Getting smart about urban mobility – Aligning the paradigms of smart and sustainable.

The digital age continues its advance, bringing with it remarkable technological possibilities. Such possibilities are founded upon an increasingly fine-grained electronic connectivity of people, places and objects allied to powerful data gathering and processing capabilities. Urban mobility of the future could be transformed, with developments such as: new forms of propulsion; new forms of vehicle control; changing business models of ownership and use; mobile technologies that equip and empower individuals; and opportunities to undertake activities without the need to travel. ‘Smart’ is the order of the day. Smart urban mobility conjures up a sense of new opportunity; of progress. However, what is really meant by smart? This paper examines this question, revealing a lack of consensus in terms of smart cities and a paucity of literature seeking to make sense of smart urban mobility. The paper considers how smart relates to sustainable, raising concerns about potentially dichotomous constituencies of commentators and discourses. Critical commentary associated with smart includes caution that large corporations are exerting significant influence in the era of smart in pursuit of goals that may not strongly align with those of urban planners concerned with social and environmental sustainability as well as economic prosperity. The paper puts forward and explores the following definition of smart urban mobility: “ connectivity in towns and cities that is affordable, effective, attractive and sustainable”. This is intended to help draw the paradigms of smart and sustainable closer together towards a common framework for urban mobility development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]