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I am a bike-sharing activist at New Mexico State University (NMSU) and am using quantum storytelling, as well as ethnographic, methods to study its bike-sharing implementation process. Moreover, quantum storytelling is, by its very nature, an intervention into the process it observes and, in this case, utilized as a means to encourage the university-governing entities to support and fund a bike-sharing program. Quantum storytelling is formally defined as “the interplay of quantum understandings with storytelling processes,” including their counternarratives (Boje, 2014, p. 100). It is not human dramatic action simply put into text or context. Rather, it is establishing a pattern of assemblages of actants – human, nonhuman (animals, plants, etc.), and material (in this case, bikes, paths, and so on) – and providing a storytelling that accounts for their inseparable spacetimemattering (Boje, 2014; Boje & Henderson, 2014). Additionally, quantum storytelling helps make explicit what Heidegger (1962) calls fore-having, fore-structuring, fore-conception, fore-telling, and fore-caring (as developed Boje, Svane, & Gergerich, in review). It allows for antenarrative preview of the way to operationalize bike-sharing through visual media, including pictures, documents, five-year plans, campus maps, bikes, and the riders themselves. Through this presentation, I will show embodied practices stemming from quantum storytelling, and do so using both a Barthean S/Z and Bojean antenarrative analysis of the bikeshare implementation process.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted travel patterns, use of space and modal choice. Cities took actions in a way they did not before, trying to accommodate economic and travel needs with the goal of reducing the spreading of the virus. Active travel (AT) played an important role in accommodating travel needs and in increasing the resilience and environmental friendliness of the urban transport system. As cities gradually return to their normal life, transport planners must decide which role to assign to AT in future urban plans. In particular, whether to confirm the temporary policies incentivising AT enacted to counteract the reduction in the use of public transport or to return to the previous road space allocation that dedicated considerable urban space to motorised vehicular traffic. After reviewing the empirical evidence on the AT evolution during the various pandemic phases and illustrating the main policies planned and implemented at city level in many countries, this chapter summarises the lessons learnt, derives some policy suggestions, and identifies future research needs.

This chapter reviews recent developments in sustainability regarding cities of the world. Using the approach of a literature review, this chapter highlights sustainability innovations in the context of cities. The chapter identifies several indexes which assess quality of life (QOL) or prosperity in cities of the world. One web-based index which relies heavily on the inputs of citizens around the world is Numbeo. The literature review identifies ways cities have pursued climate change mitigation through encouragement of electrical vehicles and alternative modes of transportation. Innovations that have become controversial in cities are also identified. Analysis of Numbeo suggests this index shows promise of future value for researchers interested in city QOL—specifically its pollution perceptions index. As urbanization continues with more than half of the world's population now residing in cities, interest in the sustainability of cities will intensify. Sustainability indexes for cities are now being developed. Analysis of Numbeo's novel approach to gauging the pollution of cities through the reports of hundreds of thousands of individuals living around the world suggests that this approach holds promise for future development. While other disciplines have taken focus on city sustainability, this is the first study within the domain of marketing research to provide an overview of city sustainability for marketing researchers and to analyze a new way of measuring a component of city QOL—perceptions of city pollution. Results suggest that valuable results will likely be forthcoming as researches continue developing city sustainability measures and indexes in the future.

Shared, dockless micromobility is causing concern across the globe. The phenomenon started with shared bikes and e-bikes. More recently, e-scooters (or electric kickbikes), the focus of this chapter, have flooded cities in unprecedented speed and volume – and have caught virtually every city and competent authority off guard. The failure of current regulatory frameworks to address new challenges posed by e-scooters is explored. This chapter first briefly describes major developments of the shared e-scooter market. It then presents rationales for, and to some extent against, e-scooter regulation as well as policy tools available for e-scooter regulation. E-scooters open the door for new and innovative – and potentially efficient – ways to regulate, including geofencing, zoning, mandatory data sharing and mandatory cooperation. Against this backdrop, the chapter discusses regulatory dilemmas, challenges, opportunities and possibilities.

Purpose – Bicycle riding provides a sustainable and affordable solution to many of the significant problems associated with motorised transport and physical inactivity. The provision of infrastructure plays an important role in encouraging people to begin and subsequently continue to ride bicycles and to do so safely.

Methodology – This chapter describes different types of on- and off-road infrastructure and reviews studies of their effects on rider numbers and safety. In addition, it looks at the roles that end-of-trip facilities and bikeshare programs can play in contributing to bicycle use and general transport sustainability.

