In most cities, discretionary passenger transport by car is predominantly supplied by taxi services. These services face competition from new digital platforms (UBER, Cabify, etc.) that connect users with the services offered by authorized drivers with a license for rented vehicles with drivers (VTC). However, very little is known about the impacts that these services produce in cities where they operate. So far, most studies on this issue have focused on cities of the United States of America, and they broadly found a positive impact in terms of road safety. Road safety has become one of the priority focuses for ensuring social welfare, to the point of being integrated into the Sustainable Development Goals as a primary value to achieve sustainable, safe and responsible mobility. Within this context, the objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of ride-hailing platforms on the frequency of traffic accidents with at least one fatally or seriously injured person in the municipality of Madrid from 2014 to 2018. To do this, a regression analysis has been carried out using a random effects negative binomial regression (RENB). The results of the model show that Uber and Cabify services are associated with a decrease in fatal and serious accidents in Madrid.

One of the territories most affected by flooding in Spain is the district of Vega Baja del Segura, located in the southernmost point of the province of Alicante. The objective of this article is to estimate the socio-economic and environmental efficiency of implementing sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) as part of the Vega Baja Nature Plan. This plan seeks to optimise rainfall management by reproducing and restoring the natural hydrological processes altered by the urban development of cities through integrated actions that generate new natural areas to be used and enjoyed by the residents. To this end, a cost–benefit analysis was carried out in accordance with the methodology established by the European Commission, and a social profitability of 4.3% (IRR) was obtained for the project, which shows the social benefit to be gained from its execution.

This paper illustrates the main results of work in progress for a project that has been funded by the European Commission. Under the supervision of CSIL (Centre for Industrial Studies), it reports the story of the construction of the new desalination plant in Águilas/enlargement of Águilas desalination plant, a project co-financed by the European Union during the programming period 2000-2006. More specifically, this is an ex-post evaluation assessing the long-term effects produced by the investment and aimed at understanding the mechanisms and determinants likely to have contributed to produce these effects. The analysis draws on an ex-post cost-benefit analysis and an extensive set of qualitative evidence, both secondary (official reports, press articles, books and research papers) and primary (site visits and interviews with key stakeholders and experts that were carried out in October and November 2018). The project is considered to be successful overall as it achieved its intended primary objectives. The cost of desalinated water produced by the new plant was €325,274 per cubic hectometer in 2017. When considering its impact on the served population, the final assessment is unambiguously positive, given the measurable effects on employment, diversification of traditional crops and boosting agriculture technology in the area. Besides these effects, interviews with local stakeholders have revealed that additional, complementary water-saving investments are planned on infrastructure for water storage and irrigation modernization as a consequence of this project implementation, assuring the sustainability of this investment for future generations in the Alto Guadalentín county.