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Editorial – accessibility: Its role in the sustainable transformation of cities

This paper provides a brief editorial introduction to a special issue of Applied Mobilities on accessibility and its role in the sustainable transformation of cities. Following an open call for articles at an international scientific workshop held at the ILS – Research Institute for Regional and Urban Development, Dortmund – in November 2017, contributors discussed different theoretical and practical perspectives on accessibility and mobility. This introduction provides the overarching accessibility context and explores possible future fields of mobilities research. Accessibility is a fundamental requirement for equal participation in society and sustainablemobility. Having regard to economic, social and political change processes, accessibility is both dynamic and has a major influence on the quality of life. Current developments such as the energy transition, alternative transport systems and new forms of ICT-supported mobility are leading to huge changes in transport infrastructure with the potential to influence accessibility and thus mobility behaviour. Moreover, dynamic changes in overarching parameters – such as population growth and ageing, the expected shortage and price increase of fossil fuels or obligations to comply with climate protection targets – call for a sustainable transformation of our urban systems. Accessibility is a core concept of mobility research and a relevant factor influencing activity patterns and individual mobility decisions. More specifically, local accessibility is a key indicator for sustainable transitoriented development (TOD) and therefore an important topic for discussion. Better accessibility with less traffic is a key target. It involves bringing together social and individual components as well as new forms of organising mobilities and infrastructure planning. Accordingly, accessibility can be divided into four components: characteristics of a city’s structure, its transportation system, time budgets and individual components. With pressure growing to transform urban mobility, innovative strategies are more and more the focus of political debates. However, dynamic challenges and new forms of mobility services are increasingly leading to uncertainties in transportation planning. Integrated regional development and transportation planning plays a major role in achieving a defined level of service and quality of life. Opportunities and limits must, however, be realistically addressed and not displaced by ideological perspectives and exaggerated expectations. The contributions to this Special Issue address these research gaps by examining the topic from different perspectives, looking at accessibility concepts in transport planning, methodological and empirical challenges in accessibility modelling, the integrative aspects of digitalization and accessibility as well as methods and concepts to combine subjective and objective aspects of accessibility. The Special Issue is made up of five contributions. In their paper, Van der Vlugt et al. focus on subjective perceptions in the accessibility debate. Traditional approaches to transport planning are criticised for not APPLIED MOBILITIES 2019, VOL. 4, NO. 2, 139–141 https://doi.org/10.1080/23800127.2019.1609389