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Sustainability Science pp 261–272Cite as

Mobility and Sustainability

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Abstract

Urban practices such as automobile dependence result from webs of institutions, from citizens and neighborhoods to city and state governments to federal policies. Effective action for achieving sustainability begins with understanding these institutions and how they respond to and resist change. In this chapter, we review those institutions involved with creating and preserving automobile use. This investigation illustrates that it is not enough to have a “right answer” be it a certain technology or a certain urban design proposal. The importance is in how these answers are implemented by citizens and governments – how visions are translated into interventions by real communities in various experiments and pilot projects which can help to illustrate pieces of those future states – today. In this chapter we review several cases of such proactive planning and policy which have been successful in enacting long-term visions for sustainable transportation. These include new urban planning paradigms based on transit-oriented design and accessibility, systems to facilitate sharing cars and to encourage cycling, and innovations in technology to improve the management of existing infrastructure.

Keywords

  • Transportation
  • Mobility
  • Accessibility
  • Urban
  • Planning

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning, Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA

    Aaron Golub

Authors
  1. Aaron Golub
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Correspondence to Aaron Golub .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Sustainability Governance (INSUGO), Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany

    Harald Heinrichs

  2. Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Pim Martens

  3. Faculty of Sustainability, Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany

    Gerd Michelsen

  4. School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA

    Arnim Wiek

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Golub, A. (2016). Mobility and Sustainability. In: Heinrichs, H., Martens, P., Michelsen, G., Wiek, A. (eds) Sustainability Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7242-6_21

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