Findings – Infrastructure characteristics can influence both perceived and objective levels of safety. It is important to identify and avoid treatments that increase perceived safety but are actually less safe. The type of infrastructure needed or desired differs between current and potential riders and according to trip purpose. Well-designed marked bicycle lanes on roads can reduce crash rates. Safety at intersections can be improved by: advanced green lights for cyclists, short cuts for right-hand turns, brightly coloured bicycle paths and advanced waiting positions for cyclists. Off-road facilities are generally safer, but intersections with roads must be carefully treated. Shared paths and footpaths are risky for older pedestrians (and older cyclists).

Implications – In many countries the provision of more infrastructure that increases the perceived safety of riding is needed to encourage cycling, particularly transport cycling and cycling by women.

Sustainable transport is often defined according to energy efficiency and environmental impacts. With global approval during Habitat III, however, a set of Sustainable Development Goals have become the focus for human development until 2030, underlining the relevance of health, equity and other social issues.

These goals raise the challenge of achieving significant progress towards ‘transport justice’ in diverse societies and contexts. While exclusion occurs for different reasons, discrimination, based on cultural roles, combines with sexual harassment and other mobility barriers to limit women’s mobility. This makes gender an area of particular interest and potential insight for considering equity within sustainability and its social components.

Using data from Metropolitan Santiago to ground a conceptual exploration, this chapter examines the equity implications of women’s travel patterns and sustainable transport. Key findings underline the importance of considering non-work trip purposes and achieving better land-use combinations to accommodate care-oriented trips. Moreover, barriers linked to unsafe public transport environments limit women’s mobility and, therefore, their participation. Women account for a disproportionately high number of walking trips, a situation that can be interpreted as ‘greater sustainability’ in terms of energy use and emissions, but suggests significant inequalities in access. Environmental and economic sustainability gains may be achieved at a high social cost, unless specific measures are taken.

A consistent pattern that emerged out of the consequences of COVID-19 is that public transport was hit particularly hard compared to private cars and other modes. This raises concern regarding the future of public transport and the sustainability of urban transport. While the current clash of challenges, trends and disruptions makes the future more difficult to forecast than ever, this chapter highlights both long-term and emerging trends that are likely to influence public transport beyond the pandemic. As a foundation for the discussion, the chapter first briefly outlines the state and development of public transport before COVID-19, as well as the immediate effects of the pandemic. Before COVID-19, strong trends included initiatives towards sustainable urban transport, digitalisation and automation, and increasingly personalised services. The pandemic induced lockdowns, restrictions to use public transport and anxiety towards crowding, which influenced people to travel less and shift to other modes. There were clear socioeconomic inequalities in the ability to do so and a loss of accessibility. Many agencies and operators suffered financially as a result of lost fare revenues and limited governmental support. Emerging trends such as less commuting and financial struggles are likely to influence public transport for many years to come. However, the pandemic, and the induced behaviour and exposed problems that have followed, can serve as a call for substantial changes in urban transport planning. A continued development and integration of sustainable mobility services, with public transport as a central actor, is widely seen as key in this ambition.

This chapter introduces the concept of the Shared Mobility Services Agency for the planning and managing of collective transport services at urban and regional level.

Building on previous work which established the concept of the Flexible Transport Service (FTS) Agency as a single co-ordination centre for different flexible services, this chapter extends the concept to consolidate the role of the Agency as a Shared Mobility Centre, including the integration of different on-demand or New Mobility Services and the co-ordination of different key actors in a co-modal approach. Specific attention is given to the enabling information and communication technology (ICT) architecture and standards and to the actions needed for consolidating the Agency’s role.

Findings indicate the fundamental role of the Public Transport Authority (local or regional) to enable the implementation of the concept. Priorities include: recognizing the Agency as an added value service for the area; supporting possible interaction/synergy among different Dispatch Centres and/or with other paratransit services; and defining a specific set of indicators measuring the quality and quantitative of service that are different from those of the conventional transport service.

In a time when household and public expenditure are under pressure, coupled with rapid technology progress (especially enhanced connectivity) the shared mobility services Agency offers a co-ordinated solution to planning and managing collective transport services, including New Mobility Services (represented by recent solutions like Uber, Sidecar, Lyft and BlaBlaCar) which are not yet integrated with traditional transport services.