June 20, 2022

Governance, Knowledge and Innovation

José Reis

The problem of urban mobility is central in most cities, whether due to the high costs imposed on those who travel by motorized mode (negative externalities, fuel, and maintenance) and by the soft mode (barriers, insecurity, and lack of infrastructure), or by the growing exclusion of the poorest part of the population from access to the city. In this sense, a process of change of direction has become necessary for cities that want to offer more mobility and accessibility to populations, as well as a sustainable system. In the context of the city of Campina Grande (Brazil), the object of study of this work, the problem of mobility is verified from the explicit traffic jams and precarious public transport services to the social exclusion generated by transport, characterized by the growth of the urban periphery, urban space hierarchical structure and transport infrastructure dedicated to the Private Motor Vehicle (VPM). The first chapter presents a literature review relevant to the discussion of major urban issues that affect mobility and accessibility, such as socio-spatial hierarchy and transport infrastructure, from which a theoretical vision based on the "new urbanism" is built. The city should be democratic and accessible to all, with urban reforms that privilege non-motorized and collective displacement. In addition, a methodology for approaching the problem is proposed, seeking its origins in the urban restructuring of the city that took place in the 1940s, which placed the VPM at the peak of the privilege pyramid, to the detriment of other means of transport, for which, almost no infrastructure was set up. To investigate the real and current mobility needs of the population, exploratory research was produced for a group of people residing in the city of Campina Grande who have access to most of the resources necessary to enjoy urban advantages, as a subsidy for further comparisons. with the Urban Mobility Plan of Campina Grande (PLANMOB). From there, finally, the analysis of the mobility plan allows us to identify the philosophy of public intervention in the urban mobility model, noting to what extent it fits into the most recent ideas for the development of sustainable mobility and wide accessibility. Therefore, in this aspect, it is analyzed whether there is potential in the urban mobility plan of Campina Grande, as the main intervention policy, to address the problem of social exclusion through transport. Thus, the general objective is to verify how the characteristics of the urban mobility plan of Campina Grande act in the trend of social exclusion through transport, based on intervention proposals in the main elements of transport infrastructure and the built environment, with the hypothesis that proposals act in the sense of maintaining the marked urban hierarchies and, therefore, the social exclusion of a large part of the peripheral population. Finally, there are issues related to distributive justice in transport policies and socio-technical transition methods, which are fundamental to finding social sustainability simultaneously with the objective of greater mobility and urban accessibility, contemplating the highest level of social inclusion of peripheral populations. In conclusion, it is clear that the impact of urban restructuring in the 1940s has repercussions to this day on people's ability to travel, given a socio-spatial hierarchy and an offer of urban transport infrastructure that privileges the MPV and uses public transport to make services more precarious, due to the lack of a regulatory scheme that promotes the development and economic sustainability of the sector, with PLANMOB having only the function of maintaining the urban social hierarchy.

Key Words: Urban Mobility - Accessibility - Transports