Improving Sustainable Behaviour in Cities through Digitalisation

Building a viable city is easier said than done, because the many different stakeholders have many different interests. From a marketing perspective, developments such as online shopping, delivery services for food and other products as well as digital entertainment alternatives compete against offline businesses settled in city centres.

Counteracting these circumstances or rethinking their own business is crucial for shop owners to survive. At the same time, it is in the interest of municipalities to preserve viable city centres. Therefore, researchers study consumer behaviour in cities to prevent city centres from dying because of online shopping competition and similar changes brought about by digitalisation, while keeping in mind government policies and sustainability criteria of urban living. The results of such studies help business owners to stay competitive by adjusting their business model to the changes brought about by digital product and service offerings. Depending on the business, this can include increasing positive customer experience onsite through personalised marketing communication, special deals only available in offline shopping, etc. New developments are also combination deals in cooperation with a complimentary business where a clothing store hands out discounts for the café next door or the parking garage has discounted fees for clients of certain businesses.

From a behavioural perspective, the sustainability challenge, for example, is to achieve a long-term change in people’s mobility habits to the benefit of non-motorised and public transport. To trigger a change in behaviour, we need to understand current behaviour, including the drivers for mobility-related decisions. Such mobility-related factors of interest are mode of transportation, trip routing, trip timing, destination location, etc. for various trip purposes while considering the demographics of the individual. Using this information, researchers can group citizens into different categories based on their mobility profiles and transport mode use. In the next step, public services and mobility service providers develop targeted offerings for citizens that fit their needs best while reducing their carbon footprint and making urban living more sustainable.

From a governmental perspective, the sustainability challenge is to set the right agenda with feasible targets and to push for more sustainable action and decisions among all stakeholders of a city equally. Necessary actions differ per stakeholder and deal with various topics, which can potentially lead to conflicts of interest. Therefore, it is important to take this holistic view and to consider all stakeholders of the city, consider how each of them can contribute to more sustainable urban living and to simulate how certain changes enforced by policies and restrictions will affect the stakeholders.