Pierluigi Coppola

• MS, PhD
• Professor at Politecnico di Milano

This article aims to offer a novel perspective on investments in new multi-modal and multi-service transportation hubs, examining their wider economic and social impacts. Through a systematic literature review following a “What, When, Where” approach, as well as a meta-analysis based on the results of selected studies, this research synthesizes exi...

Recent applications of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) platforms have highlighted certain limitations in accurately identifying integrated mobility packages (MaaS bundles) that align with users’ needs and preferences while also supporting the financial viability of businesses. This study explores the interest of university community members in adoptin...

This paper presents the results of a demand forecasting study about the introduction of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) services in the metropolitan area of Milan (Italy). Demand forecasting is based on random utility mode choice models, which include factors related to the individuals’ perception of vertical take-off/landing and low altitude flying over...

Data is a paramount factor in the success of transport modeling. Smartphones can be employed to retrieve full individual trajectories, either locally through apps using the devices' integrated GPS sensors, or through the mobile network operator (MNO), by tracing the mobile antennas to which devices connect over time. Several studies have demonstrat...

In order to investigate the role that Mobility as a Service (MaaS) could play in university communities to reduce car dependency and moderate car-oriented travel behavior, this paper examines individuals' stated interest in adopting MaaS bundles in academic environments, where its potential is still largely underexplored. The study involves a large...

Urban air mobility (UAM) is expected to offer new travel options for passengers to and from airports in the near future, despite uncertainties associated with regulatory issues, environmental concerns, and societal impacts. This paper analyzes the socioeconomic and behavioral factors that could influence users’ modal choices (including UAM services...

This paper presents a Decision Support System (DSS) designed to enhance cyclability and perceived bikeability in urban areas, with an application to the city of Milan, Italy, focusing on cycling toward the urban university campuses of Politecnico di Milano. Despite the increasing emphasis on sustainable urban mobility, research gaps remain in optim...

It is still unclear whether autonomous vehicles will mainly bring benefits or not to the sustainable development of people's mobility. Opinion among various stakeholders diverge since autonomous driving may have different use cases, and potential impacts will depend on how consumers will deal with it: following an ownership-based or a consumption-b...

This paper deals with the benchmarking of the technical efficiency of 23 metro systems in Europe. Since financial data reflecting the operating costs and revenues are not often made available to the public, the aim of this work is to develop a method based on production variables to enable large-scale analysis at the European level. The methodology...

In the last years, Urban Air Mobility (UAM) has been receiving increasing attention and even if the first servicesare expected to be launched shortly, there is still uncertainty about which type of commercial services (e.g.,airport shuttles or city-taxis) will be implemented at an early stage, as well as which price point will be perceivedas afford...

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is receiving increasing attention by the industry and the scientific community. The first commercialservices are expected to be launched in a short period. However, users’ acceptance and willingness-to-use UAM should not betaken for granted and need to be carefully assessed. This study presents the results of a large-scale...

The optimal management of infrastructural assets is a key aspect to guarantee the adequate competitiveness of a country from the economic point of view and a good level of quality from the social one. In this framework, particular attention shall be paid to the critical elements of the infrastructure network, such as bridges and tunnels, which ofte...

Active modes can play a key role in the transition toward sustainable urban mobility, and transport systems should be designed to support and incentivize them. For instance, walking accessibility to main urban centralities is a factor to pay attention to, as well as the way in which pedestrians perceive the characteristics of the infrastructure and...

Introduction The COVID-19 outbreak has not only had a fatal impact on people's lives, but it has also threatened the entire world of transportation. The number of trips, the mobility habits and the users’ mode choices from the beginning of the pandemic has changed significantly over the last year. Objective This manuscript analyzed the effects of...

In the last decade, the concept of ‘cohesion’ has become increasingly important to study the distributional effects of infrastructure investment between different population groups, i.e., social cohesion, or between different zones inside a study area, i.e., territorial cohesion. Nevertheless, despite a growing interest, in the literature there is...

