Design guidelines play a crucial, but often under-appreciated, role in developing mobility infrastructures and cultures, including cycling. Design guidelines have long histories of codifying engineering practice, largely out of the public eye. Such engineering standards often describe actual practice better than policy documents, which are more subject to the vagaries of politics and express visions. Created outside the political arena, manuals wield outsized social power through standard setting but are rarely analysed in mobility studies. Specifically, this paper compares the development of bicycle lane design guidelines in two mature cycling nations, China and the Netherlands. Our qualitative analysis of such bikeway design manuals and their social and historical contexts, coupled with a modal split analysis, takes a long-term perspective (100 years+). A '5-Factor Cycling Cities' analysis - considering urban form, mobility alternatives, transport policy, social movements, and cycling's cultural status - focuses on the unexamined role of manuals in explaining the development of (urban) cycling over time. This paper initiates a theorization of the power of design manuals in the long-term shaping of mobilities and transitions. Manuals' roles are often hidden, while they play a fundamental role in policy, with long-term impact on the design, planning, and use of mobility systems.

As cities introduce stricter CO2 regulations on urban transport, the logistics sector is rapidly adopting electric freight vehicles. While sustainable logistics is often framed as a matter of technical optimization, this paper highlights how emission-free last-mile operations are reshaping urban space and mobility. Focusing on the use of light electric freight vehicles (LEFVs) in the Netherlands, we examine how these vehicles interact with the spatial constraints of city centers, increasingly designated as Zero-Emission Zones. Drawing on 12 expert interviews at the Netherlands' largest logistics provider, we analyze how sustainability goals are interpreted and operationalized in practice, leading to infrastructural and procedural adjustments to meet diverse expectations from both the market and public authorities. While existing research tends to emphasize environmental and economic indicators of LEFV deployment, our findings foreground the socio-spatial dimensions, including its potential to ease traffic congestion and improve flows for cyclists and pedestrians. However, the demand for space to park, charge, and load LEFVs near city centers complicates their contribution to sustainable urban environment, despite being emission-free. By integrating insights from mobilities studies, logistical geographies, and urban planning literature, this study identifies the regulatory and spatial barriers that must be addressed to move beyond electrification toward “city-friendly” logistics. We conclude by arguing that logistics flows should be treated not only as operational or technological matters, but as critical components in the spatial planning and governance to support a broader transition toward sustainable urban mobility.

Electric micromobility may reduce transport emissions, but its system-level benefits depend on which journeys and vehicles it replaces. This study assesses e-bike, e-scooter and e-cargo-bike pathways in an electrifying UK transport system using an expanded Transport Energy Air pollution Model (TEAM-UK). Socio-technical scenarios are modelled annually to 2050, estimating travel activity, energy demand, direct CO2 and NOX emissions, life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions and local air pollutants, including non-exhaust sources. Fleet electrification dominates long-run reductions in tailpipe CO2 and NOX. However, e-bike-led pathways deliver the largest additional reductions in car-kilometres, energy demand, cumulative life-cycle emissions and non-exhaust PM2.5. E-cargo bike pathways provide more targeted benefits, while e-scooter pathways produce modest system-level gains. Electric micromobility is most effective when embedded in policies that substitute car and van travel with lighter, low-energy modes.

Cycling is recognized as a key strategy for the transition to sustainable urban mobility and for improving public health, yet it remains a marginal mode of transport in many cities. In an effort to promote cycling, some places offer financial incentives to encourage people to use bicycles as a mode of transportation. However, these policies raise social justice concerns regarding who benefits from such policies and who does not. This paper explores the operationalization of a policy designed to promote cycling through finan- cial incentives, specifically by compensating individuals for cycled kilometers with public transport credits. The study incorporates a social justice-oriented design and emphasizes the importance of diversifying cycling demographics, integrating cycling with public transport, and leveraging data to support fair urban mobility. Grounded in transport, mobility, and data justice literature, we introduce policy design guidelines for social-justice-informed ‘pay for cycling’ financial incentives, bridging social science and data science. These guidelines are illustrated through a pilot project for São Paulo’s “Bike SP” program, which includes app development, participant selection, and data collection. The pilot project reveals demographic and socioeconomic inequalities in cycling within São Paulo. It also provides a model for similar policies in other cities. The findings highlight the need for inclusive participant selection criteria and the potential of financial incentive policies to generate valuable cycling data, foster a cycling community, and integrate with broader mobility and public health policies. We argue that such policies should be part of a comprehensive strategy for creating an inclusive mobility environment.

