Accelerating the Deployment of Smart Urban Mobility Solutions through Collaborative Knowledge Platforms and Data-Driven Simulation: A Civitas Batteries and Mobility Study

Abstract

Contemporary European cities face urgent pressure to decarbonise urban transport systems while sustaining economic competitiveness and social equity. This paper examines the BATTERIES and MOBILITY project, a funded component of the European CIVITAS initiative as a coordinated mechanism to valorise, cross-fertilise, and disseminate innovative sustainable mobility solutions across European municipalities. A MATLAB-based computational simulation is developed to model the cumulative effects of collaborative knowledge exchange, electric vehicle (EV) deployment, and peer-to-peer learning on average urban travel time and daily CO₂ emissions. The simulation applies an exponential decay function parameterised against empirical baseline and Day-30 endpoint data for three representative cities drawn from a 15-city CIVITAS-affiliated European dataset. Results indicate that coordinated knowledge-sharing programmes combined with progressive EV adoption rates of 12–20% of vehicle fleet yield travel time reductions of 13–20% and daily CO₂ emission reductions of 10–18%, computed via an established diesel vehicle emission factor of 0.1271 kg CO₂ per kilometre. A one-at-a-time sensitivity analysis confirms robustness under ±20% perturbations in the learning-rate parameter. Furthermore, structured knowledge platforms and city-twinning mechanisms are found to reduce solution adoption lead times by 30–40%, with commensurate modal shifts away from private vehicle use. The findings provide a policy-relevant, reproducible framework consistent with the European Green Deal and Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy objectives for climate-neutral mobility by 2050.