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Smart Cities
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Paving the Future: Sustainable Road Design and Urban Mobility in...
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Paving the Future: Sustainable Road Design and Urban Mobility in Smart Cities

A special issue of Smart Cities (ISSN 2624-6511). This special issue belongs to the section "Smart Transportation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2025 | Viewed by 3740

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Maria Luisa Tumminello

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Guest Editor
Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Interests: performance analysis of road transport networks; road traffic micro-simulation models; connected and automated driving technologies; sustainability and environmental impact of road facilities; analysis of road safety; surrogate measures of safety; road design solutions; traffic flows management and traffic calming measures
Prof. Dr. Elżbieta Macioszek

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Transport Systems, Traffic Engineering and Logistics, Faculty of Transport and Aviation Engineering, Silesian University of Technology, Krasińskiego 8 Street, 40-019 Katowice, Poland
Interests: road traffic engineering; road and intersections capacity analysis; measurements; traffic modeling; research and traffic flow analysis; transport infrastructure; functional analysis; transport systems and processes modeling; transportation engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Anna Grana

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Interests: sustainable geometric road design; road safet and remodeling; microscopic traffic simulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Tullio Giuffrè

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, University of Enna Kore, Viale della Cooperazione, 94100 Enna, Italy
Interests: road safety evaluation; road design; connected automated vehicle operation; transport infrastructure; traffic operation modeling; statistical analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is centered on the critical interplay of sustainable road design and urban mobility, aiming to explore innovative strategies for creating intelligent, eco-friendly, and safe transportation infrastructures. It focuses on the multifaceted dimensions of urban mobility in smart cities, examining solutions for road infrastructure, policy frameworks, and technological advancement.

The emphasis is on the convergence of advanced technologies with urban mobility, highlighting the role of intelligent traffic management, real-time data analytics, and cooperative driving technologies in optimizing road space, user flows, and overall efficiency. Road and intersection design should be inclusive, ensuring accessibility for pedestrians, cyclists, and individuals with diverse mobility needs to foster both efficiency and equity. Further exploration is needed to integrate renewable energy sources into road infrastructure, evaluating solutions like solar roadways and kinetic energy harvesting to power smart urban mobility system sustainably. This Special Issue also addresses the resilience of roads and road networks to climate change and human or natural disruptions, emphasizing adaptive design strategies.

Global case studies from smart cities are invited to showcase successful sustainable road design implementation, offering replicable models and lessons. The overarching objective is to inspire the widespread adoption of eco-conscious urban mobility practices, promoting a collective movement towards a sustainable and resilient urban future.

Original research articles and review papers featured in this Special Issue will delve into diverse topics, including but not limited to:

  • Sustainable road design principles;
  • Planning shared mobility;
  • Inclusive and accessible road design;
  • Digital transition in road design;
  • Innovative design solutions for intersections and interchanges;
  • Reliability and safety of AI in transport operation;
  • Intelligent traffic management;
  • Smart technologies in urban mobility;
  • Cooperative driving technologies;
  • Disruptive innovation in intermodal transportation;
  • Novel measures for urban resilience;
  • Latest road economy trends;
  • Energy harvesting from roads;
  • Monitoring and mitigation vehicular air and noise pollution;
  • Contemporary challenges in road research;
  • Global perspectives through case studies.

Dr. Maria Luisa Tumminello
Prof. Dr. Elżbieta Macioszek
Prof. Dr. Anna Grana
Prof. Dr. Tullio Giuffrè
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Smart Cities is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • road design
  • urban mobility
  • sustainable transportation
  • road safety
  • shared mobility
  • microscopic traffic simulation modeling
  • LCA
  • road economy
  • traffic management
  • vulnerable road users
  • fuel consumption and emissions
  • energy saving solutions
  • connected and automated vehicles
  • intelligent transport systems (ITS)
  • smart cities

