A novel transport and urban corridor identification, characterisation and ranking framework for the identification of investment priorities

In the context of territorial development, we introduce a novel decision support framework aimed at identifying, characterising, and prioritising spatially explicit strategic corridors, with a focus on their developmental processes. These corridors offer opportunities for directing investments into transport and urban systems from a 'policy-first' perspective. We outline the development process and structure of a domain model for strategic corridors, which is constructed based on both conceptual and behavioural models documented in Unified Modelling Language. This domain model, driven by standards, is designed to translate requirements into technical components, ensuring interoperability while allowing for flexible extensions. Unified Modelling Language models facilitate adherence to standards of the International Organisation for Standartisation’s Technical Commitee 211 and the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe, and leverage best practices in integrating data from diverse stakeholders across various spatial scales. Beginning with policy scenarios, we streamline the required data to a minimum, derive and merge numerous quantitative indicators and utilise spatial data to rank strategic corridors across different policy scenarios. We apply this integrated framework across the entire African continent, identifying, characterising, and ranking 55 terrestrial corridors using policy-driven utility functions and indicator weights. For selected strategic corridors, incorporate feedback from local stakeholders, refine scenarios based on investment priorities, propose subcorridors and conduct recursive characterisation and ranking of them, focusing on areas ripe for intervention and development. This innovative framework serves as a systematic foundation for developing diverse applications, fostering interoperability across domains. It enables the transferability of the decision support framework to assess potential investment opportunities at various spatial scales across different regions of the world.