Making Sustainable Mobility Work in New Developments
Cities across Europe are setting higher ambitions for how people move. New neighbourhoods promise sustainable living, less car use, and more liveable streets. But the results don’t always match the plans.
Mobility is often treated as a planning approval pre-requisite or a late-stage detail. That creates missed opportunities, fragmented responsibilities, and poor resident experiences.
Beta Mobility works with property developers, municipalities, and architects to make mobility work in real life. We help ensure that mobility ambitions are delivered in practice, not just shown in masterplans.
Where we fit in
We’re not engineers. We’re not your lead architect.
We’re mobility advisors who sit alongside your team: helping you develop ambitious yet realistic mobility concepts, align stakeholders, and make things happen on time.
We work from early-stage concept through to implementation. That includes strategies, delivery models, design input, and on-the-ground execution.
Piloting safe and easy cargo-bike parking for new residents.
Common challenges we help solve
In project after project, we see the same challenges appear. Here are seven that are worth watching out for with examples of how they show up:
1. Wrong assumptions about future residents
Plans often rely on idealised travel patterns. But real residents include families with two cars, shift workers without reliable public transport, or people unfamiliar with shared services.
Typical symptom: A plan assumes high cycling rates, but the first families arrive with prams and long commutes, and no practical way to make it work.
2. No one owns mobility
Mobility sits across too many hands. Developers, municipalities, operators, and agencies all own different pieces. If no one takes the lead, things fall between the cracks.
Typical symptom: A car-sharing scheme is promised, but the operator never arrives because no one is responsible for signing the contract or preparing the site.
3. Infrastructure that comes too late
Mobility services are often delayed until demand is proven. But habits form fast. If alternatives aren’t available from day one, people revert to the car and stay there.
Typical symptom: Residents move in months before the footpaths are finished or the bus starts running. By then, the car is already part of daily life.
4. Alternatives are missing
Parking restrictions help, but they only work if residents have something to switch to. Without visible alternatives, regulation feels like punishment and triggers resistance.
Typical symptom: A development limits parking, but shared mobility isn’t in place and there’s no communication about other options.
5. EVs are not a mobility strategy
Electric vehicles help cut emissions, but they don’t fix congestion, space use, or access. Without other modes in the mix, they reinforce the same car-based structure.
Typical symptom: The only transport-related investment delivered on time is EV charging. There’s no plan for public transport or shared use.
Workshop with Obos Living Lab.
Why it matters
These aren’t abstract issues, they affect how projects are approved, built, and experienced. Here’s why getting mobility right matters for everyone involved.
🏗️ For property developers
These challenges often show up late in the process, but they have real consequences. Parking complaints. Low uptake of mobility services. Delays in approvals. Pushback from municipalities or buyers. That can mean slower sales, added costs, or promises you can’t keep. Addressing the risks early helps avoid last-minute fixes and keeps your project on track.
🏛️ For municipalities
Even with strong policy goals, these pitfalls lead to weak implementation. Parking spillover. Poor access. Frustrated residents. And mobility plans that look good on paper but don’t hold up on site. For municipalities, this can undermine liveability goals, create enforcement issues, or weaken trust in new development models. Early action helps align delivery with intention.
🏢 For architects
Mobility can make or break a masterplan. If integration is weak or delivery is delayed, key features stop working as intended: walkable streets feel empty, services are underused, and car use creeps back in. A good mobility strategy protects the integrity of your design and helps the vision hold up once people move in.
The proposed Mobility Plaza at Fælledby outside Copenhagen.
How Beta Mobility can help
How Beta Mobility can help
We help public and private actors make mobility a core part of how places are planned, built, and lived in. Our team combines backgrounds in urban design, business, and mobility operations. We understand the market, the user, and the planning process, and we bring that experience to every stage of your project.
Strategy: Set the right ambition
We help define clear roles, map out realistic options, and align stakeholders around common goals for mobility.
Design: Build solutions that work
We develop operating models, funding structures, and public space designs that reflect real-world constraints and support active and shared mobility.
Operations: Deliver and adapt
We coordinate implementation, run pilots, and turn strategy into action. We ensure that mobility is in place when people move in, not years later.
Planning a new neighbourhood?
Robert is an experienced advisor in urban development and mobility. He’s ready to help cities and property developers make sustainable mobility work.
Robert J. Martin
Partner
robert@betamobility.com
+45 27 21 08 66