SMART: A COMPOSITE INDICATOR RANKING APPROACH FOR SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY

As shared mobility services expand across urban areas, their potential to contribute to sustainable transport systems has become a key focus for policymakers. The Fluctuo’s European Shared Mobility Index offers a point of view on shared mobility trends, but it is not a proper composite indicator, since there is no summary value or ranking that allows comparison of different policies adopted by European cities. This study proposes SMART – Sustainable Mobility and Adaptive Rating Technique – an optimised weighting methodology for composite indicators, prioritising air pollution reduction effectiveness as a guiding criterion. By integrating transport sustainability metrics, environmental impact assessments, and real-world shared mobility data, we develop a dynamic ranking framework that enhances the Fluctuo Index’s alignment with air pollution fight goals, integrating the index with the European Environment Agency data on emissions. Unlike existing composite indicators that apply static or expert-driven weightings, our approach introduces a data-driven, optimisation-based weighting methodology that directly aligns with real-world air pollution effectiveness, offering a more dynamic and impact-oriented evaluation of shared mobility sustainability. Our approach leverages Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and optimisation algorithms to determine the most effective weight distribution for shared transport modes. The proposed model is validated through a case study in seven selected European cities, comparing baseline and optimised weight configurations. Main findings indicate that adjusting weight distributions to reflect emissions savings significantly improves the indicator’s ability to guide sustainable urban mobility policies. This methodology provides a scalable decision-making tool for policymakers and urban planners aiming to maximise the environmental benefits of shared mobility