T-PATH-UP15
Transition Pathways for Urban Provisioning Systems Toward 15-minute Cities
- Category
- Project
- Call
- DUT Call 2024
- Duration
- –
- Project coordinator
- University of Leeds
T-PATH-UP15 responds to a growing polycrisis—the interlinked social, political, economic, ecological, and technical disruptions destabilising urban, sub-urban, and peri-urban mobility systems. Youth face high transport costs, often unsafe and unreliable options, and exclusion from planning—barriers that disproportionately affect marginalised groups and worsen under climate and economic pressures. Politically, reforms like the 15-minute city have become flashpoints in Europe’s culture wars, fuelling backlash and threatening democratic, sustainable transitions. Economically, mobility systems often prioritise short-term efficiency over equity, leaving youth in underserved areas with limited access to education, work, and social life. Environmentally, motorised transport drives emissions and health risks, demanding systems that reduce impact and build resilience. Technically, innovations like micro-mobility remain inaccessible to many due to affordability and infrastructure gaps. T-PATH-UP15 calls for urgent, systemic transformation—integrating social justice, ecological sustainability, and inclusive governance to build mobility systems that can withstand and adapt to the overlapping crises of our time.
T-PATH-UP15 is a collaborative project working with young people aged 18–25 across six regions—Ghent, Graz, Bradford, Klosterneuburg, the Flemish Ardennes, and Koroška & Savinjska/Šaleška—to rethink mobility in response to climate change, inequality, and fragile infrastructure. The project takes action by co-developing a participatory framework that systematically links transport to essential systems like housing, education, work, and care. It begins by setting up regional youth forums and stakeholder groups to embed co-creation from the start. Together, we map how young people experience mobility and identify the system barriers they face. We then assess how current policies respond to these needs and co-produce recommendations for more joined-up, youth-responsive planning. Finally, we run visioning workshops to imagine better futures and define realistic, high-impact steps to get there.
T-PATH-UP15 delivers new tools, knowledge, and strategies to support youth-led mobility transitions across urban, sub-urban, and peri-urban areas. By working directly with young people, the project co-creates locally grounded, future-oriented mobility visions. It introduces a participatory System of Provision framework that systematically links transport to other essential systems—such as housing, education, work, and care—helping cities and regions plan more inclusive, integrated services while bridging siloed governance structures. Key outputs include a “Transition Pathways” tool to guide change from current conditions to desired futures, and support for sufficiency-oriented planning that challenges car dependency. By aligning transformative ambition with political feasibility, the project identifies realistic, high-impact next steps. It empowers youth with skills in systems thinking, collaboration, and advocacy, while equipping planners, NGOs, and transport providers with actionable insights. Ultimately, T-PATH-UP15 reclaims the 15-minute city as a socially just, needs-based vision rooted in everyday realities and long-term sustainability.
Austria
Belgium
Slovenia
United Kingdom
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, TU Wien, Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia
City of Graz, City of Klosterneuburg, Verein Zukunftsraum Wienerwald, Development Agency SAŠA, Jeugddienst Globelink , Leeds Love It Share, Radlobby Lower Austria, Regional Development Agency for Koroška, Vervoerregio Gent, Vervoerregio Gent, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
Contact
Richard Bärnthaler
r.barnthaler@leeds.ac.uk