Urban Mobility: What Role for the European Union? Explaining Dynamics of European Union Policy Design Since 1995

Abstract

This research briefing provides a timely assessment of European Union (EU) intervention in the urban mobility policy field, by examining the relationship between forms of policy design and the EU institutionalization process. More precisely, it questions whether or not this continued intervention has benefited EU institutions. In order to do so, it analyses evolving relationships between three dimensions of EU policy design—namely policy objectives, policy structures and policy instruments—in a long-term perspective. Drawing on an original dataset, the article shows that in the absence of a stabilized understanding of the issue at stake, the lack of dedicated financial and organizational resources, and the import of policy instruments from other policy domains, the institutionalization of urban mobility at EU level is incomplete. These findings contribute to current debates on the Europeanization of cities and urban policies.