This conference is the merging of two successful events organised by the Wessex Institute, the International Conference on Urban Transport and the Environment which started in Southampton in 1995 and the International Conference on Maritime Transport which originated in Rome, Italy in 2019.

The International Conference on Urban Transport and the Environment has successfully been reconvened for 28 years, always attracting a wide international spread of delegates, well established as the premier event of its type. The conference started in Southampton in 1995; continuing in Barcelona (1996); Acquasparta, Italy (1997); Lisbon (1998); Rhodes (1999); Cambridge, UK (2000); Lemnos, Greece (2001); Seville (2002); Crete (2003); Dresden (2004); Algarve (2005); WIT Campus in the New Forest (2006); Coimbra (2007); Malta (2008); Bologna (2009); Limassol (2010); Pisa (2011), A Coruña (2012), Kos (2013), Algarve (2014), Valencia (2015), Crete (2016), Rome (2017), Seville (2018), Aveiro (2019) and online in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the substantial growth of maritime shipping has resulted in large transported quantities around the world, creating a demand for innovative solutions for ports and fleets, well reflected by the success of the First International Conference on Maritime Transport, held in 2019.

These two apparently parallel topics meet in the transport and environmental management of coastal cities, both being affected positively and negatively by landside and seaside traffic.

The continuing requirement for better urban transport systems and the need for a healthier environment creates a fertile environment for original ideas, innovative approaches and applications of advanced technologies, their tests and evaluations in practice. Moreover, there is a growing need for integration with IT systems and applications to improve safety and efficiency.

Maritime Transport is highly interconnected with rail, road and air services, as well as inland waterways. Each of these must therefore operate complimentary of one another to maximise efficiency and respond rapidly to variable economic and political contingencies.

The variety of topics covered by the conference reflects the complex interaction of the transport systems with their environment and the need to establish integrated strategies. The aim is to arrive at optimal socio-economic solutions while reducing the negative environmental impacts of transportation systems typically by interdisciplinary approaches. Therefore, the conference will focus on multidisciplinary research and development, as well as operational experiences.

All published papers from previous meetings are archived in the Wessex Institute eLibrary (www.witpress.com/elibrary) where they are easily and permanently available in Open Access format to the international community.