Recently, a co-authored paper titled Anticipation of urban mobility futures beyond adoption: User segmentation across scenarios in two pioneering Chinese cities by Dr Yang Lu and Dr Eunkyung Lee from the Department of Intelligent Operations and Marketing (IOM) at IBSS, and Dr Juhyun Lee and Dr Hyung-Chul Chung from the Department of Urban Planning and Design (UPD) at XJTLU’s School of Design, has been accepted and published by the leading international academic journal Cities. Focusing on urban residents’ expectations and preferences for future mobility, the research systematically reveals that a one-size-fits-all approach fails to meet the diverse mobility demands of cities transitioning to autonomous and shared transportation. From an interdisciplinary perspective integrating consumer behavior, technology innovation adoption, and urban transportation planning, it also delivers human-centric, practical scientific guidance for bringing future urban smart mobility systems.
The study conducted an in-depth survey of 1,968 residents in Shanghai and Suzhou, breaking the single-dimensional focus of traditional research on residents’ willingness to adopt autonomous vehicles. Based on core value orientations including privacy protection, affordability, travel convenience, and technological innovation, it identified distinct urban mobility user segments. It clearly confirms that urban mobility users are not a homogeneous group: their travel preferences are shaped not only by basic factors like income and age, but also crucially by lifestyle and urban spatial context. Both Shanghai and Suzhou have user segments prioritizing privacy protection and cost-time efficiency, while Suzhou features a unique segment of young emerging workers eager to upgrade daily travel via technological innovation, showing differentiated mobility demand characteristics.
In terms of urban development, Shanghai—a high-density city with a well-established public transport system—sees higher resident acceptance of shared and automated mobility modes. In contrast, Suzhou’s relatively dispersed spatial layout results is related to dual mobility demands among its residents, who favor technology-driven public transport yet remain reliant on private vehicles. This finding verifies that building future urban mobility systems must be rooted in each city’s unique development features and account for the core needs of different groups. The research also finds that residents’ evaluation of future mobility transcends the functional attributes of transportation itself: they view mobility as an integral part of daily life and focus more on whether it can enhance overall quality of life. This means mere technological upgrades or infrastructure construction cannot meet all residents’ expectations for future mobility, and human-centric transportation planning is the core priority.
The research provides important practical guidance for urban policymakers, planners, mobility service providers, and technology innovation enterprises, clarifying the direction for cities’ transition to autonomous and shared transportation. Policymakers and urban planners must adhere to the principles of people-centeredness and local adaptation when designing future mobility initiatives, fully considering the spatial characteristics of different cities and disparities in travel benefits among various groups, accurately matching urban development stages with residents’ needs, and avoiding one-dimensional planning. Mobility service providers and innovation enterprises can develop customized mobility service packages based on the identified user segments—offering exclusive solutions for privacy-focused groups and building cutting-edge shared mobility systems for technology-enthusiastic groups—to tap into market potential through differentiated services and boost the adaptability and user experience of mobility services. The development of future urban smart mobility systems must abandon the traditional one-size-fits-all model: centering on residents’ diverse value orientations and quality-of-life demands, it is essential to integrate multi-stakeholder resources, including technology, infrastructure, and services, and build a diversified mobility ecosystem balancing efficiency, equity, and experience, ensuring smart mobility truly serves every urban resident.
Dr Yang Lu is an Assistant Professor in Management at the IOM Department, International Business School Suzhou, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. She also serves as the current programme director for the BSc Information Management and Information Systems, as well as an Honorary Associate PhD Supervisor at the University of Liverpool. Dr Lu’s research interests focus on management information systems subjects, specifically, individuals’ acceptance and use of advanced technological innovations under the broad concept of the Internet of Things, such as artificial intelligence, embodied intelligence, robotics, autonomous vehicles, etc. Her work has been published in several prestigious journals and conferences, including Risk Analysis, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Cities, Computers in Human Behaviors, Journal of Marketing Management, Academy of Management Conference, etc.
Cities publishes a wide range of research articles on urban planning and urban policy. Its mission is to analyze and evaluate past and present practices in urban development and governance, thereby reflecting the effective implementation, failures, and gaps of urban planning policies; and to promote the implementation of appropriate urban policies in both developed and developing countries.