A planning support framework to enable smart mobility: Integrating multi-objective spatial optimization and GIS to enhance commuting efficiency

Abstract

Planning support approaches can play a transformative role in shaping sustainable, resilient, and equitable urban landscapes that promote efficient mobility patterns. This paper develops a prescriptive framework that integrates Geographic Information Systems with a variant of the transportation problem to evaluate planning initiatives and inform land use policies and growth management strategies aimed at enhancing commuting efficiency at both local and regional levels. A multi-step approach is structured including 1) a multi-objective spatial optimization model that simulates the impacts of alterations to urban locational structure on work trip durations, capturing normative commuting patterns across three major workforce groups under varying urban growth scenarios; and 2) a modified gravity model that estimates regional commuting efficiency at the economic-sector level based on optimized inputs. Results indicate that this framework enables a critical evaluation of urban spatial configurations and corresponding commuting efficiency indicators under both conventional and alternative planning systems. The proposed framework also supports tactical and strategic land use and transportation planning, allowing planners and policymakers to analyze potential urban forms across different development scenarios, dissect commuting efficiency outcomes by industry, and identify sectors with critical spatial mismatches between job locations and housing. The ability to guide more balanced urban development and foster more efficient commuting patterns is demonstrated for Central Florida.