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  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 3008 KiB  
Article
Accessibility Measures to Evaluate Public Transport Competitiveness: The Case of Rome and Turin
by Alessandro Zini, Roberta Roberto, Patrizia Corrias, Bruna Felici and Michel Noussan
Smart Cities 2024, 7(6), 3334-3354; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities7060129 - 2 Nov 2024
Viewed by 610
Abstract
The transport sector worldwide relies heavily on oil products, and private cars account for the largest share of passenger mobility in several countries. Public transport could represent an interesting alternative under many perspectives, including a decrease in traffic, pollutants, and climate emissions. However, [...] Read more.
The transport sector worldwide relies heavily on oil products, and private cars account for the largest share of passenger mobility in several countries. Public transport could represent an interesting alternative under many perspectives, including a decrease in traffic, pollutants, and climate emissions. However, for public transport to succeed, it should be attractive for final users, representing a viable alternative to private mobility. In this work, we analyse the spatial distribution of public transport service provision within two metropolitan cities, considering the three key dimensions of mobility, competitiveness, and accessibility of public transport. The results show that private car performs better than public transport in all scopes considered, and that performance indicators are highly variable among city areas, indicating inequalities in social and environmental sustainability in urban systems. The outcomes of the analysis provide interesting insights for policy makers and researchers that deal with similar topics, and can also be extended to other cities and countries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Paving the Future: Sustainable Road Design and Urban Mobility in Smart Cities)
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15 pages, 3476 KiB  
Article
Video-Based Analysis of a Smart Lighting Warning System for Pedestrian Safety at Crosswalks
by Margherita Pazzini, Leonardo Cameli, Valeria Vignali, Andrea Simone and Claudio Lantieri
Smart Cities 2024, 7(5), 2925-2939; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities7050114 - 10 Oct 2024
Viewed by 1106
Abstract
This study analyses five months of continuous monitoring of different lighting warning systems at a pedestrian crosswalk through video surveillance cameras during nighttime. Three different light signalling systems were installed near a pedestrian crossing to improve the visibility and safety of vulnerable road [...] Read more.
This study analyses five months of continuous monitoring of different lighting warning systems at a pedestrian crosswalk through video surveillance cameras during nighttime. Three different light signalling systems were installed near a pedestrian crossing to improve the visibility and safety of vulnerable road users: in-curb LED strips, orange flashing beacons, and asymmetric enhanced LED lighting. Seven different lighting configurations of the three systems were studied and compared with standard street lighting. The speed of vehicles for each pedestrian–driver interaction was also evaluated. This was then compared to the speed that vehicles should maintain in order to stop in time and allow pedestrians to cross the road safely. In all of the conditions studied, speeds were lower than those maintained in the five-month presence of standard street lighting (42.96 km/h). The results show that in conditions with dedicated flashing LED lighting, in-curb LED strips, and orange flashing beacons, most drivers (72%) drove at a speed that allowed the vehicle to stop safely compared to standard street lighting (10%). In addition, with this lighting configuration, the majority of vehicles (85%) stopped at pedestrian crossings, while in standard street lighting conditions only 26% of the users stopped to give way to pedestrians. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Paving the Future: Sustainable Road Design and Urban Mobility in Smart Cities)
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27 pages, 12958 KiB  
Article
Turning Features Detection from Aerial Images: Model Development and Application on Florida’s Public Roadways
by Richard Boadu Antwi, Michael Kimollo, Samuel Yaw Takyi, Eren Erman Ozguven, Thobias Sando, Ren Moses and Maxim A. Dulebenets
Smart Cities 2024, 7(3), 1414-1440; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities7030059 - 13 Jun 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1166
Abstract
Advancements in computer vision are rapidly revolutionizing the way traffic agencies gather roadway geometry data, leading to significant savings in both time and money. Utilizing aerial and satellite imagery for data collection proves to be more cost-effective, more accurate, and safer compared to [...] Read more.
Advancements in computer vision are rapidly revolutionizing the way traffic agencies gather roadway geometry data, leading to significant savings in both time and money. Utilizing aerial and satellite imagery for data collection proves to be more cost-effective, more accurate, and safer compared to traditional field observations, considering factors such as equipment cost, crew safety, and data collection efficiency. Consequently, there is a pressing need to develop more efficient methodologies for promptly, safely, and economically acquiring roadway geometry data. While image processing has previously been regarded as a time-consuming and error-prone approach for capturing these data, recent developments in computing power and image recognition techniques have opened up new avenues for accurately detecting and mapping various roadway features from a wide range of imagery data sources. This research introduces a novel approach combining image processing with a YOLO-based methodology to detect turning lane pavement markings from high-resolution aerial images, specifically focusing on Florida’s public roadways. Upon comparison with ground truth data from Leon County, Florida, the developed model achieved an average accuracy of 87% at a 25% confidence threshold for detected features. Implementation of the model in Leon County identified approximately 3026 left turn, 1210 right turn, and 200 center lane features automatically. This methodology holds paramount significance for transportation agencies in facilitating tasks such as identifying deteriorated markings, comparing turning lane positions with other roadway features like crosswalks, and analyzing intersection-related accidents. The extracted roadway geometry data can also be seamlessly integrated with crash and traffic data, providing crucial insights for policymakers and road users. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Paving the Future: Sustainable Road Design and Urban Mobility in Smart Cities)
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