Can Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans be Mega-projects? Evidence from the City of Brescia, Italy

In the field of Transport Engineering, megaprojects are typically major infrastructure works that require a long planning and design phase and significant resources to be realized. However, considering the several definitions of megaprojects available in technical-scientific literature, one may consider mega-projects from another point of view: according to a systemic perspective, a megaproject could also be a master project including several sub-projects that, all together, compose a wider system. Likewise, Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP) can be associated with the master-project that draws specific strategies to enhance urban mobility efficiency, by implementing and coordinating several transport and infrastructure projects (e.g., Mass Rapid Transits, cycling infrastructure, road infrastructure, etc.). Having this in mind, the aim of the paper is to read Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans as a mega-project. Specifically, the case study of the city of Brescia (Italy) considered and analyzed to provide a comparison among the characteristics of a mega-project and the ones of a SUMP. Indeed, the Plan include several transport interventions (i.e., a tramway line, a Bus Rapid Transit, and others) over a time span of 10–20 years that together require investments of more than 1 billion euros and will have great impact over people, places, and environment.