A Generic Code of Urban Mobility: How can Cities Drive Future Sustainable Development?

In order to investigate the drivers of future urban and transport development, we regard cities and their transportation systems as dynamic and complex systems. Therefore a qualitative system model was developed explaining the system's influence factors and their interrelationships. Our theoretical findings were mirrored with an empirical study in 15 cities all over the world. The results show that cities share a “generic code”, that is to say, the same components and interdependencies which differ only due to individual framing conditions. Three controlling loops of fundamental significance for driving the future mobility towards a resilient and sustainable development were identified.