Towards more just and inclusive streets: Addressing the needs of Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) with a focus on mobility justice

Considering streets only as infrastructures to get from point A to point B discredits their potential; streets are public space, and places of interaction between people, comparable to parks or squares. Streets are not just roads, but they have the capacity to host a variety of different uses and users, that means there are several types of road users which must be considered when designing public spaces. Notwithstanding, today most streets are dominated by cars, marginalizing and negatively impacting on those social groups that are less powerful in planning processes and streets uses. These are often referred-to as Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs), although there is not universal definition or identification of which social group are included in this definition. This thesis aims to provide insight on mobility justice and related concepts in street planning and use, the thesis focuses on who Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) are, and how their contribution in collaboration with other stakeholders – municipalities, NGO’s, policymakers, advocacy groups, etc. – is essential to develop plans and policies in the search to create healthier and more inclusive streets. The main question that this study wants to address is: what are the needs of Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) and how can these needs be prioritized in spatial and mobility planning? And in that sense, how can we develop more just and inclusive streets? The knowledge gathered is then applied to the analysis of the case study located in the Metropolitan City of Milan (MCM) and their Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP), as part of the JUST STREETS project. To gather the needed information, this thesis explores concepts related to mobility justice, shedding some light to the importance of justice achievement in urban environments. It also defines Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) and examines recent research that targets them. To get practical insight about the needs of VRUs, qualitative knowledge was collected by: a) performing a series of 18 semi-structured interviews with academic research experts, policymakers/municipality members and advocates representing groups of users considered at risk in urban environments: b) contributing to the organization and analyzing the results of an international focus group done for the JUST STREETS project. Ultimately this thesis sheds some light on the importance of justice achievement in urban environments for all road users by evaluating the outcomes of the qualitative data collection through a cross-coding process through the lens of three main dimensions of justice: distributional justice, procedural justice and recognition of justice. The study offers conceptual and practical insights into the importances of including the needs of VRUs in urban planning, decision, policy and design making processes.