Urban Mobility and Safety: ITS Technologies and Ethical Issues

Safety and security is one of many factors influencing the mobility of individuals in urban environments. In this context, the concept of safety refers to many aspects such as safety from physical attacks, safety of people with special needs, or even a psychological sense of safety. Mobility refers to all modes including walking. A real or perceived lack of safety may impact the urban mobility of individuals and result in behavioral modifications such as location avoidance, travel mode change, etc. Current and future information technologies, many related to developments in ITS, have the potential to positively impact the real and perceived safety of individuals. Examples include smartphones, GPS, the Internet, and smart cards, which enable communication, access to information, localization, monitoring, authorization, etc. With the increased use of information technology comes accessible information for people to use, but about them as well, hence the need to critically assess technology and address the potential privacy issues of using it to enhance safety and mobility.