URBAN MOBILITY CULTURES IN TRANSITION: SOCIO-SPATIAL IMPLICATIONS OF TRANSFORMATIVE PRACTICES

The interaction between individual choices to address mobility demands and the structural components of cities (e.g., land use and transport system) results in specific urban mobility cultures, which can be different across cities, regions, and countries. To varying degrees, those urban mobility cultures threaten various ecological, economic, and social objectives of a sustainable development. The project TRANSFORM aims to break new academic ground by studying from a holistic, interdisciplinary, intersectoral and gender- sensitive approach the meaning and functioning of transitions in urban mobility cultures, examining whether and to what extent transformative practices are effective mechanisms for activating and consolidating the transitions mentioned as well as the resulting socio-spatial effects. The operationalization of the project will be mainly based on recruiting 13 doctoral candidates, aiming to pursue post-graduate studies towards the acquisition of a doctoral degree. The research program of these individual researchers will be integrated into a set of 8 work packages that include the participation of 16 highly-reputed European academic institutions and 9 experienced non-academic organizations of relevance for urban mobility: private companies, associations, regional governments, and urban living labs. The project will focus on training of a new generation of researchers through an innovative, comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and intersectoral doctoral program that includes: (i) academic training; (ii) non-academic training; (iii) transferable skills training; and (iv) specific and coordinated supervision & mentoring.