Nudges at The Forefront of Sustainable Urban Mobility?

Abstract: The main aim of this article is to investigate the application of the Nudge theory within the field of sustainable mobility as a strategy to encourage more use of sustainable modes of transport. This line of research is of particular importance due to the high share of emissions in the transportation sector, which has been increasing over the years. Although there have been pro-environment policies in place together with the implementation of sustainable city infrastructure, the extent to which people have changed their choice of travel to more sustainable modes has not been sufficient to address climate change. Therefore, understanding ways in which governments and decision-makers can influence citizens’ mobility choices, as a complementary strategy, gains value. For this purpose, by following a single case study design, the research used interviews to gather perspectives from decision-makers within the field of sustainable mobility to assess if nudge strategies are an effective way to change the behavior of the citizens. The findings of the paper indicated the Nudge theory's ineffectiveness in reshaping habits, of which mobility behavior is one example. Moreover, the theory lacks critical aspects necessary to address unsustainable mobility behavior such as the effect of one’s attitude toward pro-environmental measures and sustainability in addition to the effect of proper city infrastructure. Hence, decision-makers or so-called choice architects, in order to design effective nudge strategies are require to understand the kind of behavior they are aiming to address and the kind of target group they are facing. This could potentially assist the choice architects to design nudge strategies that align with the environment and attitude of the target group, in conjunction with other more effective interventions, such as financial incentives and charges.