An integrated approach to mobility and urban development
With populations growing worldwide, cities face the complex challenge of delivering housing, climate action and economic vitality, often simultaneously. Urban densification is high on the agenda. Yet without a clear mobility strategy, it can result in congestion, safety risks and declining liveability. Expanding road infrastructure is rarely a sustainable answer. Space is limited, investment costs are high, and building more roads does not necessarily improve the quality of urban life. The real question is: how can new urban areas become both accessible and attractive, without creating new bottlenecks?
Mobility as an opportunity for successful urban growth
Across Europe and beyond, policy makers are moving away from the traditional predict and provide approach, expanding infrastructure based on projected traffic growth. Instead, they adopt a vision and validate strategy: defining the desired future first, and then assessing which mobility measures support that.
Urban densification offers a unique opportunity to accelerate the transition to active mobility, high-quality public transport, and shared mobility. But doing so requires mobility and spatial planning to be fully aligned from the outset. When mobility is embedded in spatial development from the very start, it becomes a driver for success. Investing in sustainable modes of transport has a multiplier effect: it enhances liveability, strengthens social inclusivity, supports climate and sustainability goals, and ensures that urban space is used more efficiently and attractively. Think of new neighbourhoods with low-traffic streets where walking and cycling dominate, high-quality public spaces where children can play, and seamless connections to shared mobility and public transport.
At Goudappel, we have been at the forefront of mobility planning for over 60 years. As the Netherlands’ leading consultancy in mobility planning and traffic modelling, we have contributed to the growth of cities such as The Hague and Utrecht. To help cities turn vision into action, we developed our own integrated approach: the Smart Mobility Wheel.
Looking at mobility from every angle
The Smart Mobility Wheel is a practical framework that supports planners and policymakers in exploring mobility challenges and opportunities across five strongly interconnected themes:
- Densifying: what spatial mix of housing, workplaces, and amenities can reduce (long) travel distances?
- Connecting: how can we promote multimodal travel through a fine-grained transport network? Can parking and shared mobility options be located near public transport nodes?
- Making places more pleasant: how can we design attractive, safe, and green routes that enhance user experience and encourage active mobility?
- Integrating: where can shared mobility and mobility hubs best be introduced to strengthen accessibility?
- Encouraging: how can residents and visitors be encouraged to choose walking, cycling, shared or public transport more often?
The Smart Mobility Wheel: an integrated approach of mobility in spatial development
The crucial role of parking policy
Parking policy is one of the most powerful instruments within an integrated mobility strategy. It directly influences travel behaviour, spatial quality and financial feasibility of urban development. A well-designed parking strategy can reduce car dependency, free up valuable space for housing, greenery and public amenities, strengthen the business case for shared mobility, and support climate and sustainability goals.
Why our integrated approach makes a difference
- Proactive planning – considers mobility early in the development process, helping to prevent accessibility and capacity problems later.
- Sustainable solutions – ensures mobility measures contribute to liveable, inclusive, sustainable, and efficient urban environments.
- Broad stakeholder support – encourages dialogue and gaining social support, even among stakeholders less familiar with mobility issues.
- Effective investments – enables well-founded, efficient use of recourses.
Demonstrating impact with data
Transforming mobility patterns requires long-term vision supported by evidence. Where possible, we prefer to use traffic models and other data sources to demonstrate how new housing, measures and policies will impact travel behaviour, traffic volumes, safety, urban economy, and liveability. If suitable local models are not available, we can help identify alternative data strategies and sources to estimate and visualise impacts.
From strategy to implementation
If needed, we help embed measures in formal planning and policy documents, such as mobility visions, area development plans, parking regulations or frameworks for property developers. Ensuring a solid foundation for the next phase of spatial development.
