Smart Mobility, Transport Poverty, and the Right to Inclusive Mobility
M. Finck, M. Lamping, V. Moscon, & H. Richter (Eds.), Smart Urban Mobility-Law, Regulation and Policy (Springer, 2020)
University of Groningen Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 13/2020
26 Pages Posted: 17 Jan 2020 Last revised: 12 Mar 2020
Date Written: January 16, 2020
Abstract
Smart mobility aims to provide efficient, sustainable, and connected mobility solutions to congested urban centers. It is often assumed that smart mobility will benefit cities’ residents and improve overall accessibility. Nevertheless, smart-mobility strategies presuppose that transport users are digitally literate, autonomous, and can afford either public or private transportation. For the millions of citizens throughout the world who are affected by transport poverty, this is not the case. Transport poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon which is often overlooked in the legal literature. Yet, this specific type of poverty can limit individuals’ upward mobility and impede them from exercising social and economic rights. This paper explores the phenomenon of transport poverty and delves into the possibility of designing smart-mobility policies that include those affected by this type of poverty. It discusses existing or proposed policies of free public transit and explains why inclusive mobility should be regarded as a concretization of the right to equal treatment. This paper contributes to existing scholarship on smart cities, smart mobility, and fundamental rights with a novel interdisciplinary analysis of urban mobility. Furthermore, it draws attention to the need to design inclusive connected transport systems.
Keywords: smart mobility; transport poverty; smart cities; right to transport; digital inclusion; urban law; equal treatment
JEL Classification: K10; R40; I30; I31
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation