What Do We Know about the Role the Human Dimension Plays in Shaping a Sustainable Low-carbon Transport Transition?

A transition in personal mobility is becoming apparent in cities across the world. Proactive low-carbon transitioning cities are setting goals, regulatory frameworks, and incentives for changing fuels, improving vehicle technology, and testing intelligent mobility services. Information technologies in combination with forms of social innovation are playing a key role in changing mobility patterns. Many of the innovations dominating the field require that humans accept roles as open data sources and as supporters of further advances of service digitalisation and automatisation. This chapter argues that solutions need to avoid creating a gap between technological mobility systems and human dimensions. Achieving deep transport decarbonisation requires solutions that people can collectively accept and help sustain over time. Policy alignment and social innovation can strengthen feasibility of a fast transformation of transport energy use.