This article investigates how the 'datafication' of cycling risks exacerbating existing mobility injustices associated with the privileging of data visibility over diversity. It focuses on the social justice implications of UK and US transport professionals' perceptions of Strava Metro data, specifically around sample representativeness and bias. Our findings show how experts simultaneously recognise Strava Metro data as: (a) statistically valid and representative of observable cycling activities, including correlation with complementary cycle counter data. And as (b) demographically biased and unrepresentative of society, as Strava Metro data samples disproportionally capture journeys made by younger male cyclists. All expert interviewees emphasised the importance of considering a variety of data sources to support transport planning decisions, and emphasised Strava Metro data sample biases and limitations. However, our analysis of transport professional's perceptions reveals how cycling app data, such as Strava Metro, has implications for social justice. These implications include distorting understandings of cycling at the detriment of diversifying cycling participation. Left unchecked, a privileging of hyper-visibility of select cyclists may slow efforts for socially sustainable and diverse cycling. The article closes with a discussion of the research and policy implications for emerging debates of artificial intelligence (AI) in transport.

AI increasingly shapes urban mobility, yet its social justice implications remain poorly understood, especially across cultural contexts. This study examines how people perceive justice in AI-based mobility systems through visual attention and cognitive framing. Combining large-scale online eye-tracking (n = 1,272) with survey data from 22 cities worldwide, we analyse how individuals attend to and interpret social diversity across autonomous (AV) and human-driven contexts. Three key patterns emerge. First, visual attention to social categories such as nationality or income is structured and transferable across technological settings. Second, attentional variation reflects both individual (age, gender, AI experience) and contextual (regional, cultural) factors. Third, Bayesian modelling shows that justice perceptions depend less on visual engagement than on affective trust and perceived safety. Together, these findings reveal how automation reshapes cognitive-ethical orientations toward justice, illustrating that equitable AI mobility depends as much on perceptual inclusion and social recognition as on algorithmic fairness.

This paper explores the potential of e-cargo bikes as a personal transport mode in the UK, reporting on a series of surveys and trials. Hypothesising that early adoption of this niche mode was geodemographically skewed, we carried out a nationally-representative survey which showed that living in London, being aged 18-34 and being a less frequent car user were associated with e-cargo bike use. Additionally, we used an empirical mixed methods approach to understand what level of usage might be achieved via a supported trial in areas outside London which were relatively car-dependent. 49 households were loaned an e-cargo bike for a month in summer 2023, in suburbs of Leeds, Brighton and Oxford. Eleven of these households borrowed e-cargo bikes again the following winter. By Autumn 2024, 10 trial households had bought e-cargo bikes. High usage was achieved in the trials, with summer trial households cycling approximately 8000 km (38-42 km per household per week) with over 50 % of the distance travelled replacing car use. This work revealed a range of advantages of use as well as issues to address, including purchase costs, theft, negative perceptions of battery safety and a lack of e-cargo-bike appropriate infrastructure. The study demonstrated that there are current non-adopter groups of people in the UK for whom e-cargo bikes represent a realistic and desirable form of mobility, with the potential to reduce car use and associated emissions, and with possible benefits for health and family activities.

Physical inactivity is a leading risk factor for non-communicable diseases. Climate change is now regarded as the biggest threat to global public health. Electric micromobility (e-micromobility, including e-bikes, e-cargo bikes, and e-scooters) has the potential to simultaneously increase people’s overall physical activity while decreasing greenhouse gas emissions where it substitutes for motorised transport. The ELEVATE study aims to understand the impacts of e-micromobility, including identifying the people, places, and circumstances where they will be most beneficial in terms of improving people’s health while also reducing mobility-related energy demand and carbon emissions. A complex mixed methods design collected detailed quantitative and qualitative data from multiple UK cities. First, nationally representative (n = 2000), city-wide (n = 400 for each of the three cities; total = 1200), and targeted study area surveys (n = 996) collected data on travel behaviour, levels of physical activity, vehicle ownership, and use, as well as attitudes towards e-micromobility. Then, to provide insights on an understudied type of e-micromobility, 49 households were recruited to take part in e-cargo bike one-month trials. Self-reported data from the participants were validated with objective data-using methods such as GPS trackers and smartwatches’ recordings of routes and activities. CO2 impacts of e-micromobility use were also calculated. Participant interviews provided detailed information on preferences, expectations, experiences, barriers, and enablers of e-micromobility.

