Speaker
Description
Cities worldwide are embracing ambitious mobility transformation policies aimed at reshaping built environments to prioritize walkability, cyclability, and overall livability. These initiatives are part of a broader urban planning paradigm shift that seeks to reclaim space from cars and return it to pedestrians and cyclists. Policies such as 15-minute cities (Papadopoulos et al., 2023), Low-Traffic Neighborhoods (Aldred et al., 2021), and woonerfs (Cekrezi, 2022) exemplify this trend. By designing environments that reduce travel distances and support active transportation, these policies aim to address environmental challenges, enhance health outcomes, and foster social equity (Proffitt et al., 2019).
Despite their potential to create healthier, more equitable urban spaces, the success of these policies depends heavily on public acceptability. While their environmental and social benefits are well-documented—including reductions in energy consumption and emissions and enhanced transportation equity and justice—their acceptability remains underexplored. Nevertheless, understanding public perceptions is crucial, as resistance to these policies can lead to organized opposition, jeopardizing their implementation and sustainability (Marquet et al., 2024). Academic literature has so far found that the acceptability of these policies is influenced by the projection of future changes that will endure in the mobility habits of individuals. Rahman & Sciara, 2022 found that those policies that lead to forced and unwanted mobility changes to individuals can trigger resistance, and the opposite holds true -policies that align with citizen’s desired behaviors garner more support-.
This study focuses on the acceptability of Barcelona's key mobility transformation policies: Superblocks, School Streets, Bicycle Lanes, and Pedestrianizations. By examining multiple policies within a single urban context, this research provides a nuanced understanding of the dynamics underlying public acceptability and opposition. This approach is critical, as the literature has, until today, focused on analyzing the acceptability of single-issue policies, such as congestion charges, low-emission zones, or parking management.
The research employs a comprehensive survey targeting 2,000 Barcelona residents to investigate demographic, ideological, and experiential factors influencing public attitudes toward these policies. The survey examines variables such as perceived efficacy, distributional and procedural fairness, political trust, and projected impacts on personal mobility habits. Respondents’ willingness to support policy extensions, their trust in local governance, and their views on the equity of policy outcomes are also analyzed.
This study's findings will help us test for the first time whether certain sociodemographic and ideological characteristics influence public support or resistance to urban mobility transformation policies. Additionally, we will be able to assess whether individual values and norms play any role in shaping public perceptions of these policies. By addressing these factors, the study seeks to help policymakers avoid costly trial-and-error approaches, ensuring the alignment of mobility transformation policies with public needs and expectations.
Ultimately, this research highlights the importance of integrating public perceptions into the design and implementation of mobility policies, fostering inclusive and sustainable urban environments. It emphasizes the role of urban mobility transformations in addressing climate challenges, promoting equity, and ensuring resilience in urban systems. By advancing our understanding of public attitudes toward transformative urban planning, this work supports the development of just, safe, and accessible mobility systems critical to sustainable urban futures.
References
Aldred, R., Verlinghieri, E., Sharkey, M., Itova, I., Goodman, A., 2021. Equity in new active travel infrastructure: A spatial analysis of London’s new Low Traffic Neighbourhoods. J. Transp. Geogr. 96, 103194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2021.103194
Cekrezi, E., 2022. Children’s wellbeing in Woonerf residential streets: “ A comparative research between Woonerf and High-traffic residential streets” (master).
Marquet, O., Mojica, L., Fernández-Núñez, M.-B., Maciejewska, M., 2024. Pathways to 15-Minute City adoption: Can our understanding of climate policies’ acceptability explain the backlash towards x-minute city programs? Cities 148, 104878. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2024.104878
Papadopoulos, E., Sdoukopoulos, A., Politis, I., 2023. Measuring compliance with the 15-minute city concept: State-of-the-art, major components and further requirements. Sustain. Cities Soc. 99, 104875. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2023.104875
Proffitt, D.G., Bartholomew, K., Ewing, R., Miller, H.J., 2019. Accessibility planning in American metropolitan areas: Are we there yet? Urban Stud. 56, 167–192. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098017710122
Rahman, M., Sciara, G.-C., 2022. Travel attitudes, the built environment and travel behavior relationships: Causal insights from social psychology theories. Transp. Policy 123, 44–54.
Soria-Lara, J.A., Miralles-Guasch, C., Marquet, O., 2017. The influence of lifestyle and built environment factors on transport CO2 emissions: the case study of Autonomous University of Barcelona. ACE Archit. City Environ. 12, 11–28. https://doi.org/10.5821/ace.12.34.4756
| Keywords | Urban transformations; Sustainable mobility; Public acceptability; Barcelona; Superblocks |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
