Can national survey data be used to select a core set of indicators for monitoring the sustainability of urban mobility policies?

The gradual expansion of urban transport systems brings a series of undesirable socio-economic and environmental impacts that affect the quality of life in cities. Assessing the performance of transport policies is therefore crucial for attaining a sustainable urban development. Adopting an integrated expert-led and participatorybased “bottom-up” approach this paper deals with the issue by examining the feasibility of using citizens’ opinions to select a core set of indicators for monitoring the sustainability of urban mobility policies. A national survey has been carried out to gather citizens’ perceptions over a basic conceptual framework of dimensions and objectives of urban mobility policies in order to provide a ranking of the associated performance indicators. The results showed that different sets of performance indicators may be chosen according to city size and transport modes mostly used by citizens.