Abstract
Public space and mobility are two challenging topics in many contemporary cities. These
topics give rise to important questions such as how does the element of public space affect
the sustainability of urban mobility in contemporary cities? And how does facilitating mobility
contribute to the livability of the public realm? The purpose of this paper is to attempt to
answer these questions. On one hand, the paper explores the relationship between public
space and urban mobility in the contemporary city, specifically by addressing the extent to
which urban mobility can create better public spaces and even assist in producing a more
sustainable model of mobility. Although ignored for a long time in the discourse on urban
planning, the relationship between public space and urban mobility has the potential to create
livable cities. Indeed, the use of public space by walking and cycling contributes to economic,
environmental and social sustainability. Hence, together with economic, ecological and social
indicators, public space and urban mobility also constitute relevant city components, when
measuring a city’s sustainability performance. On the other hand, this paper seeks to suggest
a set of measures related to public space and soft mobility that can be integrated into an
already existing set of indicators commonly used to measure urban sustainability. In this
regard, the paper contributes to the debate surrounding the need to invest more in public
spaces and at the same time suggests to planners and policy makers that it is necessary to
develop international measures for the evaluation of urban mobility and the sustainability of
public space.