Mobility Reading List 2026

A curated public reading list of new transport and mobility publications released in 2026. Updated regularly to highlight research, policy, data, and practical guidance worth your time.

Who this is for: Policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and students working on transport, urban mobility, climate, equity, and infrastructure. Updated monthly (with occasional mid-month additions when notable publications are released).

• For 2025, please refer to https://github.com/giz-t-hub/2025
• For 2024, please refer to https://github.com/giz-t-hub/2024

• Data and statistics
• Urban Mobility
• Climate & Environment
• Social issues
• Transport Infrastructure
• Logistics & Trade
• General

• Mobility Database MobilityData: https://mobilitydatabase.org/ - The Mobility Database is an open data catalog including over 4000 GTFS, GTFS Realtime, and GBFS feeds in over 75 countries. Whether you’re a transportation operator, a researcher studying public transit and shared mobility trends, or a maps app needing reliable data to use with your application, the Mobility Database has everything you need in one central location.
• Global transport costs for international trade UNCTAD https://unctadstat.unctad.org/EN/TransportCost.html - The Trade-and-Transport Dataset has been developed by UNCTAD and the World Bank to leverage details and breakdowns available in countries’ data submissions to UN Comtrade for the measurement of international freight transport alongside the international merchandise trade it enables. Transport costs are revealed by the difference between the CIF and the FOB value recorded in international trade data. The mode of transport has been derived from information collected by customs about the mode by which goods arrive at the national border in combination with global transport network models to identify the main routes used for the shipping and thereby adjust for intermodal transshipment.
• A 30-year analysis of active travel behaviour in Canada Bruno Dias dos Santos, Mahdis Maghadasi & Antonio Páez: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2026.104561 - This study aims to provide evidence of the temporal evolution of active travel (AT) behaviour, specifically walking or cycling, in Canadian metropolitan areas. It analysed more than 21,000 AT records representing over 46 million weighted episodes, continuous blocks of time spent on a single main activity, from seven cycles (1992, 1998, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2022) of the Canadian Time Use Survey (TUS) module of the General Social Survey (GSS).
• Big Data Toolkit for Transport Sector Engagements Across the Project Cycle Aiga Stokenberga & Brock Rowberry: https://doi.org/10.1596/44096 - Data underpins every aspect of the investment project lifecycle and is essential for policy dialogue. Analyses of congestion patterns or the identification of infrastructure gaps are the kindling that can ignite discussions for business development. Criticality and accessibility analyses are necessary inputs into the design of impactful investment projects and for measuring their outcomes. With the World Bank’s renewed focus on impact, data has never been more important for identifying how our projects have improved travel times, provided better access to jobs, or enhanced rural access, results that are critical for development.
• EV NDC World Map Agora Verkehrswende: https://www.agora-verkehrswende.org/publications/ev-ndc-world-map - Interactive map of global ambition to adopt electric vehicles (EVs) based on the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of Paris Agreement signatories.
• Ireland: Inventory of Transport Models NTA: https://www.nationaltransport.ie/planning-and-investment/transport-modelling/model-service-bureau/inventory-of-transport-models/ - The NTA has created an Inventory of Transport Models which aims to map, collate, and make available Local Area Models (LAMs), Micro-simulation and Junction Models developed as part of publicly funded transport projects across the Republic of Ireland.
• Liner shipping connectivity index, monthly (analytical) UNCTAD: https://unctadstat.unctad.org/datacentre/dataviewer/US.LSCI_M - The monthly dataset provides a high-frequency view of how countries and ports are connected to global liner shipping networks—capturing short-term changes that quarterly indicators may miss.

