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The world population is rapidly increasing and causing cities to grow consistently. In the European Union (EU), with people getting much older, it is expected that the urban population represents 80% of the EU’s total population by 2020 (ALICE, 2015). Large cities are therefore facing great challenges in managing resources such as space, with considerable problems in urban and transportation planning.
The concept of smart city emerged as municipalities started using information and communication technologies (ICT) to improve the management of different services. Due to the importance of information and technology in the success of smart cities, they are also referred to as digital cities, information cities and knowledge cities (Ismagilova et al., 2019, Fu & Zhang, 2017, De Jong et al., 2015). Moreover, recent concerns on environment and sustainability are drawing attention to the concept of sustainable city. Since many projects seek to improve sustainability through the use of ICT, some authors argue that the idea of smart sustainable cities more accurately reflects what cities should be (Ahvenniemi et al., 2017, Bibri & Krogstie, 2017). The overall goal is to have cities more focused on the quality of life of their citizens. Ismagilova et al. (Ismagilova et al., 2019) present several aspects that are specially relevant in smart cities, namely: the local economy, mobility, transportation and traffic management, the environment, citizens, and the interactions with government. Transportation systems can help to promote sustainability by reducing negative impacts such as pollution, noise, and congestion (Fagnant & Kockelman, 2015). Following the recommendations for collaboration in the guidelines for Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP), citizens and government are considered to be in the same group, instead of considering them separately as proposed by Ismagilova et al. (Ismagilova et al., 2019).
This paper defends that transportation and urban planning should be combined because the urban quality of life can be improved by managing space usage with city and transportation policies. Different stakeholders use the same space and the same infrastructure, but they have different characteristics and different expectations and objectives. However, since they are using the same infrastructure, they will, in general, require the same kind of information to make their decisions.
Information with varying degrees of detail about aspects such as congestion, service levels, parking, or traffic lights, is essential for urban planners, transportation system users (citizens), logistics service providers, public transportation operators, and others. For instance: a citizen driving a private car is interested in finding a parking place in a fast and easy way; a driver of a home delivery service will try to find an unloading bay; and a municipality can use the information on parking behaviours to study possible interventions. By using the same data (existing parking places, parking availability, bus stops, loading and unloading bays, etc.), information such as the duration of parking can be retrieved to help the operations of various stakeholders.
As relevant information can enhance the quality of decisions, a single integrated system shall be capable of providing the information required by the different stakeholders. Integrated Information Systems improve the decision processes by making information available to multiple actors taking into account their different tasks and needs (Zhang, 2017). Such IS should consist of a unique database that stores all the data, and diverse applications (web, desktop, or mobile) to provide information to different stakeholders’ profiles.