The evolution of smart mobility strategies and behaviors to build the smart city

From an urban planner perspective, a city is smart when is able to respond to the needs of its inhabitants in a more efficient and sustainable way, mainly by properly using information and communication technologies (ICTs). This definition of smart city highlights the importance of two main factors for the development of smarter cities: citizens and technology. Human and social capital, indeed, play a key role, and new technologies have to be integrated into citizens' habits in order to effectively improve urban sustainability. Such considerations apply especially to the smart mobility context, where social dynamics very much influence how ICTs applied to transport - Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) - reduce pollution and congestion, increase safety and improve the management and promotion of public transport demand. Therefore, investigating the evolution of mobility habits and policy strategies within the Italian context during the last years may be of great interest in order to evaluate the effectiveness of smart mobility interventions. In this context, this paper aims to measure and compare mobility habits and policies in thirteen Italian metropolitan cities at 2006 and 2014, by using a principal component analysis. This analysis shows that metropolitan cities located in the northern part of the country have achieved several improvements between 2006 and 2014, with a reduction in the use of private transport and an increase in the share of sustainable means of transport, such as public transportation, cycling and car sharing. However, southern cities have not succeeded in improving their mobility habits and, thus the North-South gap has widened.