The COVID-19 pandemic, like an earthquake, shocked our civilization and is still having a devastating effect on our lives. Guaranteeing an appropriate level of safety in the conditions of an epidemic is a highly problematic issue due to the subjectivism of social individuals, their diverse attitudes, and past life experiences. Taking into account the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines regarding the pandemic, authorities all around the world have reacted by issuing the necessary sets of advice and legal acts. This resulted in immediate and severe implications on mobility styles. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on mobility behaviours with special regard to public transport users, in terms of their willingness to travel and their safety criteria perceptions. The city of Gdańsk, in Poland, located on the Baltic Sea, has been taken as an example. The hypothesis was as follows: the epidemic phenomenon may substantially affect mobility behaviours in terms of subjective levels of safety and the mental comfort of public transport users, resulting in avoiding this form of transport. In accordance with the survey results, carried out among the users, 90% of respondents resigned or limited their usage. Almost 75% of them plan to return to using public transport when the epidemic situation has stabilized. The others, unfortunately, have completely lost hope that public transport will ever be safe. These results indicate decisively that the future of public transport in cities, and the willingness of passengers to use it once the epidemic is over, depends majorly on the perceived comfort and safety during the epidemic. This means that transport policies should be focused on enhancing these perceptions and making sure that the image of public transport is not in further decline; otherwise, it could mean an almost impossible effort to encourage passengers to return to using sustainable modes of transport in the future.

Motivation: Sustainable urban development is the current global priority; however, most cities lack the capacity and resources to ensure that the city develops in a sustainable manner. Mobility is one of the most difficult topics to face in metropolitan large areas. It involves both environmental and economic aspects, and needs both high technologies and virtuous people behaviours. Dynamical urban development and inhabitants lifestyle changes, especially in the heavy congested port agglomerations, result in a continuous increase of their transport needs. As transport behaviours change, the number of vehicles on streets grows resulting in congestion, an increased number of accidents, exhaust and noise emissions and, consequently, a lowered quality of life. Thus a sustainable approach to urban mobility and transport planning is becoming increasingly common in all EU countries. The study is based on the literature sources analysis and survey research results obtained with a questionnaire for stakeholders to assess particular areas and activities related to mobility issues. Aim: The aim of the paper is to present the urban sustainable development challenges, taking as a case study the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) elaboration process selected issues in the city of Gdynia within the CIVITAS DYN@MO being a European project implemented under the CIVITAS II PLUS initiative (funded from the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission). Results: It is quite a challenge to ensure a sustainable urban mobility pattern which requires a high level of stakeholders' participation and establishing a detailed complex planning process. Key stakeholders of Gdynia, representing the public administration sector, the transport market and university researchers (including the author), included in the planning process earlier, invited to the assessment gave the highest priority to the tariff and ticket integration in the Metropolitan Area, parking issues, the inclusion ORIGINAL ARTICLE received 13.06.2017; revised 24.03.2018; accepted 30.06.2018 Citation: Przybyłowski, A. (2018 of pedestrian traffic in project planning and public spaces. The promotion among inhabitants and students or city bicycle system were given a medium priority and the lowest was given to carpooling, environmental-friendly vehicules and such mobility management tools as Mobility centre or the Officer for Mobility.

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Improving quality of life still remains the main goal of strategic documents and is promoted by leaders on the global, national, regional, and local levels. Moreover, this ambitious challenge should be consistent with the principles of sustainable development, including the social, economic, and environmental aspects. The ISO 37120 indicators within the World Council on City Data (WCCD) database may be used to monitor the urban performance over time. However, the interpretation of the results is not always easy and sometimes requires a complex analysis. The aim of this paper was to investigate the possibility of illustrating in a transparent way the urban quality of life using the utility method. This study also presents that this method may facilitate making data-driven decisions on urban management, planning and investment. Thus, it may be useful for decision makers and help cities and communities of all sizes to become more sustainable, safe and resilient, prosperous, inclusive, and smart. The analysis has been carried out using the examples of selected European cities: Amsterdam, Gdynia, London, and Zagreb. The hypothesis reads as follows: it is possible to use the total and partial utility method in order to assess the level of urban quality of life with regard to the three dimensions of sustainable development in order to monitor progress and results and prioritize and implement the changes within urban policy. Research results indicate that there are significant differences between the compared cities within the economic, social, and ecological aspects. This analysis may constitute an introduction to the development of more complex models in the future.