An Introduction to the Smart City Approach to Sustainable Mobility
Although smart city approaches are building momentum as a cure-all medicine for many modern urban issues, the concept relies heavily on technological solutions.
Enhancing urban mobility is one of the most urgent challenges to making cities more eco-friendly, socially just, and efficient. This is occurring against the backdrop of accelerating climate change, growing pressure on urban housing and employment, massive developments in transportation and communications technologies, and calls for better urban living and greater social equity.
Although smart city approaches are building momentum as a cure-all medicine for many modern urban issues, the concept relies heavily on technological solutions. With technology as the backbone of the strategy, it is crucial to scrutinize the goals of smart cities.
In the case of urban mobility, the main objective must be to facilitate more sustainable ways to move around the city. However, this is not only based on technology but may also include a more creative reworking of traditional urban forms, infrastructure, sustainability policies, transportation services, and travel practices.
This is especially important in middle-class cities, which are more dispersed and car-dependent than metropolises. Due to low density and insufficient critical mass or resources, public mobility services and other transport alternatives are often not competitive. However, due to their considerable population, medium-sized cities may have greater room for improvement.
Scandinavia, the Global Leader in Smart Cities
Therefore, Nordic countries deserve special attention as frontrunners in digitalization and smart country indices. Scandinavian countries are noted for their culture and tradition of broad participation.
If smart cities are seen as achieving sustainable development, analyzing them, and evaluating their contribution to sustainability will be possible. Specifically, on the topic of urban mobility, this raises the question of to what extent the measures specified in the smart city plan contribute to the goal of sustainable mobility and to what extent they have.
Along the same lines, it is worth asking whether smart policies are the most effective way to achieve sustainable urban mobility. It is, therefore, essential to critically examine the contribution of smart mobility strategies and initiatives, their manageability, and their contribution to sustainable urban mobility and development.
Electric scooters are considered an essential element of smart cities because they are valuable last-mile solutions for multimodal urban mobility. Specs-wise, the Flash Motors Infinity X hyperscooter transcends all other e-scooters with a top speed of 75 mph, a maximum range of 70 miles, and a charging time of 6 hours.
