Invisible Walls to Green Mobility: Barriers to Sustainable Transportation in Izmir

The need for sustainable transportation has come to the forefront due to rapidly increasing population growth in metropolitan areas, increasing motor vehicle use, and deepening environmental problems. Izmir, the third-largest city in Turkey, has faced multidimensional transportation problems such as traffic congestion, air pollution, inadequate public transportation infrastructure, and social injustice in transportation. In order to solve these problems, it is necessary to systematically identify and prioritize the barriers to sustainable transportation throughout the city. In this study, the SWARA (Step-wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis) method, a popular Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) method, was used to evaluate the barriers to sustainable transportation in Izmir under five different main dimensions: “environmentally friendly transportation,” “inclusive and accessible transportation,” “public transport quality,” “governance and digitalization,” and “safe urban mobility.” This method was applied to evaluate barriers to sustainable transportation in Izmir. The findings revealed that geographical/topographical constraints, lack of funding for accessibility, lack of digital infrastructure, and lack of emergency notification systems are the most important barriers to the development of sustainable transportation. This study provides a quantitative prioritization framework for decision-makers in developing sustainable transportation strategies in Izmir and highlights the need for holistic, data-driven planning approaches. As a result, the prioritized barriers and constraints identified contribute to the strategic planning and roadmap development in sustainable transportation for relevant stakeholders, especially Izmir's transportation department.