Circular economy concepts in urban mobility alternatives using integrated DIBR method and fuzzy Dombi CoCoSo model

Abstract This study aims to explore the circular economy concepts which are also sustainable and can be used for the 17th Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by United Nations member countries. The study focuses on the urban mobility setting. The prioritization of the possible CE concepts for a planning authority in a big city is examined where the decision process is subject to certain restrictions such as existing natural resources, financial and human capital. A case scenario is used to illustrate the formulation and solution of the problem. The method used to solve the problem comprises two stages. First, the DIBR method (Defining Interrelationships Between Ranked criteria) is presented to determine the weights of criteria. Then second, the fuzzy Dombi based Combined Compromise Solution (D’ CoCoSo) is proposed for prioritizing the circular economy concepts for urban mobility. The proposed multi-criteria framework allows decision-makers to better perceive the relationship between the criteria, which contributes to rational reasoning and objective evaluation of alternatives. The DIBR method enables decision-makers to better perceive relationships between criteria, since it considers relations between adjacent criteria. Thus, it eliminates the problem of defining relations between remote criteria, which often decreases the consistency of results in subjective models. The results obtained for case scenario emphasize that among four alternatives “Building infrastructure for zero-emission vehicles and energy storage” should be prioritized over relatively cheaper remedies such as “Using big data solutions to optimize urban mobility systems”. In that respect, the planners are expected to be direct and long-term focused in choosing the CE concepts. The method used here can be extended for other decision-making problems of planners in achieving SDGs for urban planning.