Principal component analysis and cluster analysis for the assessment of urban mobility in Italy

In Italy, a great number of initiatives, projects and researches have been promoted in order to increase the use of ecological vehicles and bikes, increase the supply of public transportation and reduce private transport dependence. Therefore, investigating how urban mobility varies across main Italian cities may be of great interest. In this context, the aim of this paper is to employ a principal component analysis combined with a cluster analysis to assess urban mobility in Italy, and identify the key characteristics that structure mobility behaviors and mobility administrative strategies within the Italian context. The results of these analyses shows that the demographic dimension of an urban area and its economic level are positively associated with the supply of public transport and car sharing, and that air pollution depends on the number of vehicles per inhabitnat and the age of the car fleet, but not on either the concentration of eco-vehicles or the implementation of more sustainable mobility policies.