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• Urban expansion in the age of liberalism Samuel Hughes: https://worksinprogress.co/issue/urban-expansion-in-the-age-of-liberalism/ - Many Victorian cities grew by tenfold in a century. Could ours ever do the same?
• Public Transport Improvement Roadmap for the Tashkent Region World Bank: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/52649dc7-954c-4bfe-9c1c-a86cfeff9d67 - This study, requested by the Government of Uzbekistan, aims to support public transport reform. The objective is to develop a roadmap for improvements in public transport in Tashkent city and region that strengthens the delivery of the 2023 Presidential Resolution and align with the objectives and guidance of the draft Public Transport Strategy. This study is initiated by the Ministry of Transport (MoT), in association with the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MoEF) and Agency for Strategic Reforms (ASR). It is supported by the Korean Green Growth Trust Fund (KGGTF). The study focuses on strategic pillars corresponding to the government’s reform program. The pillars include (1) harmonizing institutional frameworks to support public transport development in the city and region; (2) strengthening open competition and private sector mobilization for public transport and roll out Gross Cost Contract (GCC) to regional corridors; (3) scaling up e-bus adoption through cost-effective business models and private capital mobilization; and (4) improving bus connectivity and accessibility between the city and the outlying regional towns through evidence-based bus priority design and infrastructure development.
• The effects of symbolic meanings on MaaS adoption intention: A case study from urban residents in China Jinpeng Wen, Ke Wang & Hongcheng Gan: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2026.104914 - Mobility as a service (MaaS) is considered a promising approach for achieving sustainable urban transportation and has garnered significant interest among researchers. However, consumer interest in adopting MaaS remains low, despite consumer acceptance and adoption is critical to the bright future for MaaS. The underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions influencing consumers’ intention to adopt MaaS, particularly in the cultural perspectives, remain unclear.
• Establishing evidence of initiatives undertaken by non-mobility service providers that are aligned with sustainable travel behaviour change as a next generation focus of MaaS as MaaF David A. Hensher, John D. Nelson, Camila Balbontin, Chinh Ho, Edward Wei, Corinne Mulley & Thiranjaya Kandanaarachchi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2026.104889 - Abstract: "Mobility as a Service (MaaS) has garnered a significant amount of interest over the last 15 years and yet we have very little to show in terms of its influence on travel behaviour aligned with sustainability goals or even a business case without an injection of significant government subsidy or private venture capital. While we see claimed success in Japan and China with government-led and controlled initiatives with extensive subsidies, there is no financial support in other countries elsewhere beyond existing non-MaaS provided subsidies. We suggest the focus should be on a broader interpretation of transport services as an input into a wider activity-focussed product mix driven by the private sector, in a way that is also financially sustainable without necessarily requiring further subsidy from government. This future of MaaS resides in a greater involvement of non-mobility service providers (NMSPs)."
• Preferences for MaaS bundles: Insights from various choice models Willy Kriswardhana & Domokos Esztergár-Kiss: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.urbmob.2026.100191 - Abstract: "More transport opportunities are available in cities, but the adoption of diverse solutions is rather slow. This highlights a gap between the growing availability of mobility options and travelers’ limited willingness to integrate them into daily travel. Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is considered a mobility management tool that integrates less popular modes with more established ones, such as public transport. However, the promising idea is not accompanied by successful implementation. Thus, this study aims to unveil travelers' preferences and willingness to pay for MaaS, providing relevant inputs for creating policies to enhance the adoption of mobility solutions."
