Urban Mobility and Equity Research
Combining an urban-systems framework with micro-urban social typology, NREL is examining unequal socio-spatial contexts shaping mobility, energy use, and sustainability.
Understanding how mobility opportunity plays out across socio-spatial differences is an important step in enacting transformative changes. For example, electric vehicles (EVs) offer a transformational solution to decarbonize transport, but true equitable transformation takes more than technological innovations.
NREL research shows that if EVs continue to serve the mobility needs of early adopters, then transportation innovations will primarily serve wealthy and suburban populations who have the resources to afford EVs (or any car, for that matter). This suggests that increased emphasis on EV adopters may overlook the wider spectrum of mobility needs of working class and minority populations, including electrification of transit and micro-mobility. By addressing these, we can more equally and inclusively decrease emissions, reduce congestion, and improve the health of people and ecosystems.
Publication
A Data-Driven Mobility-Energy Typology Framework for New York State, Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science (2020)