Abstracts Transportation

Planning for sustainability with a focus on mobility: Three essays on the operational tools of urban planning

by Basar Ozbilen

Communities experience substantial changes in daily travel through rapidly evolving mobility systems. Although smart infrastructure and data-driven innovations have the potential to enhance citizens’ lives, they may also contribute to deepening socio-economic divides and inequitable access to opportunities. To designate strategies that can contribute to improving the quality of life of our communities, urban planners and sustainability researchers need to revisit well-known planning tools related to sustainable development and mobility. Comprised of three essays, this dissertation delves into different dimensions of sustainable development with an emphasis on sustainability assessment methods, the adoption of emerging mobility technologies, and the effects of COVID-19 on travel behavior and health outcomes. The first essay conducts a critical review of sustainability assessment literature and presents an index of key indicators of sustainability. The second essay explores the factors affecting e-scooter use and pro-e-scooter attitudes using a campus transportation survey. The third essay analyzes the impacts of built environment characteristics on infection risk perception while traveling and subjective well-being during the pandemic. The results present policy implications that can help address contemporary sustainable development challenges, integrate rapidly evolving urban mobility technologies, and design pandemic resilient cities in the post-COVID era. This dissertation highlights the importance of developing novel sustainable planning practices, suggesting that urban planning should be more dynamic to reflect to the needs of our rapidly evolving cities.