• Age-friendly public transport: barriers, strategies, and capabilities for mobility in later life Saeed Jaydarifard, Francisco Javier Mafla Hernandez, Niklas Tilly & Tan Yigitcanlar: https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2026.2618145 - Public transport is central to promoting active ageing by enabling older adults to maintain mobility, social participation, and quality of life. Yet many older people face persistent challenges in using public transport due to limitations in accessibility and availability. Despite increasing recognition of these needs, research remains fragmented and often overlooks how structural conditions and individual circumstances interact to shape older adults’ capabilities and real freedom to travel. This review identifies key barriers and strategies influencing public transport use among adults aged 60 and above through a systematic review of 67 studies using thematic synthesis. The findings show six recurring categories of barriers: accessibility, affordability, availability, adaptability, acceptability, and safety.
• Environmental and social influences on cycling adoption: A socio-ecological mode choice analysis in Greater Melbourne Sapan Tiwari, Afshin Jafari, Nikhil Chand & Billie Giles-Corti: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tbs.2026.101257 - Abstract: "Cycling is widely recognised as a sustainable and health-enhancing mode of transport; however, its adoption remains low in many urban areas due to safety concerns and infrastructure limitations. This study considers the multiple levels of influence on individual behaviour. Adopting a social ecological framework, it examines how traffic stress, social norms, and family influences shape cycling uptake in Greater Melbourne. It focuses on the impact of lowering residential speed limits to 30 km/h and expanding low-stress cycling networks.
• School travel mode choice in two medium-sized south Asian cities: Cross-city transferability and explainable machine learning approaches Muhammad Abdullah, Nazam Ali, Charitha Dias, Muhammad Ashraf Javid & I.M.S. Sathyaprasad: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667091726000075 - Abstract: "Trips for educational purposes represent a significant portion of morning and evening peak hour trips. These trips, if carried out by private transport, can lead to several negative consequences including increased traffic congestion, air and noise pollution, and driver discomfort. This study aimed at predicting the mode choices of school-going students in two medium-sized South Asian cities, Kandy, Sri Lanka, and Sahiwal, Pakistan. City-specific classification models were developed for each city, followed by cross-city evaluations using a subset of common features."
• Urban nodes: cooperation between cities and stakeholders of their functional urban area (FUA) European Commission Expert Group on Urban Mobility (EGUM) : https://transport.ec.europa.eu/document/download/d3820870-fb45-4378-8bf8-474611649f1d_en?filename=EGUM_Report_Urban_Nodes.pdf - This report provides an expert input paper to support national, regional, and local authorities, as well as the National SUMP Contact Points(NSCP), and to facilitate compliance with the requirements of the TEN-T Regulation[1] for urban nodes. The report aims to identify existing good practices and approaches across the EU in the field of cooperation between cities and the surrounding region's stakeholders, particularly those in the Functional Urban Area (FUA).
• City Access for Businesses - Challenges and Best Practices for Urban Freight Transport European Commission Expert Group on Urban Mobility (EGUM): https://transport.ec.europa.eu/document/download/63576196-4d7f-45dd-8383-d20efb7f6e12_en?filename=EGUM_Report_on_City_Access_for_Businesses_Freight_Focus.pdf - This report examines how freight operators access European cities under evolving urban mobility policies and how access regulations interact with the transition to low- and zero�emission fleets. The overall objective is to support fair, efficient and sustainable access to urban areas for freight, balancing economic activity with climate, air quality, safety and liveability goals

