The Impacts of ICT on Urban Travels: A Significant Shift during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Transportation is one of the most important issues in today's cities. Urban trips and their spatial and temporal patterns influence and are influenced by other components and functions of the city. Information and communication technology have evolved rapidly over the last few decades and have influenced urban travel patterns in many ways. Numerous studies have attempted to study the effects of these technologies on transportation and urban travel and to explain the relationship between them. However, due to the lack of sufficient information and the complicated nature of the connection between ICT and travel, there is still speculation about how it will affect the urban travel patterns, and many researchers believe that we can not simply comment on these effects conclusively. Hence, understanding the interaction of ICT and urban transportation is necessary for the planning and management of urban transportation. This study tries to answer the question of what is the relationship between IC and urban travel through a systematic literature review of empirical studies? For this review, 77 empirical published articles were selected and after describing their important features, the main findings of the articles were extracted and categorized into 6 topics based on the effects that ICT can have on urban travels and the relationship between them. The findings showed that the relationship between ICT and urban travel can be in four different modes: a) substitution-reduction, b) synergy-complementary, c) modification, and d) neutrality. ICT can also influence the urban travel pattern and its quantity and quality by providing fragmentation of activities and optimizing the use of the existing transportation systems. The type and severity of effects can vary at different times and places and under the influence of socio-economic factors. The results also indicate that due to the significant increase in ICT use after the Covid-19 pandemic, the severity of its effects on the urban travel pattern has also increased and it is expected that even after returning to normal and in the post-Covid-19 period, the relationship between ICT and the travel patterns will become even more pronounced.