Designing a strategic mobility plan for a small and medium sized cities using a multi-stage methodology: Case of Celje

Abstract

Urban mobility is one of the crucial factors of quality of life in cities. Therefore, an effective mobility system and its holistic planning are of utmost importance for sustainable and quality development of urban centres. This paper focuses on holistic and integrated strategic planning of a mobility system. The used multi - step methodology was tested on a case of a city of Celje, Slovenia. With the first round of focus groups, information about the specific urban mobility system was gathered which was used to develop a SWOT matrix. This was the foundation for the execution of a second round of focus groups, where the output was a proposition for a strategic plan for mobility development in small and medium sized cities.

Framework for urban freight transport analysis in medium-sized cities

“…The factors "Infrastructure available for UFT" and "Urban Space Configuration" presented a high degree of interaction (or between 70% or 80% of degree of certainty) with all attributes, according to the Public Agents and Specialists. In particular, with regard to "Infrastructure available for UFT", the result found recognized the high importance given to this factor by local governments (Kramar et al, 2015), as well as by the transport specialists. It was verified that the factor "Urban Space Configuration" had a high interaction level with urban sprawl (Espindola et al, 2017), and, as stated by Pojani & Stead (2015), has an urban function in the sense of urban planning for the growth of the city.…”

“…With regard to "Projects and Measures adopted by Local Authorities", four main issues are highlighted in the context of Medium-sized Cities: 1) the UFT Restriction Measures; 2) the level of inclusion of the UFT in the city's strategic planning; 3) the degree of involvement of the stakeholders in the decision-making process; and 4) adoption of policies with an appropriate focus on the drivers of externalities (González et al, 2017;Kramar et al, 2015;Pojani & Stead, 2015;Van Lier et al, 2016).…”

“…Regarding the "Level of Inclusion of UFT in the Strategic Planning of the City", this issue is not yet sufficiently applied in practice, although their strong impact on the quality of life of the population is recognized by local governments (Kramar et al, 2015). Even in cases where urban logistics are considered in the strategic plan, the strategies adopted has not always proved to be adequate to the reality of MC, since such adoption has usually been implemented in large cities (Pojani & Stead, 2015).…”

The Holistic Approach to Urban Mobility Planning with a Modified Focus Group, SWOT, and Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchical Process

“…Engaging focus groups in a complex decision-making process of urban mobility problems turned out to be a very effective method, which required the connection of different experts and knowledge from different disciplines [62]. The most important advantage of the FG method is its ability to achieve a synergistic effect, which is not possible with any other individual interview [63].…”