La transizione verso una mobilità urbana sostenibile, inclusiva e sicura è un obiettivo condiviso da diverse agende urbane, orientate a perseguire un modello di città meno dipendente dall’uso dell’auto che è stato definito Post-Car City. Il cambiamento di paradigma richiede azioni di progettazione e ri-organizzazione della mobilità urbana finalizza...

Investments in transportation infrastructure have been identified as one of the main factors to promote territorial economic growth. However, appraisal methods currently used in the planning practice do not consider spatial economic distributional effects, ignoring who within a given region would receive greater economic benefits from an investment...

L’Agenda Urbana del Ministero delle Infrastrutture e della Mobilità Sostenibili (Mims) è stata approvata oggi dal Comitato di Indirizzo per le Politiche Urbane che opera presso il Ministero. Il documento offre un quadro strategico per orientare le politiche di competenza del Mims che impattano sulle aree urbane e mette a disposizione dei decisori p...

In recent years, several authors have highlighted the merits of the Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA), e.g., compared to Cost-Benefits Analysis (CBA), particularly for small projects appraisal (e.g., revamping or extraordinary maintenance interventions) and when the impacts of the project are difficult to value or quantify in monetary terms. CEA is...

Surveys are a commonly applied method to establish user satisfaction levels with a public transport system. Regardless of the type of survey carried out and the methodology used, the studies usually present a time specific image of the service, showing the results in aggregate form or differentiating by lines and socio-economic characteristics of t...

The goal of essentially CO2-free city logistics in major urban centers by 2030 remains one of the most ambitious challenges that still seems very difficult to achieve. The efforts made so far by local governments have barely managed to counteract the freight demand growth in recent years. In this domain, the increasing penetration of the e-commerce...

Recent studies have highlighted the existence of a gap between actual and perceived safety and have shown that feelings of insecurity can affect individuals’ travel behavior before and during the journey. In this paper, a methodology is proposed for assessing determinants of travelers’ perception of safety and security in railway stations. The meth...

This chapter is part of the annual report of the Italiana Society for Transport Policy. It includes some proposals for improving the sustainable urban mobility plans in Italy, in line with the EU guidelines

This chapter is part of the Annual Report of the Italian Society for Transport Policy. It includes a review of methods and tecnique for Stakeholder engagement in transport and mobility sector, and a state of the art of the legislation in Italy.

This chapter is included in the Annual Report of the Italian Society for Transport Policy. It includes a review and some porposals for public funding in transport investments in Italy.

Recent studies have shown that gender is the personal aspect that mostly affect mobility patterns and travel behaviors. It has been observed, for instance, that female perception of unsafety and insecurity when traveling using public transport force them to make unwanted travel choices such as avoiding traveling at certain times of the day and to s...

Road accidents on the African continent represent a high social cost compared to other regions of the world. It is estimated that over 300,000 lives are lost every year, which makes Africa the most vulnerable continent in terms of road fatalities. The current poor road safety performance in Africa revealed by its high number of road fatalities (26....

In this paper a method is proposed to assess the safety and security perceived by travelers in the railway stations and an application to the case study of the (medium size) station of Frosinone, Italy, is presented. The methodology is based on Probit and Logit ordered choice models, estimated using data collected through a RP/SP survey. Main findi...

Introduction The COVID-19 emergency and the cities lockdown have had a strong impact on transport and mobility. In particular, travel demand has registered an unprecedented overall contraction, dramatically dropping down with peaks of - 90%-95% passengers for public transport (PT). During the re-opening phase, demand is gradually resuming the level...

The emergency from COVID-19 and the cities lockdown have had a strong impact on transportation sector. Travel demand, in particular, registered an unprecedented overall contraction, especially in passenger transportation which has dramatically dropped down with peaks of less 90%-95%. In the re-opening phase, travel demand is gradually resuming the...

Tourism is a key sector in the national economies, representing a real asset for increasing the competitiveness and the worldwide visibility of a Country. In Italy, the widespread diffusion of the tourist heritage represents a great potential for the economic development but requires efforts to identify sustainable and seamless travel solutions, gi...

