Urban Mobility and Quality of Public Spaces: The Case of Granada, Spain

Abstract

Different forms of urban mobility have very different impacts on the urban environment and on the quality of the public spaces around them, from the "soft" pedestrian walkways and cycle paths, through the several modes of public transport to the extremely impactful mass use of private vehicles. This paper first analyses the different urban impacts of these forms of mobility, according to their characteristics, with regard to an extensive transport literature review, and they are put into relationship with the factors promoting urban quality and liveability in line with literature on urban design in terms of activity, image and form, among others. The results of this study are contrasted with the experience demonstrated in the case of Granada's metropolitan area, with its fairly adequate bus-based public transport system and the common mobility problems resulting from a high level of private vehicular use, i.e. congestion coupled with severe environmental pollution. However, a new light rail system (LRT) has been developed, with a major urban renewal along its track, and has proved to be very successful, in terms of the number of passengers, after its two years of operation. The LRT has the particularity of having an underground section, with three underground stations, and longer surface stretches with different cross sections, whereby the improvement in quality of public spaces along them can be evaluated. The high quality public spaces are those with no vehicular access whatsoever, providing a completely pedestrianized area, such as in the traditional urban road crossing axes in the towns, which have been completely freed from vehicles and now seem filled with people, for example Royal Street in Armilla, "Jacobo Camarero" Street in Albolote and "Blas de Otero" Avenue in Maracena, and the section along the university central campus which has no catenary.

Do University Students’ Security Perceptions Influence Their Walking Preferences and Their Walking Activity? A Case Study of Granada (Spain)

“…It has 233,648 inhabitants with an area of 88.06 km 2 [96] and is divided into eight districts: Norte, Chana, Beiro, Albayzin, Ronda, Zaidín, Genil, and Centro (Figure 1). Granada is a city with ideal attributes for its walkability and safety [97][98][99]. The maximum distance between the city center and the suburbs is approximately 3.5 km, approximately 40 min walking.…”

Sustainable Mobility and Urban Space Quality: The Case of Granada, Spain

“…Keeping in mind these reciprocal interactions between mobility and urban space, it is worth exploring in what respect sustainable transport modes, and particularly public transport systems, affect the urban environment and the quality of the urban space, given its recognized significant capacity for 'placemaking' [4,5,29]. Essentially, sustainable transport modes are those alternatives to private vehicles in urban mobility such as walking, cycling, personal light electric vehicles and public transportation -especially electric powered -under global and continuous upgrade and development [9,11,30,31].…”

“…With respect to public transport systems, focusing on the indicated urban design's principles and conditions permits the comprehension of how they promote urbanity, vitality in cities and in the clear correlation between them, as can be seen in Table 2. Need for aged buildings Thus, as has been previously explained [5], these systems increase urban accessibility, activity and contact opportunities, requiring and promoting population and employment opportunities [2], and are therefore linked to the related vitality conditions, and activity principles. On the other hand, physical transformation of the urban space is associated with modern transport developments, improving sustainable mobility-oriented areas.…”

“…As a modern rail-based mode, the LrT favours intramodality with the connection of bus and railway stations and the rearrangement of the existing bus routes to serve it. Prior to the current pandemic, it had succeeded in reaching the expected numbers of passengers, increasing pedestrian mobility and reducing private vehicles dependence in the areas it serves [5]. referring to the previously mentioned french experiences, it has been developed with consideration for its high urban transformational potential, giving a substantial urban renewal along its corridor and increasing the accessible pedestrian area by more than one hundred thousand square meters.…”

“…Generally, these interactions have been explained largely in terms of land use and changes in patterns of activity, transformed by the extended accessibility created by the transport infrastructures, and their long-term impact [2,3]. The purpose of this work is to analyse the nature of the symbiotic relationships [4], exploring the role of the public transport systems, sustainable mobility and the quality, not only of the urban public spaces [5] but also of the urban space in general. The metropolitan area of Granada will be assessed according to these considerations.…”