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• South Africa’s Fragmented Cities: The Unequal Burden of Labor Market Frictions World Bank: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/4c961f86-6519-464f-8a03-8b185d106cfa - Abstract Using high-resolution administrative, census, and satellite data, this paper shows that South African cities are characterized by spatial mismatches between where people live and where jobs are located, relative to 20 global peers. Areas within 5 kilometers of commercial centers have 9,300 fewer residents per square kilometer than expected, which is 60 percent below the global median. Poor, dense neighborhoods are most affected. In Johannesburg, a 10-percentile increase in distance from the nearest business hub corresponds to a 3.7-percentile drop in asset wealth (a proxy of household wellbeing) and 4.9-percentile drop in employment. In Cape Town, the declines are 4.0 and 3.7 percentiles, respectively. Employment is 87 percent lower in the poorest decile than the richest in Johannesburg and 61 percent lower in Cape Town. These findings suggest that South Africa’s spatial organization of people and economic activity constrains agglomeration and reinforces inequality. This methodology provides a scalable and standardized data-driven framework to analyze spatial accessibility and agglomeration frictions in complex, data-constrained urban systems.
• Operationalizing social justice theory in transport resource allocation Esta Qiu, David Rey, Travis Waller: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2026.105218 - Operationalizing social justice is challenged by the absence of a universal equity definition and inherent policy trade-offs. This study bridges theoretical social justice principles with operational decision-making by integrating four commonly discussed distributive justice theories—Utilitarianism, Rawls’ Egalitarianism, Prioritarianism, and Capabilitarian Sufficiency—into a bilevel bus frequency optimization model. It introduces linearized equity-oriented formulations to reflect the distinct distributive principles of these theories and proposes justice theory-driven equity metrics to evaluate distributive impacts using different ethical criteria.
• “It's like my Legs”: Negotiating ageing and mobility in a motorcycle-dependent society Tsu-Jui Cheng & Yi-Chien Liu: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2026.102263 - In rapidly ageing societies, ensuring inclusive and safe mobility for older adults is an urgent policy challenge, particularly in contexts where motorcycles remain essential for everyday travel. This study examines how older motorcycle riders in Tainan, Taiwan, navigate their mobility amid intensifying policy, infrastructural, and bodily constraints. While transport policy and media discourses often frame older riders as dangerous and in decline, this paper juxtaposes such symbolic representations with the lived practices of older adults who continue to ride out of necessity, habit, and autonomy.
• A Toolkit for Gender Inclusive Mobility Planning Leah Gerber: https://www.genderinclusivemobility.com/ - This toolkit provides an introduction to gender inclusive mobility planning, created to help designers, planners, and policymakers build transportation systems that work for everyone. Drawing upon research and successful models from cities like Umeå and Vienna, it aims to bridge the gap between theory and everyday planning decisions.
• Estimating the value of safety against road crashes: A stated preference experiment on route choice of food delivery riders Kuldeep Kavta, Shadi Sharif Azadeh, Yousef Maknoon, Yihong Wang & Gonçalo Homem de Almeida Correia: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2025.105272 - Abstract: "The rapid growth of the online food delivery industry has led to a significant increase in the number of delivery riders navigating urban streets, predominantly using bikes and e-bikes. This growth has been accompanied by a concerning rise in crashes involving these riders, posing a critical challenge for city authorities and policymakers. Promoting safer riding behavior, such as choosing safer routes while delivering food, can potentially reduce crash risks. With this motivation, this paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies that encourage riders to choose safer routes and estimate the value riders place on reducing the risk of road crashes."
• Perceived accessibility across activity types and transport modes Willy Kriswardhana & Domokos Esztergár-Kiss: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2026.105225 - *Abstract: Recently, perceived accessibility has been proposed as a supplementary measure to traditional accessibility indicators to support more comprehensive policies for sustainable travel behavior. Previous studies explore perceived accessibility across trip purposes and conventional transport modes but overlook shared micro-mobility with such factors as walkability and bikeability. The current study addresses these gaps by examining how perceived walkability, bikeability, and access to shared transport modes influence perceived accessibility, which are closely related to the built environment."