This paper presents the results of a survey carried out between April and May 2020, among a panel of chief executive officers (CEOs) of industries, consultancies in the mobility sector, and of Public Transport (PT) companies. We surveyed expectation about the impacts of Covid-19 on urban mobility in the short-medium term and on their own business,...

This topical collection of Transportation Research Procedia includes a selection of peer-reviewed articles presented at the 46 th European Transport Conference (ETC) organised by the Association for European Transport (AET), in the historical site of Dublin Castle, from October the 10 th to October 12 th 2018. AET is the leading European organisati...

In recent years the interest in urban mobility has grown considerably, not only due to the local increase in negative externalities generated by transport, but also because recent technological innovations are offering effective solutions especially in urban context. In particular, the introduction of Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs) could r...

The digital transformation and the new modes of transport (e.g., automated vehicles, ride hailing, car sharing, demand-responsive transport systems, and micro-mobility) offer a wide range of possibilities to improve accessibility and to promote inclusive mobility solutions addressing the needs of disadvantaged groups of population. However, as the...

In recent years interest in urban mobility has grown considerably, not only due to the local increase in negative externalities generated by transport, but even because recent technological innovations are offering effective solutions especially in urban context. In particular, the introduction of Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs) could radic...

The latest technological innovations are creating the base for mobility solutions which, accompanied to cultural and socioeconomic changes taking place all over the World, opens the door to new mobility scenarios. The challenge of innovation in transport sector is represented by automation of vehicles, including all transport sectors (road, sea, ra...

Autonomous Vehicles and Future Mobility presents novel methods for examining the long term effects on individuals, society, and on the environment on a wide range of forthcoming transport scenarios such self-driving vehicles, workplace mobility plans, demand responsive transport analysis, mobility as a service, multi-source transport data provision...

The latest technological innovations are creating the base for mobility solutions which, accompanied to cultural and socio-economic changes taking place all over the World, opens the door to new mobility scenarios. The challenge of innovation in transport sector is represented by automation of vehicles, including all transport sectors (road, sea, r...

In questo capitolo viene proposta una riflessione sul ruolo che, oggi, i sistemi di trasporto posso svolgere per migliorare le condizioni di marginalità e in alcuni casi di degrado delle periferie urbane. In un contesto in cui il modello di sviluppo territoriale dominante è quello policentrico, che individua una gerarchia di centri (poli) con vocaz...

I Corridoi Merci Ferroviari (Rail Freight Corridors, RFC) sono istituiti dal Regolamento n. 913 del Parlamento Europeo e del Consiglio del 22 settembre 2010, che ne definisce gli obiettivi e le finalità, oltre alle modalità di gestione ed aggiornamento. Essi rappresentano l’insieme delle linee ferroviarie designate al collegamento dei porti e dei t...

“Rediscovery the social role of transport infrastructures” Transportation Research Part A - special issue Editorial This special issue on “Rediscovery the social role of transport infrastructures” stems from discussion on sustainability of transport investments and policies, and thoughts shared during the 44th European Transport Conference (ETC) o...

In this paper we present some estimated functions of residential location utility, perceived by individuals, varying with the distance from selected transportation and urban facilities, such as metro and train stations, highway and road junctions, as well as hospitals, green spaces and leisure centres. By summing up such functions we get a measure...

Negli ultimi anni è cresciuto considerevolmente l'interesse per la mobilità urbana, non solo per l'aumento delle esternalità negative generate dai trasporti, ma soprattutto perché le recenti innovazioni tecnologiche stanno offrendo soluzioni particolarmente efficaci proprio nei contesti urbani. Nello specifico, l'introduzione di mezzi a guida auton...

Empirical evidence supports the hypothesis that greater accessibility to opportunities can have a positive impact on real estate values. However, this capitalisation of the benefits of accessibility could vary between different study areas. This research estimates hedonic and spatial hedonic models in two urban areas to compare if differences can b...

Emerging technologies and models for transport and mobility 44th European Transport Conference Selected Proceedings Editorial This issue of Transportation Research Procedia includes some selected and revised papers presented at the 44th European Transport Conference (ETC) organized by the Association for European Transport (AET). The conference t...

