructure encourages bicycle travel. The recent pandemic and current energy crisis are prompting the demand for defining tools to improve the planning and design of bicycle infrastructure. Hence, it is essential to analyse the environmental and geometric-functional characteristics of the infrastructure to be implemented and its temporality (whether definitive or pop-up lanes). Above all, the perception of different groups of users should be considered to understand the possible attitudes related to the perception of safety, comfort, and sustainability. Therefore, this study demonstrates using the full consistency method (FUCOM) to detect the most suitable cycle lane alternative amongst the design models (5) for cycle lanes developed by a group of design field experts. The paper illustrates the findings from a pilot study in Palermo, Italy. The adopted results show that a separated lane was the most favoured type. The research findings are equally valuable for policymakers to promote sustainable urban cycling.