Changes in Vision - Urban Landscapes: Environmental Networks and Quality of Life - page 59

6.6 Intelligent Mobility

Transportation and quality of life are closely related, and the management of
mobility is considered one of the principal levers available to local adminis-
trations when imposing policies of urban sustainability . Infrastructure design
can become a pivotal element when defining new landscape structures. From
an environmental point of view, it is interwoven both with the problems of pol-
lution and the obstruction of environmental continuity in its various forms, as
well as with problems of energy [27].
Within this perspective, and following the Aalborg Charter in 1994, the
European Union has been interested in sustainable mobility through the
“Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment” elaborated by the European
Commission between 2002 and 2006. In 2007, the “ Green Book on urban
mobility ” was published, along with a preparatory document containing the
guidelines for the drafting of the Sustainable Urban Transport Plans . Within
the European arena, the transportation system is always viewed in its intense
relationship with the environment, in that the pressures exerted by transporta-
tion on the most fragile ecosystems are revealing and are often the main cause
of environmental impact.
On the other hand, mobility services represent a powerful engine for eco-
nomic and social development. Each locale presents its ideal means of fruition,
which places the sense of place, the quantity of users that can be supported,
and the type of transport suitable for approach and fruition in relation to one
another. These relationships, if well devised, can lead to notable economic
benefits for the community served, and contribute to defining the quality of
life; however, if they are not well calibrated, they can become elements of
functional and landscape detraction 17 . In this way, the discovery of the role
that infrastructure itself can undertake triggers a virtuous interaction between
the constituent matrices and materials in the territory and its producers [28].
However, the whole problem can be seen as a cost-benefit exercise, in
which the main results should tend toward a correct balance between the
advantages (economic, environmental, and social) and costs (positive vs. neg-
ative externality) of mobility services . Within the scope of allowing these
challenges to be faced in a determined area, it may be useful to develop a ref-
erence framework that considers:

Seo SN (2009) Total economic value. In: Cutler J Cleveland (ed) Encyclopedia of Earth. National
Council for Science and the Environment, Washington, D.C.
17 The international research of the “Access2Mountain” project deals with these themes. For a
closer look: Sargolini M (2012) Access2Mountain. Sustainable mobility in Alpine and
Carpathians regions. In: Morandi F, Niccolini F, Sargolini M (eds) Parks and territory. List-Actar,
Trento-Barcelona.