The influence of accessibility to opportunities in trip generation continues to be debated in the specialised literature given its relevance to simulate phenomena such as induced demand. This article estimates multiple linear regression models (MLR), spatial autoregressive models (SAR), spatial autoregressive models in the error term (SEM) and spat...

Dalla fine della Cassa per il Mezzogiorno per le regioni meridionali i numerosi tentativi di ridurre i divari economici e sociali fra le regioni meridionali e il resto dell’Italia hanno avuto modesti successi. Negli ultimi 15 anni, in particolare, la crisi economica generale ha avuto riflessi immediati per il Sud con una forte riduzione di trasferi...

Il capitolo affronta il tema dei metodi di valutazione degli investimenti pubblici nelle infrastrutture di trasporto, con riferimento particolare al Nuovo Codice degli Appalti, alle Linee guida per la valutazione degli investimenti in opere pubbliche nei settori di competenza del Ministero delle Infrastrutture e dei Trasporti [D. Lgs. 228/2011] di...

Many planning support tools have recently been developed aimed at measuring and modelling accessibility (Accessibility Instrument or AI). The main difficulty for tool developers is designing an AI that is at the same time technically rigorous and usable in practice. Measuring accessibility is indeed a complex task, and AI outputs are difficult to c...

This chapter presents an overview of the dual effects of the opening of the new HSR (300 Km/h) line in Italy, with a single operator between 2010 and 2012 and with the entry of a new operator since 2012. Before-and-after effects on supply, demand and prices are presented, allowing the analysis of the evolution of new HSR services on the multimodal...

Existe evidencia empírica que avala la hipótesis de que incrementos en la accesibilidad a oportunidades pueden impactar positivamente en los valores inmobiliarios. Sin embargo, esta capitalización de los beneficios de la accesibilidad puede ser desigual en distintas áreas de estudio. En esta investigación se estiman modelos hedónicos y modelos hedó...

The subject of this book is the new scientific research in the field of modelling the interaction between land use and transport (LUTI modelling). Transport and the location of activities in space have been important themes of study in engineering, social sciences and urban and regional planning for many decades. This book presents an integrated mo...

The new 1,000 km of high-speed rail (HSR) line between Turin and Salerno, Italy, were completed in 2009, and new service by the Italian railways state-owned company Trenitalia started in December of that year. Furthermore, in anticipation of the European open-access regulatory framework, starting from April 2012, the new HSR private operator Nuovo...

The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of environmental conditions in a given area on the residential location and the consequences on urban sprawl and accessibility. In particular, the study focuses on the effects of environmental quality and landscaping on property values. To this aim, the paper presents some hedonic Multiple Line...

This paper investigates the relation between sustainability and urban form. To this aim a system of Land-Use and Transport Interactions (LUTI) models has been designed and applied to the metropolitan area of Rome, to understand the interdependence of key variables such as travel behavior, transport supply, property values, jobs and residential loca...

While a substantial body of literature exists on the theoretical definitions and measures of accessibility, the extent to which such measures are applied into practice to assess project alternatives is less frequent (Geurs and Van Wee, 2004). Recent studies affirm that one of the main barriers to the usability of accessibility measure is the lack o...

The paper starts from the concern that while there is a large body of literature focusing on the theoretical definitions and measurements of accessibility, the extent to which such measures are used in planning practice is less clear. Previous reviews of accessibility instruments have in fact identified a gap between the clear theoretical assumptio...

The paper presents the ‘Marginal Activity Access Cost’, an accessibility indicator providing estimation in monetary terms of the impacts on mobility and on the environment of locating a single new activity in a specific zone of the urban area. In the first part of this paper, the new indicator is presented and compared to other accessibility indica...

This paper gives an overview of the dual effects of the opening, in Italy, of the new HSR line with a single operator (between 2005-2012) and the effects of a new operator entering the HSR market (2012-onward), on supply, demand and prices, thus inferring the effects of competition in this typically monopolistic market. The analyses are based on so...

