The social sustainability of policies and public investments can be considered as the third pillar of sustainable development (economic, environmental and social). In transport and infrastructure sectors, social issues are related to accessibility, social equity and cohesion and may be developed under different aspects.
From a scientific and methodological point of view, social topics have not been deeply discussed and are often neglected. In fact, according to international guidelines, transport policies and investments assessment include economic and financial sustainability (for example through cost-benefit analysis), and environmental sustainability assessment (for example through the Strategic Environmental Assessment -VAS, or through the Environmental Impact’s Assessments -EIA) whereas, there is not any shared idea of equity nor an established methodology for a social assessment.
From a cultural and political point of view, the topic is closely linked to the way in which transport infrastructures can contribute to the improvement of individuals’ welfare as well as to ensure favorable conditions for accessing not only essential services such as health, education and connections, but also social “practices”, enabling better integration among different socio economic segments. This is a prominent issue in consideration also of the increasing waves of migrants towards developed societies, in particular towards the G7 Member States.
With respect to social and cultural integration, transport can play a key role not only in ensuring accessibility but also, above all, in making a contribution to reduce the risk of social exclusion. Accessibility must be seen not only merely in terms of connections, opportunities of transfer/relocation, in terms of access to infrastructures for disabled people and to transport services at affordable prices for low income segments of society, but it rather must be seen also in terms of safety and security for most vulnerable segments of the population (for example women, minors and minorities, refugees).
In this context, transport infrastructures aimed at promoting accessibility are instrumental in facilitating integration and stimulating the feeling of belonging to a community: involvement and participation of citizens in the decision-making public processes may contribute to create a sense of civic awareness (so called “civicness”), as well as reconsidering infrastructures as common assets to take care of, rather than an attitude of ideological rejection and opposition behaviors.
There is also a need to promote a culture of infrastructure design and planning, making technicians and administrators aware of their responsibilities also towards social issues. In case of road infrastructures, safety issues are of key importance also concerning vehicles technological development aiming at becoming an essential driver for a new economic and social development. In this regard the G7 Transport Ministers, who met in Japan in September 2016, agreed that advanced technologies for vehicles and roads should form an integral part of the concepts of sustainable mobility because they play a key role in innovating and transforming road traffic, improving mobility, industry and society in general.
In particular, we agreed on the need to share national priorities as well as collaborating in the research of automated and connected technologies for vehicles, in order to avoid duplication, with the key purpose of improving road safety, efficiency, and the environmental performances of the relevant transport systems.
By highlighting the special importance of the research carried out in human- machine interface sector, as well as in infrastructure sector and in the field of social acceptance of these technological innovations, the Ministers have decided to form an ad-hoc working group to work further on these issues. The next G7 Transport Ministers Meeting in Cagliari will be an opportunity to inform the Ministers on the progress of the activities undertaken on this specific issue at international level.