Laura Pirrone, Arianna Bionda, and Andrea Ratti
The transition towards sustainable urban mobility and the reduction of transport-related emissions are critical challenges for cities worldwide. Waterways represent a promising alternative, offering the potential to alleviate congestion, reduce air and noise pollution, and enhance urban quality of life. Waterborne Passenger Mobility (WPM) services, integrating vessels such as ferries and waterbuses into broader urban transport networks, provide flexible and resource-efficient mobility solutions. Despite their advantages, WPM systems still face challenges concerning emissions, resource use, and waste management.
Digitalization emerges as a crucial enabler for advancing sustainable WPM, supporting circular strategies, real-time monitoring, operational optimization, and data-driven decision-making. However, existing research predominantly adopts a vertical, product-centred approach, focusing mainly on vessels or propulsion technologies, often overlooking the broader systemic and relational dynamics that underpin sustainable WPM ecosystems.
This study addresses this gap by proposing an ecosystemic perspective that considers WPM as a complex socio-technical system, emphasising the interconnections among diverse actors, including companies, institutions, and public and private organisations. Through the analysis of six case studies that implement digital-driven sustainable practices, the study investigates the collaborative patterns that foster or arise from smart sustainable practices. Using system mapping techniques, it identifies key stakeholders, their evolving roles, and the relational strategies that facilitate effective multi-stakeholder collaboration.
The findings highlight the importance of relational strategies, such as continuous collaboration, structural alignment, and strategic leadership, as fundamental enablers for smart sustainable practices. They demonstrate that transitions towards sustainable WPM are not merely technological or operational shifts but are relational processes that require trust-building, coordination, shared visions, and adaptive governance structures.
By offering a framework for understanding and fostering multi-stakeholder collaboration, the study provides practical insights for policymakers, transport operators, shipbuilders, technology providers, and waterfront managers aiming to develop resilient, sustainable WPM ecosystems through technological innovation. Furthermore, it advances the broader discourse on systemic thinking and relational strategies, offering transferable insights applicable across other sectors undergoing technological and sustainability transitions. Overall, the study explores the application of systemic design, to mobility ecosystems (particularly, waterborne ones), to foster sustainability, through digital technologies, thereby contributing to the advancement of sustainable urban mobility models.
Keywords: systemic design, service ecosystem, waterborne passenger mobility, sustainability, digital technologies, relational strategies