Causal mechanisms in sustainable urban mobility transitions

Abstract

Cities tackle sustainability challenges by modifying their socio-technical systems to adopt more sustainable production and consumption practices, a process known as transitions. Understanding the mechanisms that either facilitate or hinder these transitions is critical. Therefore, this paper aims to identify the mechanisms that can favor or slow down the implementation of sustainable urban mobility solutions using Set-theoretic Multi-Method Research (SMMR), which combines cross-case of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) with within-case via process-tracing in a study of 60 cities. The results show how the degree to which cities make structural changes to implement innovative sustainable mobility solutions, as well as their negation, are explained by five distinct conjunctions. It is also found the existence of lock-in mechanisms that prevent cities from making necessary structural changes for implementing innovative sustainable mobility solutions. However, no unlocking mechanisms were found that trigger such transitions. The main contribution of the paper is the systematic approach used for selecting cities for within-case analysis and identifying existing lock-in mechanisms.