Access to transportation has a significant effect on the quality of life for a region’s residents by shaping access to jobs, education, housing, services, and recreational opportunities. Unfortunately, years of auto oriented transportation policies and investment decisions have left many low income and minority neighborhoods with limited access to social and economic opportunities. In partnership with the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), San Diego’s regional transportation planning agency, and several Community Based Organizations (CBOs), this project will address these shortcomings with a Human Centered Design (HCD) approach to integrate mobility services in disadvantaged communities. In Stage 1, the project will assess the challenges and feasibility of an integrated mobility service with several representative communities. Working with CBOs, the project team will deploy HCD techniques such as day-in-a-life interviews, real-world observations, questionnaires and wearable sensors in several disadvantaged communities. Working with SANDAG, the project team will employ data-driven methodologies including the analysis demographic data, transportation services data, survey data and transportation modeling in these same communities.
This project's primary research objective is to assess the integration of these techniques and their utility in understanding of the needs of disadvantaged communities and in formulating solutions that are both responsive and feasible. In Stage 2, the project will implement an integrated mobility pilot in one of these communities that is responsive to the real needs of the community, that addresses the long-term strategic plan for transportation and sustainability in the region, and can be expanded to other communities in the region. The project team anticipates that the pilot will demonstrate improved access to employment, recreation, shopping, education and public transit via the integration of mobility services including, for example, pooled ride-hailing, neighborhood electric vehicles, microtransit, e-scooters, e-bikes, and carshare. The project intends not only to address needs in particular San Diego communities, but also to inform SANDAG’s planners about the types of services, incentives, and operating models that are needed to ensure alignment with a community’s needs as they implement a bold vision of the 2021 Regional Plan known as the “5 Big Movesâ€.
This project is in response to Track A – CIVIC Innovation Challenge - Communities and Mobility a collaboration with NSF and the Department of Energy.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
