Mobility governance in Spain: a metropolitan approach

This article analyzes the characteristics of mobility governance in Spanish metropolitan areas from an institutional perspective. Based on the statistical definition of Functional Urban Areas, the study analyzes the metropolitan governance instruments related to mobility in the 45 most populated urban agglomerations in Spain. The different instruments are classified according to the degree of institutionalization (from highest to lowest), the main actors and the territorial scale where they operate. The diagnosis shows the key role of regional governments in promoting metropolitan cooperation instruments, as well as the most frequent use of consortia, public or public-private companies and supra-municipal plans. The analysis also reveals the gap between governance instruments and functional areas. The case of Barcelona, due to its wide variety of formal and informal instruments, helps us understand the difficulties in building effective metropolitan mobility governance.