Assessing Amsterdam’s urban mobility through the lens of smart mobility goals

Abstract

Rapid urbanization and economic growth have heightened the demand for efficient, sustainable mobility systems. Amsterdam’s goal to become the world’s leading smart mobility city motivated this study to evaluates Amsterdam’s mobility performance across six smart mobility goals: sustainability, efficiency, safety, accessibility, convenience, and cost-effectiveness. The assessment draws on quantitative data, qualitative data, and observational studies to evaluate alignment with global benchmarks and identify challenges in balancing competing objectives. Results indicate that Amsterdam excels with perfect scores in safety, convenience, and cost-effectiveness. Sustainability (9.48) and accessibility (9.97) scores are below perfect due to unmet targets for low-energy vehicle adoption and public transport coverage. Efficiency remains a challenge, with a score of 6.72 due to congestion and long travel times. A notable trade-off exists between efficiency and safety, as Amsterdam’s 30 km/h speed limit on most roads enhances safety but slows travel speeds—reflecting the city’s commitment to safety and liveability over speed. Measures—such as smart traffic management, investments in active mobility, public transport improvement, and exempting public transport from the speed limit—could help to balance the dual goals of safety and efficiency.