Urban Mobility and Transport Sustainability
Summary
Urban mobility and transport sustainability encompasses the planning, operation and governance of movement within cities so as to meet the needs of people and goods while minimising environmental impacts and enhancing social equity. Core challenges include reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, alleviating congestion and avoiding social exclusion through unequal access to transport. Sustainable urban mobility integrates diverse modes—public transit, walking, cycling, shared vehicles and emerging technologies such as electric mobility and digital ride-hailing—within a coherent policy framework. Land-use planning, investment in high-capacity transit corridors, low-emission zones and infrastructure for active travel all contribute to more compact, people-centred urban forms. Technological innovations, from real-time passenger information to mobility-as-a-service platforms, can improve system efficiency and passenger convenience but must be aligned with equitable pricing and governance structures. Globally, cities are experimenting with low-traffic neighbourhoods, congestion charges and integrated ticketing to foster behavioural shifts away from private cars. The interplay between local policy, socio-economic context and infrastructural investment determines whether sustainable mobility transitions accelerate or stall. As urban populations grow, embedding resilience, inclusivity and decarbonisation into mobility systems has become a pressing priority for policymakers, practitioners and communities alike.
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Urban Mobility and Transport Sustainability publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in urban mobility and transport sustainability across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Active mobility: Travel by walking or cycling that relies on human power rather than motorised vehicles.
Modal share: The percentage distribution of journeys among different transport modes within a defined population or area.
Car dependency: The extent to which individuals or societies rely on private motor vehicles for daily travel due to limited viable alternatives.
References
- The ABC of mobility. Environment International (2024).
- Car dependent practices: Findings from a sequence pattern mining study of UK time use data. Transportation Research Part A Policy and Practice (2016).
- Peak Car Use and the Rise of Global Rail: Why This Is Happening and What It Means for Large and Small Cities. Journal of Transportation Technologies (2013).
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