ABSTRACT
This chapter contributes to the debate about the sustainability of the current model of urban mobility by analyzing how the constraints imposed by different technological models affected the evolution of urban mobility over the long term. It shows that the choice of the dominant transport model is explained not only by technological factors but also by economic, social, political, and cultural factors. The chapter focuses on technological and economic factors responsible for changes in transport mobility with brief references to other constraints. Unlike other European countries where a significant municipalisation of public services took place beginning in the early twentieth century, this phenomenon arrived very late in Spain, proved to be of little importance for transit, and was mainly focused on waterworks. After the publication of a green paper by the Commission of the European Communities entitled, Towards a New Culture for Urban Mobility, and implementation of the EU's Sustainable Development Strategy, Spanish government approved Spanish Strategy of Sustainable Development.
