Report: Equity and Smart Mobility

Transportation is the single biggest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. In order to curb the worst impacts of climate change, eliminating transportation emissions must be a high priority, but until recently, myriad factors have hampered progress in this critical sector.

However, a combination of technology and changing public sentiment – particularly among millennials – has been transforming the sector via a market-driven “smart mobility” disruption which holds the potential to achieve what author Lukas Nekermann describes as “zero emissions, zero accidents, and zero ownership.”

While a major step in the right direction, these systemic shifts could perpetuate existing systemic racial inequities in our transportation system, or worse, exacerbate them. As these solutions continue to be developed, it is important that this is done in a way that benefits all people in a community regardless of race, income, or location.

Working with the Center for Neighborhood Technologies, LISC Phoenix, S. Rowe Consulting, Gonzalez Consulting, and All Voices Consulting, ISC developed an in-depth review of available transportation data for 10 major American cities and regions, as well as a qualitative focus group of one select region, to determine: what systemic inequities exist in smart mobility, whether lived experience in one region reflects that data, and to provide promising national and local approaches to ensure mobility solutions are equitable.