Urban mobility and public space. A challenge for the sustainable liveable city of the future

Abstract

Public space and mobility are two challenging topics in many contemporary cities. These topics give rise to important questions such as how does the element of public space affect the sustainability of urban mobility in contemporary cities? And how does facilitating mobility contribute to the livability of the public realm? The purpose of this paper is to attempt to answer these questions. On one hand, the paper explores the relationship between public space and urban mobility in the contemporary city, specifically by addressing the extent to which urban mobility can create better public spaces and even assist in producing a more sustainable model of mobility. Although ignored for a long time in the discourse on urban planning, the relationship between public space and urban mobility has the potential to create livable cities. Indeed, the use of public space by walking and cycling contributes to economic, environmental and social sustainability. Hence, together with economic, ecological and social indicators, public space and urban mobility also constitute relevant city components, when measuring a city's sustainability performance. On the other hand, this paper seeks to suggest a set of measures related to public space and soft mobility that can be integrated into an already existing set of indicators commonly used to measure urban sustainability. In this regard, the paper contributes to the debate surrounding the need to invest more in public spaces and at the same time suggests to planners and policy makers that it is necessary to develop international measures for the evaluation of urban mobility and the sustainability of public space.Keywords: public space; urban mobility; sustainable city indicators; contemporary city; everyday urbanism. THE JOURNAL OF PUBLIC SPACETo cite this article: Ravazzoli, E., Torricelli, G. P. IntroductionIn the last 20 years, public spaces have acquired a renewed visibility in urban planning discourse as an essential ingredient for urban sustainability. Public spaces play a central role in the creation of inclusive communities and more specifically, in the formation of a public culture and in enriching cultural diversity (Low et al. 2005). In particular, there is a resumed interest in re-establishing the relationship between public space and urban mobility. The creation of attractive public spaces, (which are also mobility hubs e.g. stations, airports, bus stops, intermodal terminals), and the use of streets, sidewalks and bike lanes for daily mobility (e.g. walking and cycling) constitute a key challenge for the design of sustainable mobility systems and the creation of sustainable and liveable cities (Wheeler 2013). Improving soft mobility measures and the modal shift and upgrading the quality of public spaces, constitute two important aims for any plan to realise the sustainable liveable city of the future. Urban mobility (e.g. our daily mobility and the experience of moving) is something that involves public spaces. Conceived for a long time as two separate entities a...

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