Of the various environmental impact components of a port infrastructure, the amount of space allotted to a facility is particularly significant. This is so because space is the one natural resource that determines the way in which all the others are used. On the other hand, in making investment decisions, it is crucial to define the efficiency of the way a given facility makes use of the ground it occupies, rather than focus on absolute space consumption levels. The present article expounds the methodological contents and presents a first summary of the results stemmig from a comparative analysis of ground productivity by the three transport systems competing for passenger traffic on a distance range of 400 to 900 KM (air, road and railway transport). Productivity indicators (expressed in terms of the potential mobility compared to the surface covered) are applied to each of the three mobility systems, threby providing food for thought on the specific conditions which determine the convenience of each system compared to the others. Lastly, some methodological observations concerning the development limitations and potential of the analysis model are also included.