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• Transport Emissions Analysis Methodology (TEAM): Supporting Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) and Results-Based Climate Finance World Bank: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/5ed824b3-dd0a-4b2a-94ef-871aeedc9bfa - Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport is essential for achieving national climate targets, yet the sector has lacked practical and credible tools to quantify the emissions impacts of policies in a way that supports monitoring, reporting, verification (MRV), and results-based climate finance. This report responds to that gap by presenting a robust, MRV-compatible methodology for analyzing transport emissions. The report introduces a scenario-based transport emissions analysis methodology (TEAM) and model that quantifies emission reductions by comparing a measured With Policy scenario against a conservative and credible Without Policy counterfactual. The methodology supports analysis both ex post, using observed data to measure achieved emission reductions, and ex ante, to assess the mitigation potential of proposed policies. The current application focuses on road transport—the largest source of transport emissions—while allowing for future expansion to other transport modes.
• Handbook for Livable and Resilient Cities: Integrating Hazard and Risk Information into Urban Planning World Bank: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/d7ee1212-42ed-4d8a-9ffa-225152ee65df - Rapid urbanization in cities worldwide has led to significant environmental, social, and economic challenges. These include heightened exposure to extreme weather and climate events, increased air and water pollution, rising poverty levels, shrinking green spaces, and greater risks to lives, livelihoods, and assets from natural hazards, disasters, and climate shocks. As these risks intensify, national and local governments must work together to improve urban livability and resilience through risk-informed urban planning. In this handbook, livable and resilient cities are defined as urban areas and their surroundings, where green urban growth, social inclusion, resilient built environments, and shared prosperity are promoted. The focus is on preventing and reducing the impacts of natural hazards and risks and the effects of climate change. In a livable and resilient city, planned and sustainable growth ensures people have access to healthy environments, affordable housing, basic services, jobs, and low-carbon transportation and economic opportunities.
• Heat Stress, Air Pollution Risk and Population Exposure: Evidence from Selected Asian Countries ADB: https://www.adb.org/publications/heat-stress-air-pollution-risk - This paper examines heat stress and air pollution in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand, and Viet Nam, looking at patterns of exposure among different population groups and discussing policy implications.
• Transport Infrastructure, Economic Expansion, and CO2 Dynamics: The Critical Role of Green Energy Consumption in the United States Karzan Ismael, Ali Mohammed Salih, Kamaran Qader Yaqub, Giovanni Tesoriere & Tiziana Campisi: https://doi.org/10.3390/su18031191 - This paper examines the nexus between transportation infrastructure, economic growth, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the United States, with particular emphasis on the moderating role of green energy consumption (GEC). The United States is an economically advanced country with a well-developed transport infrastructure and sustained economic growth; however, this development has been accompanied by increasing environmental pressures, notably rising CO2 emissions from the transport sector. Drawing on the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework, the study investigates whether renewable energy sources—specifically wind, solar, and hydropower—can decouple economic growth from environmental degradation.
• Transport infrastructure construction, induced traffic and climate impacts (Verkehrsinfrastrukturbau, induzierter Verkehr und Klimawirkungen) Richard Hartl, Julia Gerlach, Lukas Eberle & Jens Borken-Kleefeld (TU Dresden):https://tu-dresden.de/bu/verkehr/ivs/voeko/ressourcen/dateien/forschung/Hartl-et-al-2025-Verkehrsinfrastrukturbau-induzierter-Verkehr-Klimawirkungen-Studie_16012026.pdf?lang=de - The present study examines the extent to which additional CO₂ emissions are to be expected from the expansion and new construction of trunk roads. It is estimated how much induced road traffic and what additional CO2 emissions are caused by road infrastructure expansion
• Turning Rupees into Results: Assessing the Effectiveness of State Electric Vehicle Incentives Ridhi Palia, Anannya Das Banerjee, Aditya Ramji & Sarah Khan: https://doi.org/10.7922/G2MK6B8R - India’s electric mobility shift is driven by national initiatives like FAME I, FAME II, and the ongoing PM e DRIVE scheme, supported by state level EV policies that adapt these goals to regional needs. The national 2030 target aims for 30% EV sales overall, with higher shares for two and three wheelers and commercial vehicles. By 2025, 26 states and three union territories had policies in place, helping EV sales grow from under 1% in FY19 to 7.5% in FY25. Yet adoption differs widely across states due to variations in incentives and policy design. While both central and state policies have relied mainly on financial incentives, their effectiveness is limited without strong regulatory measures. The report assesses FY19–FY25 state level spending on purchase subsidies and tax or fee exemptions, finding that similar public expenditures can yield differing EV adoption results depending on how policies are structured.

