The Transition Pathways to Sustainable Urban Mobility: Could They Be Extended to Megacities?

Population concentration in urban areas has placed cities at the forefront of the global struggle to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Within cities, current mobility patterns are responsible for a significant proportion of environmental emissions. As a result, cities across the world are seeking to develop transitions towards new and greener mobility systems. This paper analyses the different pathways that explain the readiness, or otherwise negation, of cities in achieving sustainable mobility. Based on a sample of 65 cities from all over the world, and with the application of Set-Theoretic Multi-Method Research and Necessary Conditions Analysis, it is demonstrated that there are necessary conditions for the achievement of sustainable mobility, as well as different terms that explain its achievement and its denial. Moreover, the analysis confirms that both the necessary conditions for sustainable mobility and one of the terms explaining its denial reflect the existence of causal mechanisms. The paper confirms the necessity for an analysis of the transitions towards sustainable mobility to take into account the characteristics of the context. Furthermore, it is not possible to explain the behaviour of megacities on the basis of generalised statements.