The Sustainability Dimensions in Intelligent Urban Transportation: A Paradigm for Smart Cities

Lorena Reyes-Rubiano, Adrian Serrano-Hernandez, Jairo R. Montoya-Torres and Javier Faulin
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Lorena Reyes-Rubiano: Statistics, Computer Science and Mathematics Department, Institute of Smart Cities, Public University of Navarre, 31006 Pamplona, Spain
Adrian Serrano-Hernandez: Statistics, Computer Science and Mathematics Department, Institute of Smart Cities, Public University of Navarre, 31006 Pamplona, Spain
Jairo R. Montoya-Torres: Logistics Systems Research Group, School of Engineering, Universidad de La Sabana, Chia 250001, Colombia
Javier Faulin: Statistics, Computer Science and Mathematics Department, Institute of Smart Cities, Public University of Navarre, 31006 Pamplona, Spain

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 19, 1-20

Abstract: The transportation sector has traditionally been considered essential for commercial activities, although nowadays, it presents clear negative impacts on the environment and can reduce social welfare. Thus, advanced optimization techniques are required to design sustainable routes with low logistic costs. Moreover, these negative impacts may be significantly increased as a consequence of the lack of synergy between the sustainability objectives. Correspondingly, the concept of transport optimization in smart cities is becoming popular in both the real world and academia when public decision making is lit by operations research models. In this paper, however, we argue that the level of urban smartness depends on its sustainability and on the level of information and communication technologies developed in the city. Therefore, the operations research models seek to achieve a higher threshold in the sustainable transport standards in smart cities. Thus, we present a generic definition of smart city, which includes the triple bottom line of sustainability, with the purpose of analyzing its effects on city performance. Finally, this work provides a consolidate study about urban freight transport problems, which show that sustainability is only one facet of the diamond of characteristics that depict a real smart city.

Keywords: operations research; sustainable logistics; sustainability indicators; smart city (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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