Trends affecting future mobility. A cross-cutting analysis of the transport literature

Abstract

This article presents a systematic literature review examining how trends affecting future mobility are analysed in relation to urban mobility systems in transportation research. The review uses a bibliometric scoping phase to identify ten literature-grounded trend categories, which are then analysed both individually and jointly. The review synthesises how these trends are examined in relation to urban mobility-system outcomes and how research attention and methodological approaches structure their analysis in the literature. The findings reveal recurring cross-cutting analytical patterns. Mobility outcomes are frequently analysed as conditional on system configuration, governance, and spatial context, yet studies rarely employ comparative designs capable of systematically assessing alternative configurations. Innovation-oriented trends—such as autonomous vehicles, vehicle electrification, and carsharing—dominate analytical attention, while structural dimensions including financing arrangements and resilience, are often treated as secondary or contextual factors. Public transport frequently appears as a central reference point but is typically analysed within isolated perspectives rather than as a system co-evolving under multiple simultaneous pressures. Although some studies examine multiple trends jointly, such analyses remain uneven and highly context-specific, limiting cross-context generalisation. By synthesising how trends affecting future mobility are analysed in relation to urban mobility-system outcomes, the review provides a diagnosis of current research practices. It identifies structural limitations and research gaps in comparative and system-level analysis and clarifies why evidence on future mobility pathways often remains fragmented.