Mobility and transport

Frequently, the terms mobility and transport are intermingled, even confused. When we think about 'urban mobility', images of subways, cars, bicycles, buses, skateboards, segways or any other machine that allows us to get from one point to another come to our minds. Perhaps lastly, we think in 'putting one foot in front of the other' (walking I mean) as a way of getting around. However, they are all actually ways of being transported.

Mobility, on the other hand, can be understood more broadly as the capacity to move, the ability of each of us to move (the city does not move, the people do!) This ability is conditioned by at least two factors: individual factors and external contextual factors.

To begin with a simple example, we do not have the same mobility under water as out of it. Or we will have little mobility if we are in a cell or if our hands and legs are tied.

Let's think about a person with reduced mobility. Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is a person in a wheelchair. But, if we keep thinking about it, we can imagine an elderly person who moves more awkwardly than a younger person.

What about a person with a visual disability? His mobility is affected! even without having any psychomotor problem. What about a person who has broken a leg? Temporarily, he does not have full mobility.

A person in an advanced state of pregnancy does not move the same way as when he did not have to carry the weight of a new life. Even after childbirth, let's imagine mothers and fathers pushing a stroller or with a baby hooked to their chest that reduces their ability to move.

In fact, we will all experience some reduction in mobility at some point in our lives, especially as we get older. In any case, these are individual factors.

But what about the context? Do our cities help people's mobility in these situations? Or have we built them thinking only of an eternally young individual with unchanging conditions who will never suffer a reduction in their ability to move? Do we provide an environment in which they can move more freely? What about when we visit a foreign country and we don't know the language? We do not have the same ability to move around a city if we do not understand its signs, its codes.

Therefore, the context (physical, social and cognitive) can accentuate, and even make it impossible for a person to move around. Or it can reduce the difficulties to the point of practically annulling the particular conditions that reduce the possibilities of movement. Thinking about urban mobility means considering the situation of each one of the people who live in a city.

On the other hand, there is the transport. It basically means a way of physically moving from one place to another. An answer to a small (but very important) part of what we understand as mobility. But by confusing those two terms, mobility & transport, we can make terrible mistakes, despite our good intentions. For example, let's think about an alternative form of transport, increasingly in demand in several cities, which seeks a more environmentally sustainable way of getting around: the electric bicycle.

Let me explain: It is an alternative that is not very inclusive because a large part of the population is not able to use it. Therefore, it can be an alternative to sustainable transport in ecological terms, but with a very limited impact on people's mobility. On the other hand, are our cities ready for cycling?

From my point of view, sustainable mobility is something broader than sustainable transport. In my opinion, the transition to sustainable mobility means reducing the need for all people to commute. This is related to a greater self-sufficiency of neighborhoods and districts, to urban planning, to housing prices, to inclusive environments, to employment, to technology, to leisure, to the generation of cohesive communities… and with the consideration of each and every person and their peculiarities.

In short, sustainable mobility should be oriented to generate accessible environments for all people that allow them to develop their lives without the forced need to move long distances.

@Loucy