Investigating successful sustainable urban mobility in large cities: A contingency-based, fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Drawing on configurational theorising, this paper explores the complex interdependencies between and among the drivers of sustainable urban mobility in the context of large cities. By using high social impact as a proxy for successful sustainable urban mobility initiatives, we reveal that multiple configurations of infrastructure, market attractiveness, systems efficiency, and innovation can lead to successful initiatives, and these configurations are markedly different from those that result in unsuccessful initiatives. Subsequently, we show that these configurations do not apply to the cities under investigation regardless of their income, thus augmenting the configurational approach with a contingency perspective. Theoretical, methodological and policy implications are discussed by developing propositions that map large cities along the tangible/intangible continuum of successful sustainable urban mobility initiatives, thus highlighting the interdependent nature of physical infrastructure, innovation ecosystems and social impact.