Abstract

The chapter aims at discussing a suitable policy framework for addressing urban mobility issues from the perspective of enablement, providing operational elements for overcoming the limitations of mainstream transport planning practice and for generating specific collective advantages. Assuming a focus on institutional actors, the framework defines the features that institutions should consider for enhancing enablement through planning and policy approaches, discussing also the role that public subjects should have and the potential benefits deriving from the approach. The proposed framework consists of five elements, discussed more in-depth throughout the chapter: the policy aims and ethical principles that may underly planning and policy approaches as well as the design, implementation and evaluation of policy for enabling mobility. Within this scheme, institutions should mobilise the analytical tools necessary to define areas and populations requiring priority interventions and act as facilitators for the deployment of differentiated courses of action. While different aims are pursued when addressing the issues of mobility, a focus on its enabling role is relevant not just for better understanding nor simply for evaluative purposes, but even more so to shape specific policymeasures focused on what people use urban mobility for.