Sustainability is a globally prominent guideline in policy-making and planning, with cities currently leading the way by pursuing sustainability transitions locally. The urban transportation sector is no exception in this regard. Urban transportation sustainability (UTS) pursues accessible, affordable, safe, and just mobility, efficient operations and investments, and lower levels of emissions, pollution, resource use, and other environmental impacts. Such a system requires long-term commitment to policies alongside wide and cooperative collaboration between diverse actors within municipalities, as well as between their surrounding regions and the national level.

While sustainability promotes a tri-dimensional approach that addresses environmental, social, and economic aspects together, local applications have been found to mostly focus on environmental and efficiency-related issues. The simultaneously marginalised social aspects of sustainability tend to be the most relevant to local citizens, as they touch upon the diverse perceptions, experiences, needs, and vulnerabilities of the population. If sustainability is narrowly conceptualised, it likely leads to a narrower set of measures selected and implemented as a solution, as well as potentially limited indicator use when monitoring these measures locally. Together, they affect the urban context that is created as a result of policy-making and planning. Thus, critical exploration of the links between conceptualisation, operationalisation, and realisation of UTS is needed.