Mobilidade urbana sustentável: um modelo para estimar a ciclabilidade viária de Belo Horizonte/MG

Abstract

Currently, the manner people move in large Brazilian cities is, to a great extent, the result of a complex process of urban evolution, supported by the increasing rate of individual motorization and the provision of increasingly deficient public transport services. Besides that, the integration among the different modes of transport, when available, suffer from serious limitations, which contributes to the choice of the individual motorized mode and increases the problems in traffic. Moreover, it is not by chance that the use of bicycles has been gaining strength in discussions about mobility. Several academic studies suggest that investments in active transport can make the use of traditional modalities more rational and balanced. In this context, the general objective of this dissertation is to estimate the bikeability in the city of Belo Horizonte/MG, based on a model capable of assessing the degree of adequacy of roads for the use of bicycles as an alternative mode of transport. Based on the identification of the factors that influence its use, using tools of multicriteria analysis, a synthetic index, composed of disaggregated indicators, was proposed to represent the local levels of bikeability. In general, the results show that most of the roads have considerable levels of bikability, for example, the performance levels “High” and “Very high” corresponding to 44.2% of the total municipal road extension. In addition, the Pampulha and Venda Nova regions stand out positively when compared to the general results of the other regions. This performance contradicts the common sense that tends to consider the capital of Minas Gerais as inappropriate for bicycle use, either due to its environmental characteristics, mainly those related to the topography of the urban site, or due to the lack of adequate infrastructure. It is understood that by promoting the discussion of how fragile systems of mobility and urban accessibility directly affect the quality of life of the population, especially the population most in need of resources, as well as aggravating social inequalities and pressuring the conditions of environmental balance, this dissertation meets the needs pointed out by the Environmental Sciences Area Committee of CAPES to promote research and the social insertion of research.