Mobility experiences are becoming intrinsically linked with digital and data experiences. Being mobile increasingly involves the production, storage, processing and sharing of data (consciously or not), from car sensor data for diagnostics and insurance apps for driving, to ticketing apps for public transport, urban micromobility share schemes, Google maps, fitness and wellbeing apps, Internet of Things sensors, AI in migration "management", or air pollution data. The 'datafication' of mobility raises new questions with regards to justice. What kinds of inequalities emerge at the intersection of mobilities and datafication? Whose mobility gets included and excluded through data collection and sharing, why and how? How are mobilities enabled and restricted through data? How are access and ownership to mobility and data changing? What about the mobility of data in relation to justice? This article links scholarship on mobility justice and data justice to develop a mobility data justice framework. It closes with a discussion of critical issues for mobility data justice and develops an agenda for future research in this area. The lens of social justice helps to understand the multiple ways power and (in) equalities are transformed or amplified at the intersection of mobility and data.

Electric bikes (e-bikes) can play a vital role in sustainable transportation and reducing car dependence. However, questions persist regarding the extent to which e-bikes contribute to replacing and complementing car use and other modes, especially from dual-mode ownership (households with both cars and e-bikes) perspective. Utilizing the Household Travel Survey dataset from Jiading, Shanghai, this study reveals that: (1) e-bikes can lead up to a 19% reduction in car mode share in dual-mode ownership households compared to car-only households; (2) e-bikes encourage a greater variety of non-commuting activities compared to car-only households; (3) e-bikes have a minor negative effect on public transport mode share, while e-bikes enhance mobility for older people. Overall, these findings underscore the importance of e-bikes in reducing car dependence and achieving development goals towards sustainable transportation and age-friendly cities.

The media’s agenda-setting function in terms of selecting and presenting issues to the public and policymakers is crucial for the urgently needed transition towards more sustainable mobilities, including how the media frames micromobility. Media framings are representations, a key component of mobility, alongside physical movement and practice, all involving power relations. Drawing on mobility studies and discourse analysis, this paper compares how the Dutch and British national press frame micromobility. We identify five frames of micromobility: (1) as sustainable and active shift, predominant in the British press; (2) as disruption of the Dutch pedal-powered cycling regime; (3) as catalyst of conflicts in public space, both in the Dutch and British press; (4) around the shortcomings of micromobility regulations in both contexts; and (5) concerning lifestyle in the Dutch context. We demonstrate how media framings of micromobility only limitedly discuss its potential to transition from automobility, focusing instead on social status changes, regulatory challenges, and conflicts between different forms of micromobility, that are already marginalized. Our findings emphasize the urgency to put the transition from automobility—the elephant in the room—on the agenda.

Food delivery has become a leading cause of industrial accidents in Korea, with platforms' AI features acting as "the boss" to riders. Our analysis of 175 articles from the Korean press (2014-2022) examines how AI intersects with the commercial use of motorcycles and traffic safety. With particular attention to riders' interview quotes and opinion pieces, we show how AI constrains riders' mobile experiences and subjectivities, by taking over their autonomy to choose their task and drive responsibly. This creates an algorithmic loop where data on "fast and successful" deliveries is generated by time-pressured rides, often involving unsafe riding and traffic violations. Our findings contribute to platform urbanism literature, by highlighting the mobile and embodied implications of profit-driven mobilities. We further broaden the AI urbanism debate by showing how traffic safety and public space are reconfigured by the AI-driven speed and volume of food delivery.

