Shaping Sustainable Cities through Nudging Urban Mobility Habits: A Literature Review

The transportation sector remains as a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and congestion in cities, highlighting that challenges in urban mobility is central for climate mitigation. While investments in low-carbon infrastructure and regulatory measures are expanding, evidence suggests that structural interventions alone are insufficient to generate sustainable shifts. Choices in mobility are shaped by behavioral, social, and contextual factors. In response, behavioral nudges have gained attention as an effective and politically acceptable complement to traditional transport policies. This thesis reviews thematically and synthesizes the literature on nudging interventions for sustainable urban mobility. The findings suggest that nudges can promote public transport, cycling, and walking by reducing cognitive frictions, leveraging social norms, and enhancing the salience of sustainable options, particularly through digital and gamified platforms. However, their effectiveness is constrained by structural factors such as travel distance, infrastructure quality, and car-favoring policies. The thesis concludes that nudging is most effective when embedded within supportive infrastructural, regulatory, and equity-oriented policy frameworks.