Urban ropeways for sustainable mobility: a literature review to delineate the development strategies in Italy

Modern context faces crucial needs in terms of sustainable mobility, including energy transitions, environmental protection, optimisation of urban spaces and safety, especially considering the social seriousness of road accidents. The ropeway demand has shown a significant increase in urban contexts in recent years. In some European cities cable-driven installations are now operating, although funiculars have been used for decades in municipalities. Their development is driven by a series of advantages. The main solution key for urban ropeways, also named cable-driven Automated People Movers (APM), can be associated to the climate neutrality target declared by 100 cities in Europe in 2023 for 2030. Ropeways have a great potential on their side; however, as is commonly known, they are subject to various constraints that may restrict their applicability. The development of these innovative transport systems might effectively drive many Italian cities, so as other European ones, to win the challenge to achieve the carbon neutrality in sustainable mobility, as a ring of a multimodal transport chain.