Deliverable D5.4 - Resilience and Vulnerability Assessment

This document describes the SmartHubs Resilience Tool, developed within the SmartHubs project. The tool analyses the accessibility and network connectivity impacts of mobility hubs on the resilience of urban public transportation networks. The development of the task described in this deliverable comprises three phases: (1) the methodological development of a study combining spatial interaction, accessibility and network analysis; (2) the development of the SmartHubs Resilience Tool, by integrating the three approaches, and (3) the application of the tool to the urban areas where SmartHubs Living Labs are located, including scenario analyses based on potential changes in the wider transport network. The tool, which relies on public transport and bike sharing data, is made up of two components: a first one providing network analysis-based indicators, such as efficiency and betweenness; a second one allowing to compute accessibility indicators – emerging from conventional spatial interaction/transport models – for the geographical area under analysis. Transport connectivity and area accessibility are two concepts that are closely intertwined, as both influence the ease with which individuals can reach specific locations. A well-connected transport network can facilitate the movement of people (or goods), thereby reducing travel times and increasing efficiency, and in turn, improving area accessibility. In this report, an evaluation of the cities associated to each of the SmartHubs Living Labs is provided, using the above-mentioned indicators. A network representation of the local urban public transport supply is developed, to which origin-destination (OD) matrices (when available) containing flows of mobility throughout each city is coupled. Flows are distributed over the public transport network, allowing us to observe more in detail potential critical aspects of the network. Moreover, station-based sharing services (shared bikes) are added to this network, further enriching the representation of mobility options through the cities. Finally, scenarios are developed where, for each city, different types of disruptions or more generally changes to service (e.g. the introduction of further bike stations) are simulated. For each scenario, network and accessibility metrics are re-computed, therefore allowing to measure the effect of such disruptions on the network, with or without the presence of bike sharing services. The general finding of the simulations carried out is that bike-sharing stations located in correspondence of public transport stops can be of great help in improving the general resilience of urban mobility to disruptions (i.e. they increase the global efficiency of the network). Furthermore, we show that the effect of disruptions – in terms of the induced reduction in the efficiency of the network – is significantly reduced when bike-sharing services are available, compared to when they are not. The research reported in this report lays the foundation for more work in urban mobility taking into account the importance of network resilience and accessibility, in particular towards guiding local policymakers and urban/transport planners in critical decisions regarding the integration of public transport and micromobility (e.g., mobility as a service) and the authorization of alternative (and sustainable) transport modes.