Top-down and Bottom-up. Testing a mixed approach to the generation of priorities for sustainable urban mobility

This paper contributes to the debate on how to make operational the concept of sustainable urban mobility and advocates the use of a mixed – top-down and bottom-up – approach to the generation of priorities for sustainable urban mobility. In particular, we tested whether a common list of priorities remain valid after a participated scrutiny performed in seven urban areas of southern Italy. The test was based on a 3-steps procedure. In step 1, we used a common conceptual framework (based on Mameli and Marletto, 2014) to generate seven area-specific lists of priorities. In step 2, local stakeholders participated to deliberative meetings aimed at amending or deleting each of the proposed priorities, as well as adding new ones. In step 3, citizens' opinion was gathered through seven sample polls and used to rank the list of priorities resulting from stakeholders' deliberation. The test generated three main results: 1) Deliberation between local stakeholders was useful for adapting common priorities to the characteristics of each area. But, with the exception of Reggio Calabria – an urban area with very specific features –, the structure of the starting common conceptual framework was not altered. 2) Surveys on citizens' opinion were useful, not only for ranking priorities, but also for taking into account the relevant differences between car users and the rest of the population. 3) With great caution, reference may be made to a common set of six top priorities referring to: (accessibility by and economic sustainability of) public transport, air pollution, accidents, greenhouse gasses and transport waste. These top priorities cover all three dimension of sustainability (environmental, social and economic).