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• On the Road to Recovery : Addressing Ukraine’s Transport Labor Shortages World Bank: https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/099121325144510117 - This study provides an assessment of Ukraine’s transport workforce and skills landscape during a period of profound change. As maritime and air routes remain suspended, road freight, road passenger, and urban public transport have become the backbone of domestic and international mobility, and therefore the focus of this report. It examines critical labor shortages and skills gaps in these transport subsectors, drawing on secondary sources such as current literature and available statistics, as well as primary sources, including stakeholder interviews, an online industry survey, job advertisement analysis, and labor demand forecasting for transport jobs. The focus is on drivers, maintenance personnel, and several other key roles essential for the sector to function properly, all of which are experiencing severe shortages. The study identifies the structural factors behind these gaps to inform actions that align workforce development with the sector’s reconstruction and modernization needs.
• Understanding Transport Resilience: Assessment Approaches and Tools World Bank: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/b5fa3caa-9e53-416e-bf88-e082e8927dec - The report highlights two emerging tools that reflect recent advancements in the cost efficiency of resilience analysis. The Global Resilience Index (GRI), developed by the University of Oxford and widely applied by World Bank transport teams, is an open-source geospatial model that facilitates rapid, low-cost vulnerability assessments using open data. Its application in the Kyrgyz Republic and Nigeria demonstrates how the GRI can effectively screen road networks, identify priority segments, and support policy dialogue and the development of Country Climate Development Reports in contexts where data and resources are limited. The report also highlights the Hazard & Risk Multi-Regional Assessment (HARMA) model, developed by the World Bank transport team. This model supports more in-depth analysis by assessing climate impacts on network performance, estimating economic losses from disruptions, and comparing adaptation options using cost-benefit metrics. A Pakistan case study illustrates how the HARMA model can be applied to prioritize investments, and provide economic justification for resilience interventions.
• Greater Mekong Subregion Transport Sector Strategy 2030 Midterm Review and Update ADB: https://www.adb.org/publications/gms-transport-strategy-20230-midterm-review - The strategy covers 2018–2030, and this report includes plans for the second half of the implementation period. It considers progress and evolving issues and challenges, aiming to enhance the strategy’s contribution to the achievement of the GMS vision of a more integrated, prosperous, sustainable, and equitable subregion.
• The Greater Mekong Subregion Innovation Strategy for Development 2030 ADB: https://www.adb.org/publications/gms-innovation-strategy-development-2030 - This report shows how the Greater Mekong Subregion Innovation Strategy for Development 2030 can speed progress towards the GMS-2030 Strategic Framework by stepping up cross-border integration, innovation, and the transition to a green economy.
• More roads? Infrastructure elasticities and requirements to reduce passenger transport energy demand Hugh Thomas, André Cabrera Serrenho: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1361920925004833?via%3Dihub - Abstract: "Increasing road capacity often leads to smaller than anticipated congestion reductions. This is due to induced demand, whereby new infrastructure stimulates travel behaviour changes. Induced demand is well documented for driving and roads, but has not yet been compared across all infrastructure types. Here, we develop an econometric regression model to estimate infrastructure-induced demand elasticities across all transport modes in the United Kingdom. Subsequently, we determine optimal infrastructure configurations for reducing energy use, constrained by costs, deployment rates, and reasonable mobility levels. Dedicated bicycle and light rail infrastructure should be prioritised, with no new roads required. Increases in energy use can be limited to 9 %, despite 12 % increases in overall mobility by 2060. Further energy savings can be achieved through reducing individual mobility demand, increasing deployment rates and encouraging new cycle infrastructure uptake, so that inelastic responses to new active and public transport infrastructure do not diminish potential energy savings."
• Vulnerability assessment of electric vehicles and their charging station network during evacuations Denissa Sari Darmawi Purba, Eleftheria Kontou: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2025.105197 - Abstract: "Electric vehicle (EV) drivers face range anxiety and long recharging times and navigate sparse public charging networks, which challenge both preemptive and short-notice evacuations. We propose a multi-criteria vulnerability assessment of the coupled EV driver and charging station network during evacuations. We study flooding evacuations in Chicago, IL and hurricane evacuations in Southeast Florida, FL. The sensitivity analysis is conducted to examine the effects of initial battery state of charge (SOC), reduced battery efficiency under adverse weather, EV penetration rates, and home charging accessibility. Our findings show the impact of vehicle and infrastructure-related (charging network, driving range and vehicle heterogeneity) and evacuation-related (network properties, hazard intensity, and warning system type) characteristics to evacuation feasibility and performance."
• High-speed rail as a tool for regional development? Motivations, decision-making and spatial effects in Europe Martin Bieleman, Felix Pot & Taede Tillema: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ets.2026.100050 - Despite concerns about the limited net economic benefits of high-speed rail (HSR) projects linking core and peripheral regions, HSR continues to feature prominently on European policy agendas as a tool to address spatial socioeconomic disparities. Building on the discussion around the Lelylijn, a proposed rail link between northern Netherlands and the Randstad, the country’s main metropolitan core, this paper examines rationales and decision-making processes behind realized HSR projects across Europe and how these align with evidence on their observed spatial impacts. Using a mixed-methods approach that combines a systematic literature review with expert interviews across selected European cases, the analysis shows that while traditional appraisal frameworks emphasize aggregate economic returns and direct user benefits, policy rationales increasingly reflect equity-oriented objectives, such as reducing regional disparities and promoting sustainable development.
• ATO Green Roads Profiles Asian Transport Observatory https://asiantransportobservatory.org/analytical-outputs/greenroadsprofiles/ - The ATO green roads profiles present country-level perspectives on how 35 Asia-Pacific economies are addressing the development and management of sustainable eco-friendly roads. Drawing from diverse datasets and policy documents, the profiles highlight practices and measures that contribute to greener transport infrastructure.
• Guidelines for a Policy Framework to Enhance the Safety of Commercial Motorcyclists in African Countries SSATP: https://www.ssatp.org/publication/guidelines-policy-framework-enhance-safety-commercial-motorcyclists-african-countries - Commercial motorcycles play a vital role in mobility and employment across Africa, yet they account for a disproportionate share of road traffic fatalities—often between 30 and 60 percent of all road deaths. This SSATP working paper presents a practical, evidence-based policy framework to help governments transform commercial motorcycling from a high-risk, largely informal sector into a safer, more professional, and better-regulated component of national transport systems.