Scholars and policymakers increasingly are presenting the moped as part of a transition to more sustainable modes. However, the question remains as to where moped users should ride-as they often compete for space with other sustainable modes such as cycling or walking. This study focuses on the Netherlands, known as a cycling paradise, where mopeds share the cycling infrastructure. This has sparked controversies about spatial conflicts between moped users and cyclists, especially since the emergence of e-moped rental systems in 2017. Drawing on mobility studies and social identity theory, this paper explores the stereotypes of moped users and their behaviours to understand the spatial complexities of a shift towards more micromobility in the Netherlands. By analysing interviews with moped users and how users are discussed in the press, the paper empirically maps stereotypes of the users of different mopeds i.e. (1) fuel-based and privately owned, (2) electric and privately owned, and (3) electric and rental, and their behaviour on the bicycle path. Our study shows how debates tend to focus on the behaviours of moped users and their interactions with cyclists on shared bicycle paths while the spatial domination of automobility remains unchallenged. This paper contributes to transport behaviour research on spatial conflicts and identities in the context of the rise of micromobility - a key pillar of transitions to more sustainable mobility, alongside other changes such as fleet electrification, reduction of car use, and increased public transport uptake. Micromobilities entail what was traditionally understood as active mobility or non-motorised transport, such as cycling, but also what is now often discussed under the umbrella of MaaS or (light) electric vehicles, such as motorised two-wheelers, and also 'hybrids' such as e-bikes, fatbikes or cargo bikes. This paper exemplifies how identities, stereotypes and behaviours are relevant for understanding interactions around these modes and debates, in the quest towards low-car urban transitions.

Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) is regarded as key innovation for sustainable mobility, with data and AI playing a central role. This paper explores the nexus of data-AI-governance in MaaS to understand in how far sustainability is addressed. While the role of data and AI is covered by technical literature, and governance by social science literature, these discussions remain largely separate in MaaS. This paper aims to redress this issue through an interdisciplinary narrative literature review that brings together these literature sets. The research question is: How does the data-AI-governance nexus in MaaS give rise to hybrid forms of governance between humans and algorithms and what are the implications for sustainable mobility? Results show that: (1) The data collection and processing that is crucial to MaaS, might reproduce socio-political inequalities. (2) AI-driven customisation and nudging of end-user demand ignores rebound effects, that can only be avoided if sustainability objectives are central. (3) Inadequate integration of mobility service supply might exacerbate mobility challenges. (4) When mobility system optimisation through AI becomes more widespread, MaaS platforms might become a form of algorithmic governance. (5) Whether sustainability can be reached, depends on how and by whom (sustain -ability) objectives of algorithms will be decided. The paper concludes that hybrid governance for sustainability requires close collaboration between policymakers and industry players and acknowledging AI algorithms as important non-human actors. The paper contributes to conceptual debates on sustainability and data/AI, governance and data/AI in MaaS and beyond, and to policymaking on aligning platform systems with sustainability.

Micromobility has gained attention from policymakers, industry stakeholders, and academia; however, a comprehensive conceptualization of micromobility is still missing. Existing definitions are largely vehicle-centric: either listing modes or detailing vehicle characteristics. This paper addresses this gap by developing a ‘beyond vehicles’, multi-dimensional conceptualization of micromobility, accompanied by a novel socio-technical definition. Through a review of related concepts, combined with an analysis of the use and definitions of the term micromobility in publications, this study establishes a new conceptualization of micromobility. It incorporates human, social, and cultural dimensions, considers environmental, economic, infrastructure, vehicle technology, regulatory and policy aspects, and considerations for public health. Our definition of micromobility encompasses a wide range of mobility options typically used for shorter trips and manoeuvrable by an individual without motor assistance, at least for short distances. These modes are characterized by their ‘micro’ attributes, including low energy demand, environmental impact, and road space use relative to automobility. The conceptualization incorporates a range of micromobility modes, including fully human-powered (including walking), partially motor-assisted, and fully powered options. These modes typically operate at speeds not exceeding 25 to 32 kilometres per hour (or 45 km/h for faster options), weigh (typically substantially) below 350 kilograms and often yield significant (public) health benefits. Trip length is generally less than 15 kilometres, and daily distances under 80 kilometres. Importantly, our definition includes the practices, policies, cultures, and infrastructures that emerge around the use of micromobility options and shape their uptake. This proposed conceptualization significantly broadens the prevailing vehicle-focus in micromobility debates towards a socio-technical perspective. Embracing a widely accepted conceptualisation of micromobility would offer several advantages, including robust design standards, legislation, and evaluation metrics and methods. Additionally, this paper highlights the pivotal role micromobilities can play in transcending the limitations of automobility, towards more sustainable and equitable mobility futures.

