HARMONY Guidelines on Modelling tools for SUMPs in the new mobility era

Project Deliverable

Developed within the scope of the CIVITAS HARMONY project, these Guidelines will help public authority planners and practitioners from various levels of government, further develop the transport modelling applications in their Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP). It seeks to answer to the following questions:

  • What are transport models?
  • What can do transport models?
  • What are their challenges and limits?
  • Is a transport model really needed to draft a SUMP?
  • What kind of model should be used?
  • What are the development steps of a model? When such steps are to be taken within the SUMP planning cycle?
  • What are the roles and responsibilities when developing a transport model to support a SUMP? 

Therefore, the document provides guidance on: 

  • Classification, purposes and limits of transport models. The document provides a clear understanding of transport models: 1) a definition and classification of transport models (micro, macro, network, strategic, land-use, activity based, etc.); 2) an understanding of the purposes and functions of transport models (to do experiments, anticipate the effect of exogenous trends and assess policy measures); and 3) an analysis of transport models’ challenges and limits (data availability, realism vs operability, managing trend breaks and innovative solutions, etc.). 
  • The need for using a transport model to support the definition of a SUMP. As there are alternative methodologies (such as qualitative analysis, parametric estimations, surveys), these Guidelines help to decide whether a transport model is required or not to support the definition of a SUMP. This depends on the specific circumstances, such as the complexity of the mobility context, the details of the measures, the need for impacts estimation, data availability, access to expertise in transport modelling, financial resources and time availability, etc. The Guidelines present checklists to guide in taking a decision.
  • The selection of the type of transport model, assuming that this is considered the appropriate way to proceed. There are different types of transport models, more or less articulated, with different capabilities (e.g., strategic model, network model, land-use model, etc.). Some models are more appropriate than others in supporting the development of a SUMP. Also in this case, the Guidelines present checklists to guide in taking a decision.
  • The development process of transport model in practice. Developing a transport model is a process requiring skills, data, time and resources. The guidelines describe the five main phases: 1) design, 2) data collection and elaboration, 3) implementation, 4) calibration, and 5) application. 
  • Roles and responsibilities in developing a transport model to support a SUMP. Transport models are developed by experts (modelers) holding the required knowledge and experience as well as the necessary specialized software. In addition to modelers, other actors play a role: the local authority, who should be the owner of the model and holds the political responsibility of the content of the SUMP; the planner team, the technical arm of the local authority regarding the definition of the content of the SUMP; and stakeholders, including transport operators (e.g., the providers of urban and non-urban public transport, car-sharing companies, etc.), specific categories of citizens like cyclists, disabled people, retailers and so on. They represent interests that can be affected by the plan.

The document has been drafted by the HARMONY project and takes advantage from the project achievements related to the development of the Harmony Model Suite and its application to case studies in Rotterdam (NL), Oxfordshire (UK), Turin (IT), Athens (GR).

HARMONY Guidelines on Modelling tools for SUMPs in the new mobility

HARMONY

HARMONY Guidelines on Modelling tools for SUMPs in the new mobility

Publication date:

Languages: English

Author: TRT TRASPORTI E TERRITORIO

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