Politicising sustainable urban mobility: shopkeepers’ frames of street-space reallocation measures

Transport is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and public health costs, with passenger cars among the main contributors. Sustainable mobility policies promise cleaner air and healthier cities by reducing car use, encouraging shifts to more efficient modes, and adopting cleaner technologies and energy. Yet implementation is often contested. Local retailers are among the principal opponents, especially when measures restrict car access and reallocate space to other uses. Across countries and over time, a core assumption endures that car access and parking are vital to business survival. Much research has tested these claims through retail impact assessments, while the non-economic dimensions of shopkeepers’ positions remain less explored. This article builds on recent work on the politics of mobility and applies frame analysis to treat shopkeepers as political actors beyond their economic role, asking how they frame and legitimise opposition. The study examines two paradigmatic cases in Padua, Italy, a major tram expansion and an urban greening intervention, and triangulates local press coverage, participatory process documents, a questionnaire with business owners, and semi-structured interviews. Findings show that shopkeepers politicise interventions as struggles over conceptions of mobility and urban space, visions of the city’s future, freedom and rights, pointing beyond narrow economic concerns.