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• Redundancies of African port hinterlands and their implications for new container port investments Jasper Verschuur, Lori Tavasszy: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856426000613 - Abstract: "Here, we analyse the port-hinterland redundancies across Africa, a continent with a small number of gateway ports serving large hinterlands and large investment need in the coming decades, providing a window of opportunity to embed redundancy in strategic transport investments. We find that regions with high accessibility, in particular coastal cities close to a major seaport (e.g., Namibia, Senegal, Kenya) have low redundancy. In contrast, some landlocked hinterlands (e.g., Zambia, Zimbabwe, Niger, and Chad) have low accessibility, yet high redundancies given their reliance on different port ranges."
• Deep and Shallow Decarbonization in Supply Chains World Bank: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/eecfd051-7086-42f1-85ee-009c59516ae1 - This paper examines how suppliers adjust their decarbonization choices when major customers obtain validated emission-reduction targets. Using global supplier-customer links matched to firm-level emissions and project-level data from voluntary carbon registries, the analysis shows that downstream climate pressure elicits both real and symbolic responses, but in systematically different ways across suppliers.
• Advancing a Cross-Regional Connectivity Agenda with Central Asia, Türkiye and the South Caucasus EU4Digital : https://enlargement.ec.europa.eu/document/download/9f40a883-2489-4d40-8115-948e840ceca5_en?filename=Meta%20Study%20-%20Advancing%20a%20Cross-Regional%20Connectivity%20Agenda.pdf - The study identifies priority investment needs to strengthen transport and trade, energy, and digital connectivity along the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor (TCTC). It highlights key sections where infrastructure is missing, outdated, or no longer suited to current and projected volumes. As such, it aims to provide a foundation for defining investment priorities in line with the EU’s broader efforts to enhance trade routes along the corridor.
• African Trade and Investment for Global Resilience: The Mattei Lecture at the World Bank’s 2025 Africa Growth and Opportunity—Research in Action (AGORA) Conference World Bank: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/4a48a663-06c8-4fa7-bf49-556c274b93d2 - This paper, based on the Mattei Lecture that the author delivered at the 2025 Africa Growth and Opportunity–Research in Action Conference, argues that Africa can anchor a new model of growth—and bolster global resilience—by shifting from commodity dependence to value-added production and deeper integration into trade and investment networks. Against a backdrop of strained multilateralism and falling foreign direct investment to developing economies, global trade remains more robust than presumed, with goods, services, and South-South flows expanding.
• Mining corridors as catalysts for US-African partnerships: Building on the Lobito model Atlantic Council: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Mining-corridors-as-catalysts.pdf - In December 2025 the US and the DRC signed a strategic partnership agreement giving the US preferential access to Congolese mineral deposits. The next step should be to build the infrastructure necessary for African nations to derive sustainable wealth from their mineral assets, and for the US to reap the benefits of the strategic partnership agreement.The financing approach and public-private cooperation used to build the Lobito transportation corridor offers a playbook for the US and African governments and investors.
• Freight trip generation in metropolitan areas: an international perspective Julia Amaral, José Holguín-Veras, Matthew J. Roorda, Abel Kebede Reda, Mathieu Gardrat, Leise Kelli de Oliveira, Elias S. Goodrich, Oriana Calderón, Carlos Gonzalez-Calderon, Tho V. Le, Jesus Gonzalez-Feliu, Usman Ahmed, Ivan Sanchez-Diaz, Prasanta K. Sahu l, Takanori Sakai, Abdelrahman Ismael, Diana Ramirez-Rios, Elise Capersen, José Luis Moura, Luigi Dell’Olio…Paolo Todesco: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2025.104847Get rights and content - Freight transportation is essential for urban life and economic growth, yet cities continue to face persistent challenges in managing its impacts. Estimating Freight Trip Generation (FTG)—the number of freight trips attracted or produced by establishments—provides a foundation for urban freight transportation planning, helping cities estimate freight-related travel demand and evaluate targeted initiatives. This paper presents the first international comparison of FTG patterns across metropolitan areas worldwide, addressing the lack of comparative FTG research and examining the transferability of FTG models across contexts.

