Transport systems are capable of contributing to the economic robustness of a geographic area and the well-being of its inhabitants via the supply of the necessary assets for the mobility of people and goods. However, transport projects have the capacity to produce several negative externalities such as water pollution, air pollution, barrier effects, noise, and ecological impact, which affect the quality of people’s life. Considering these facts, the main purpose of this study is to indicate methodologically how the negative externalities of transport are interlinked, so that to promote sustainable mobility development. This paper reveals via the method of structural analysis, the interrelations between the negative externalities of transport, firstly to organize them hierarchically and secondly to evaluate the potential of sustainable mobility strategies concerning the co-benefits generated by their implementation for society. The results show that the negative externalities of transport are not isolated phenomena; on the contrary, they are interlinked and can be organised hierarchically according to the relationships between them so that certain public policies can be prioritized and the negative impacts of transport can be tackled more effectively. The most critical negative externalities are the invasion of public space for the construction of more roads, along with road accidents, congestion, and local air pollution. On the other hand, the most important group of strategies for sustainable mobility are the ones oriented to urban design, and more specifically to transit-oriented development.

Currently, there is a growing consensus that the use of more sustainable urban freight transportation has the potential to offer major energy and efficiency benefits which can be achieved through the appropriate combination of cargo bikes and the integration of drones into the urban logistics system. This study presents the results of a stepwise regression analysis that examines the role, benefits, and impact of electric vehicles such as e-bikes, cargo bikes, and drones for intermodal freight transportation in five Greek cities to support the green logistics paradigm. The results show that between routes of almost equal length, the most bicycle-friendly routes, such as routes along pedestrian areas or residential streets, should be avoided, as they reduce delivery speed and increase delivery costs in terms of energy and time expenditure. In addition, priority roads, which usually have higher traffic speeds and more trucks, are preferred by cyclists due to the quality of the road surface, even though the feeling of safety is lower on such roads. Finally, regarding drones, energy consumption is relatively low in the 0–5 mph and 6–10 mph wind speed ranges, indicating efficient energy use. In the 11–15 mph and 16–20 mph wind speed ranges, energy efficiency is significantly lower than the battery capacity, indicating that the cargo drone exhibits excessive energy consumption under these conditions.

The supply chain sector plays a crucial role in driving economic development and globalization. However, the environmental repercussions of logistics and freight transport have become more pronounced. Nowadays, there is an ever-increasing acceptance regarding the opinion that the use of more sustainable urban freight transport has the potential to offer great social, economic, and environmental benefits. This study examines and highlights, via a systematic literature review, the urban environment’s factors that can essentially influence the promotion and usage of cargo bikes for last-mile deliveries in the urban environment. The aforementioned literature review revealed the importance of the quality of the urban environment’s components for the perceived and objective safety of people who make use of cargo bikes. In particular, the most essential factors for the increased use of cargo bikes were found to be traffic load, speed limits, and heavy vehicle traffic. Bicycle infrastructure is also an important factor in bicycling acceptance, as it provides the backbone for a comfortable and safe bicycle ride. Two other factors that can seriously affect cyclists’ sense of safety are street intersections and the width and number of road lanes, as the interaction between cargo bikes and motorized vehicles increases the possibility of traffic accidents. All the above factors need to be considered via various public policies that are not isolated countermeasures but form part of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans that are currently being implemented in many European cities to ensure continuity and create a sustainable future.

Transportation systems help in shaping an area’s economic health and quality of life, providing the infrastructure for the mobility of people and goods. Nevertheless, the negative externalities of car-oriented urban-metropolitan planning have heightened awareness for the need of urban planning approaches that incorporate sustainable mobility. Consequently, cities worldwide have increasingly produced sustainable mobility plans. This points to the need of creating mechanisms to implement these sustainable plans, particularly in large, complex, and fast-growing cities. This paper provides guidelines to facilitate the implementation of Sustainable Mobility Plans by focusing on the case of Mexico City. This is achieved by applying the complex large-scale integrated open systems (CLIOS) systemic analysis, in two steps: first, we facilitate the identification of the complexities and relationships among the essential systems of Mexico City’s urban structure, along with the recognition of their most important components and the institutions involved within the urban planning process. Second, we assess the effectiveness of the public policies–strategies that form part of Mexico City’s Sustainable Mobility Plan and organize them in order of importance. The results show which principal subsystems should be considered for sustainable mobility and which public policies–strategies should be prioritized in order to implement the aforementioned plan effectively.

Transportation system and its Urban Transportation Infrastructure (UTI) influence an area´s economic health and quality of life because they provide the background in order the people to perform their everyday activities. Nevertheless, transportation activity generates certain negative externalities like congestion, road accidents, poor air quality that affect the people physically, emotionally and socially. These externalities become severe via the urbanization-metropolisation phenomenon that increase the distances for territorial displacement, generating major mobility demand and car usage. Consequently, an approach to urban planning is required, which would prioritize sustainable mobility. This paper’s objective is to help the implementation of Integral Mobility Plans by focusing on the case of Mexico City. This can be achieved through the application of structural analysis method in two steps: first, we facilitate the identification of the interlinks among the essential urban structure’s components for sustainable mobility. Second, we evaluate the effectiveness of the public policies-strategies that form part of Mexico City’s Integral Mobility Plan and organize them in order of importance. The results show which UTI elements should be considered primarily for sustainable mobility and which public policies-strategies should be prioritized in order to implement the aforementioned plan effectively.