Recent High Speed Rail (HSR) investments in Italy, together with the entrance in the HSR market of a new private operator competing with the national incumbent, create the conditions for a unique case study, to investigate the behaviour of long-distance passengers. In this paper a modelling framework developed to forecast the national passenger dem...

The paper fits into the themes of sustainable accessibility planning in urban areas, that can be defined as the integration of transport and land use planning to achieve sustainable development. In particular the study proposes a tool to support the choices of activities location, which is based on a new aggregate (zone-specific) indicator: the ‘Ma...

AbstractThis article presents a land use and transport interaction model (LUTI model) to simulate the overall equilibrium of an urban system. The proposed system of integrated models combines random utility theory with hedonic regression techniques and a transport model with equilibrium between supply and demand to estimate the location of populati...

This paper reviews the models proposed in the past two decades to forecast freight transport demand resulting from changes in infrastructures, services and regulation. A classification is proposed based on different scales of analysis (e.g. long-distance vs. short-distance freight transport), and on modeling approaches (e.g. aggregate vs. disaggreg...

Recent openings of new high-speed rail (HSR) lines in Italy, together with the April 2012 entrance of a new private operator in the Italian HSR market in competition with the national incumbent, have created the conditions for an investigation of long-distance travel demand. In this paper, we present some empirical evidences on the evolution of nat...

The use of Multinomial Logit (MNL) models specification for the simulation of residential location have been often criticised due to the Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives hypothesis (IIA) which does not allow for the existence of spatial correlation between residential zones. Moreover, it is not clear when and to what extent the influence of...

In transportation planning a paradigm shift is occurring: from mobility-oriented analysis (which evaluates transport system performance based on quantity and quality of physical travel) to accessibility-based analysis (which considers a broader range of impacts and options) (Litman, 2010). The instrument described in this paper, is an example of th...

The paper presents the ‘Marginal Activity Access Cost’, an accessibility indicator providing estimation in monetary terms of the impacts on mobility and on the environment of locating a single new activity in a specific zone of the urban area. In the first part of this paper, the new indicator is presented and compared to other accessibility indica...

This article presents hedonic Multiple Linear Regression models (MLR), spatial autoregressive hedonic models (SAR), Spatial autoregressive hedonic in the Error term Models (SEMs) and spatial Durbin hedonic models (SDMs) to estimate house price variations in metropolitan areas as a result of changing environmental and accessibility conditions. The g...

High speed rail (HSR) represents the future of medium-haul intercity transport. In fact, a number of HSR projects are being developed all over the world despite the financial and economic crisis. Such large investments require reliable demand forecasting models to develop solid business plans aiming at optimizing the fares structures and the timeta...

The paper fits into the general themes of land use - transport planning (Nuzzolo and Coppola, 2008a and 2008b) and accessibility (Geurs and van Wee 2004) in urban areas. It's widely recognized in academia the need for integration between mobility and land use policies in accordance with the objectives of environmental sustainability and quality of...

In this paper we present an activities-location choice model with endogenous price which simulates, based on Expected Random Utility principle, the behaviour of several agents of the urban system (e.g. the workers distinguished by income, the firms by economic sector) to estimate the spatial distribution of socio-economic activities within the stud...

Real-data testing results of a real-time nonlinear freeway traffic state estimator are presented with a particular focus on its adaptive features. The pursued general approach to the real-time adaptive estimation of complete traffic state in freeway stretches or networks is based on stochastic nonlinear macroscopic traffic flow modeling and extende...

This paper addresses a large-scale field test of a real-time freeway network traffic state estimator that was recently developed. The related network traffic flow modeling and state estimator design are first outlined. The test of the estimator for the A3 freeway of 100 km between Naples and Salerno in South Italy is then reported in some detail. T...

Despite the great success and the broad diffusion of Advanced Public Transportation Information System (APTIS), there is a lack of studies, in the literature, investigating "systematically" how and to what extent such systems can affect network performances and travelers' path choices. In this paper, we use a realistic case study of the city of Nap...