While micromobility has seen a significant rise of interest across policy, industry and academia, a detailed conceptualisation of it has so far been missing from the scientific literature. This paper develops a multi-dimensional conceptualisation of micromobility, in conjunction with a new socio-technical definition. To do so, it reviews related concepts; it analyses how the term micromobility has been used; and it critically engages with existing definitions most frequently cited in this literature. Building on these insights, we develop a multi-dimensional conceptualization of micromobility. Our definition of micromobility covers a wide range of mobility options that can typically be manoeuvred by one human without motor assistance, at least for short distances, and that are ‘micro’ in terms of energy demand, environmental impact, and use of road space, relative to automobility. According to our conceptualisation, micromobility modes comprise fully human powered, partially motor assisted and fully powered options. They typically do not exceed 25 kilometres per hour (or 45 for faster ones) and weigh (often significantly) less than 350 kilogram, while often providing some (public) health benefits. Trip lengths are typically less than 15 kilometres and daily distance travelled less than 80 kilometres. This new definition has relevance for future transport and mobility scholarship, as well as policy and evaluation. Advantages of a new and widely accepted definition and conceptualisation of micromobility could include more robust design standards, legislation, as well as evaluation metrics and methods, all leading to greater understanding of, and attention paid to, this form of mobility. This paper highlights the important role that micromobilities could play in moving beyond automobility, to create more sustainable and just mobility futures.

Cycling is considered a healthy and sustainable form of getting from A to B. The net effects of the various forms of cycling and e-biking on mobility-related air pollutant emissions are complex. This chapter synthesizes research on the potential of cycling and e-biking to reduce (and contribute) to air pollutant emissions from mode shift away from motorized transport. Life cycle analysis of greenhouse gas emissions from production, use and end-of-life of active and motorized vehicles is used to compare the most common urban transport modes and determine whether cycling and e-biking reduce overall emissions or not. By doing so the Chapter provides a summary of research on cycling as a low carbon and clean mobility option in context of the climate emergency and the air quality crisis in cities.

This article examines converging trends in ageing, digitalisation and datafication in the context of mobility and transport. While mobility data are increasingly captured by (public) transport and mobility as a service (MaaS) providers, Internet of Things (IoT) vehicles, apps and so on, the increasing entanglement of mobility and datafication happens unevenly, for example, in relation to age. This is particularly significant in the light of the rise of data-driven policy-making, and its potential impacts on mobility provision for older people. The article highlights new questions for public policy around data gaps and social inclusion and examines them through a UK case study. The results show that old age and mobility is an area with significant gaps in the data available to policy makers. A key recommendation is for commissioning bodies to develop a strategic approach to structured data gathering and analysis that addresses issues of exclusion from smart public service infrastructure.

This article focusses on the musical history of the telephone, an aspect of telephonic history that is often overlooked and has not yet received systematic academic attention. The article is structured around two musical themes of telephonic history: (1) public performances of telephones as musical instruments and (2) the telephone network as musical instrument. Two historic periods are considered for both themes, (a) the late 1800s/early 1900s and (b) the late 2000s. The article's approach draws loosely on media historic and media archaeologic perspectives to analyse existing material about telephone history (with a musical focus) alongside empirical field work on the musical use of mobile phones in the late 2000s. The results contribute to debates regarding the 'newness' of media, and to sound studies approaches to media histories. The article shows how the theme of the musical telephone has been re-occurring but often overlooked throughout its history, and also sketches out a future research agenda. The article contributes a new understanding of the musical uses of the telephone across history, relevant for both understanding contemporary uses of telephone technologies such as smartphones and the Internet of Things, and for a richer understanding of historic telephone uses.

Electrically-assisted cycling can make a major contribution to sustainable mobility. For some people, hills are a barrier for cycling. This paper focuses on how and why electrically-assisted bikes make a difference to cycling in hilly contexts, and can thus be an important element of sustainable mobility in hilly geographies. It makes a novel contribution in being able to draw on recorded sensor data of the actual use of assistance in relation to the specific geography of the route cycled (GPS data), and interview/survey material. It shows that e-bikes extend the range, nature and scope of journeys manageable by bike, and therefore the general viability of e-bikes as alternative to other modes. It highlights that the benefits of using e-bikes are often also psychological, since they can change the overall enjoyability of the cycling experience in hilly areas. Resulting policy recommendations, that could lead to significant CO2 savings through the uptake of e-cycling in hilly contexts, include 'try before you buy' schemes, training for e-bike users and investing in relevant cycling infrastructure.