CONUNDRUM: Co-Creating sustainable and shared community mobility
Co-Creating sustainable and shared community mobility with a test community in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford
In Brief
- Challenge: Sustainable Communities Challenge
- Challenge Type: National Challenge Fund
- Status: Active
The Challenge
Tackling transport and mobility challenges is critical to addressing the climate crisis, given that transport emissions accounted for more than 20% of sectoral emissions in Ireland in 2020. A recent OECD (2022) report noted that current policies that aim to decarbonise the system via private vehicle improvements are ‘unlikely to lead to substantially different patterns of behaviour, rapid emissions reductions, and large well-being improvements'. A key challenge is how to move beyond a focus on private, electric mobility to engage with more radical low-carbon alternatives.
Our team proposes to accelerate progress towards carbon emission reductions but also to actively enhance and sustain community wellbeing. The key objective here is to empower communities to adopt more sustainable modes of mobility by demonstrating how shared low-carbon transport can plug the gap when high frequency public transport might not be available. As well as addressing carbon reduction targets, shared mobility could support community wealth building through the development of novel initiatives that address a community need and reconnect people to their place and each other, contributing to addressing the challenge of isolation that many more vulnerable communities feel post-Covid (Government of Ireland, 2021).
The Solution
Balancing climate action with social justice requires recognition that not all places are equal, with some smaller towns and rural areas facing much more challenging sustainability transitions. We will complete an initial mapping of key relevant stakeholders in each location, building on the existing work of TASC (our societal impact champion,) who have initiated some community engagement already around just transitions in Enniscorthy. We will then develop the SCOOT App using deep learning methods, behavioural tools and tailored information to enable the community to optimise modes of transport that reduce emissions and decrease travel costs and travel time. The third solution will see the amalgamation of the previous two solutions into one research activity, modelling how the potential change of transport modes impacts the south-eastern regional transport model developed by the National Transport Authority. The changes in mode preferences and the use of shared modes of transport will be modelled for the Enniscorthy area to determine how it affects travel times and emissions in the community.
The Team
- Team Lead: Prof. Niamh Moore-Cherry, University College Dublin
- Team Co-Lead: Prof. Brian Caulfield, Trinity College Dublin
Societal Impact Champion
- Matt York