Overview
Unlike the general concept of "sustainable development", a specific and generally accepted definition of a sustainable development of mobility and transport remains largely still unclear regarding term, criteria and indicators. Thus, so far there is no standardized method for the assessment of mobility- and transport-related strategies, measures or research results with regard to their impacts on sustainable development.
In the SAMOA project (Sustainability Assessment for Mobility in Austria) we will initially elaborate sets of criteria and indicators for a standardized assessment of mobility- and transport-related strategies and measures regarding sustainable development in Austria. An integrative three-step sustainability assessment approach which is capable of considering horizontal as well as vertical connections will provide a main focus of the project.
Thus, three levels of sustainability assessment are addressed:
- system assessment regarding long-term guiding principles,
- strategy assessment regarding mid-term goals and strategies and
- measure assessment regarding specific mobility-related measures.
This integrative approach ensures that single measures are not considered in isolation. Rather, given inter-actions between guiding principles and implementations are taken into account adequately. The main output of the project will be a concept consisting of scientifically sound and practically workable criteria, indicators and evaluation methods that enables a standardized and comprehensible assessment of the contribution of mobility-related strategies or measures to sustainable development and that is accepted by all relevant stakeholders. Aiming at a broad acceptance on the one hand and a practical feasibility regarding expediency, projection quality, processing effort and practicability on the other hand, a main emphasis is on the comprehensive involvement of the relevant stakeholders, already starting at an early project stage. In this context, the applicability and feasibility of the developed concept will be verified in detail in terms of a “practice check” at different regional levels (national, federal, city, regional and municipality level). Furthermore, specific implementation possibilities, especially in the field of impact-oriented administration, will be identified.