Transformative or incumbent futures? How the future of mobility is imagined in sustainability transitions research

Authors: Tom Hawxwell, Abe Hendriks, Philipp Späth

This research engages with the politics around future-making and considers its implications for transformative change. We illustrate this perspective by exploring how mobility futures are imagined in a transformation-oriented research community. We find a significant portion of studies limit plausible mobility futures to those centred on the car. However, the exceptions demonstrate that it is indeed possible to imagine post-car-based mobility futures. We conclude that constructs of the future need to be understood as a potential source of obduracy inhibiting transformative change and offer some suggestions about how transformation-oriented research might improve its ‘futures literacy’.

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2024.103325