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• Travel Time Prediction from Sparse Open Data Geoff Boeing, Yuquan Zhou: https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/qepc6_v1 - This article introduces a free, open-source minimally-congested driving time prediction model with minimal cost, data, and computational requirements. It trains and tests this model using the Los Angeles, California urban area as a case study by calculating naïve travel times from open data then developing a random forest model to predict travel times as a function of those naïve times plus open data on turns and traffic controls. Validation shows that this interpretable machine learning method offers a superior middle-ground technique that balances reasonable accuracy with minimal resource requirements.
• Jobs and Skills for the New Economy: An Action Agenda for a People-Centered Climate Transition WRI/GIZ: https://www.wri.org/research/jobs-skills-new-economy-action-agenda - This report provides extensive analysis to support such a whole-of-society effort and calls on leaders to commit and contribute to a 10-point Action Agenda to secure it. The Action Agenda provides a menu of practical and ambitious actions, with the understanding that its application will differ across country and industry contexts, depending on policy readiness, institutional capacity, basic infrastructure, and access to finance. To encourage countries and industries to pursue the Action Agenda and support its application within their specific contexts, this report also calls for a major global initiative that will bring together stakeholders and platforms through shared knowledge and research, peer-to-peer learning, technical assistance, and advocacy.
• Global Economic Prospects, January 2026 World Bank: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/bb904ec6-730f-4dd9-b1af-ad3153ee1616 - The global economy is facing another substantial headwind, emanating largely from an increase in trade tensions and heightened global policy uncertainty. For emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), the ability to boost job creation and reduce extreme poverty has declined. Key downside risks include a further escalation of trade barriers and continued policy uncertainty. These challenges are exacerbated by subdued foreign direct investment into EMDEs. Global cooperation is needed to restore a more stable international trade environment and scale up support for vulnerable countries grappling with conflict, debt burdens, and climate change. Domestic policy action is also critical to contain inflation risks and strengthen fiscal resilience. To accelerate job creation and long-term growth, structural reforms must focus on raising institutional quality, attracting private investment, and strengthening human capital and labor markets. Countries in fragile and conflict situations face daunting development challenges that will require tailored domestic policy reforms and well-coordinated multilateral support.
• What Works for Work: A Guidebook to Proven and Promising Employment Solutions World Bank: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/d57b125e-e41a-4bec-93cf-02b32ccc6165 - Governments in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face growing pressure to create jobs amid shrinking fiscal space and weak growth prospects. Employment solutions - like active labor market programs (ALMPs), regulatory reforms, or alignment of social programs - are effective tools to address these challenges. Recent years have seen a strengthening evidence base for employment solutions, with rigorous evaluations indicating that well-crafted programs can achieve impacts that far exceed earlier interventions. This guidebook reviews those high-performing employment solutions and distills lessons on how to replicate them. It draws from more than a hundred successful programs and reforms implemented in diverse settings, showing that targeted and well-designed solutions can quickly make a difference in many different contexts.
• Digital Public Infrastructure: Landscape and Opportunities in South Asia ADB: https://www.adb.org/publications/digital-public-infrastructure-south-asia - he publication explains how DPI acts as a foundation for digital economies and how it is being adopted in health, education, agriculture, transport, and logistics. It looks at gaps, challenges, and opportunities in six countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. It also discusses DPI use cases from outside the region. The publication shares practical insights on how DPI can contribute to better development outcomes.
• Augmenting urban planning with computer vision: A review of the state-of-the-art Raveena Marasinghe, Tan Yigitcanlar, Xinyu Fu & Steven Jige Quan: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2026.107209 - Computer Vision (CV) offers powerful methods for analysing built environments, yet its integration into planning workflows remains fragmented. This study conducts a systematic review of CV applications in urban planning using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol, synthesising prevailing models, methods, and application domains. The review identifies five dominant CV research clusters in urban contexts (built environment analysis, urban sensing and data acquisition, smart mobility, methodological advances, and 3D urban modelling) and synthesises that CV is primarily used to extract physical and perceptual urban features, support diagnostic analytics, and enable emerging visualisation and generative design workflows.

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Overview/Table of Content: https://github.com/giz-t-hub/Overview

Disclaimer: Findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this repository are based on information gathered by GIZ and its consultants, partners and contributors. GIZ does not, however, guarantee the accuracy of completeness of information in this document, and cannot be held responsible for any errors, omissions or losses which emerge from its use. The placement and listing of companies, academia or other stakeholders (or their logos, contact details or other information) in this repository doesn’t mean any endorsement by GIZ or other partners. Users are encouraged to exercise due-diligence in respect to information, offers and proposals.

For more information about our work, please refer to:

• Changing Transport: https://changing-transport.org/
• Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI): https://transformative-mobility.org/
• MobiliseYourCity: https://www.mobiliseyourcity.net/

Compiled by / Contact:

Armin Wagner: armin.wagner@giz.de (as of February 2026)