Inclusive Transition to Electric Mobility (ITEM)

European cities' attempts to accelerate the transition to electric mobility (EM) are generating environmental benefits and enhancing economic viability. Unclear is how socially just these attempts and their outcomes are in terms of who benefits (distribution), whose needs are considered (recognition), and who gets to decide and how (procedure).

The proposed research will advance inclusive EM transitions on the urban scale through a dual perspective on households and urban policy. It will examine inequalities in households' EM-related needs, capabilities, decision-making, accessibility and everyday mobility. It will also analyse how and to what extent EM policies and governance take the aforementioned distribution, procedure and recognition dimensions of social justice into account. Finally, it will co-produce understandings of how urban and transport planning regarding sustainability and accessibility can be strengthened through inclusive EM transition processes.

In close collaboration with policymakers and mobility service providers, the project will consider various forms of electric mobility, including shared and owned / leased electric cars, E-bikes and E-scooters, to compare transition processes in the four medium-sized cities of Oslo, Utrecht, Bristol and Poznań. The project will bring together academic and grey literature, quantitative and qualitative data, theoretical and analytical frameworks in a mixed method and comparative case study approach.

The project will also hold workshops with local stakeholders and policy-makers in all four cities to facilitate the co-production of policies and plans for the transition to EM, and a scenario-planning exercise will plot how inclusive pathways to EM could be mapped in Oslo and Poznan, which currently have the highest and lowest rate of adoption of EM of the partners.

Ultimately, the project aims to bring about a shift in how EM policies and services at the urban scale are developed, implemented and delivered, so that urban EM transition pathways are not only accelerated but also become as inclusive as possible. The project will deliver working papers and policy briefs, as well as academic papers on social justice in the EM transition from both the household and policy / governance perspectives.

For more information on this research project please contact Dr Hannah Budnitz or see the project website.