Smart Mobility for Citizens within Urban Nodes

This chapter examines smart mobility for citizens within urban nodes, understood as the critical interfaces where metropolitan networks, transport modes, public space and everyday mobility practices converge. Moving beyond a technology-centred interpretation of smart mobility, the chapter argues that smartness should be assessed through its capacity to improve accessibility, reliability, safety, affordability and social inclusion in citizens’ daily trip chains. Urban nodes are framed as high-intensity mobility micro-systems in which spatial configuration, service integration and governance capacity jointly shape mobility outcomes. The chapter introduces the concept of a Mobility Friction Audit as a diagnostic approach to identify the spatial, operational, informational and governance-related barriers that reduce effective accessibility, even when infrastructure and services are formally available. By focusing on friction reduction rather than technological deployment alone, the chapter provides a citizen-centred framework for evaluating how smart mobility can support more seamless, inclusive and sustainable urban mobility systems.