Using digital social market applications to incentivise active travel

Empirical analysis of a smart city initiative

Bibliographic Data

ID21234640
AuthorsFrancesco Manca (0000-0003-2823-9892, Imperial College London, corresponding author), Nicolò Daina (0000-0002-5902-4651, University of Strathclyde), Aruna Sivakumar (0000-0003-2721-8299, Transport for London), Jayne Wee Xin Yi (Imperial College London), Konstantinos Zavitsas (0000-0002-0936-4949, Imperial College London), Giuliana Gemini (Politecnico di Milano), Irene Vegetti (Politecnico di Milano), Liam Dargan (Digital Catapult), Francesco Marchet (0009-0002-8481-2155, Digital Catapult)
Year2022
Volume77
Pages103595
Publication date2022-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSustainable Cities and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2210-6707 • E-ISSN: 2210-6715
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.scs.2021.103595
OpenAlexW4225817277
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited53

Information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as mobile communication networks, and behaviour-based approaches for citizen engagement play a key role in making future cities sustainable and tackling persistent problems in high-density urban areas. In the context of Sharing Cities, an EU-funded programme aiming to deliver smart city solutions in areas such as citizen participation and infrastructure improvements of buildings and mobility, a prominent intervention has been the deployment and monitoring of a Digital Social Market (DSM) tool in Milan (Italy). The DSM allows cities to engage with residents and encourage sustainable behaviours by offering non-monetary rewards. This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the DSM approach to promote active travel (cycling and walking) by analysing the data collected through the app as well as through participant surveys. Our model results show that a broader engagement with the DSM app (number of claps to posts, number of posts made, non-monetary rewards earned by participating in non-travel events) is positively correlated with the monitored level of active travel. Lifestyles, attitudes, and social influence also explain the variability in cycling and walking. This highlights the importance of investigating these factors when replicating such initiatives on a large scale

Business · Geography · Political science · Public relations · Software deployment · Sustainability · Sustainable transport · Transport engineering · Travel behavior · Digital Marketing and Social Media · Engineering · Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis · Sharing Economy and Platforms · Marketing

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access