Creating Sustainable Urban Mass Transit Systems in Developing Economies
Publication: ASCE Inspire 2023
ABSTRACT
Urban mass rapid transit (MRT) systems are genuinely considered green infrastructure projects due to their inherited characteristics of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by decreasing car dependence. In 2021, developing economies were responsible for 82% of megacities worldwide, and a quarter of them still do not have an MRT system. This paper examines the economic, social, and environmental impacts of metros in seven megacities located in different sub-regions of four continents: South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. Data from elevated, underground, and surface-level metro lines in Shanghai, Tehran, Istanbul, Sao Paulo, Bangkok, Mexico City, and Cairo was gathered through detailed and in-depth data collection involving reports, peer-reviewed papers, and official data over the projects’ lifetime, reveals the need of investing in sustainable MRT systems in developing countries, and provides a framework to reach sustainability and carbon reduction targets by 2050.
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Published online: Nov 14, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Business management
- Construction engineering
- Construction management
- Data collection
- Engineering fundamentals
- Infrastructure
- Methodology (by type)
- Practice and Profession
- Project management
- Public transportation
- Rail transportation
- Rapid transit systems
- Research methods (by type)
- Subways
- Sustainable development
- Transportation engineering
- Transportation management
- Urban and regional development
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