Immediate objectives are to develop the DMM platform and secure the funding needed for its implementation and research activities. A clear research framework is essential at this stage, because it should shape both technical decisions and the funding strategy.
The overall aim is to analyse the emergence and consolidation of alternative mobilities as processes of transformation and change. This requires a clear working definition of “alternative mobilities” and an understanding of how “alternativeness” is constructed and perceived by the social groups involved.
Core research questions include whether alternative mobilities exist and, if so, what forms they take; how they can be identified; how they can be studied and measured; and why and how a particular mobility regime—especially car-based mobility—became hegemonic.
Methodologically, the work should keep objectives few and explicit, translate key concepts into operational definitions, and integrate quantitative and qualitative evidence. A perspective attentive to social groups and the dynamics of technological and cultural change is considered especially useful, with SCOT as a possible reference framework, focusing on users and non-users, even opponents.
Stakeholders matter both as actors interested in the project and as potential objects of analysis. Key categories include activist groups, the automotive industry, and service users. Particular attention should also be given to sceptics and disengaged subjects—those indifferent to mobility and largely adapted to the status quo—as they are crucial for understanding both the drivers of change and the barriers to it.
Two operational issues remain open: the time horizon of the data (extending back several decades versus focusing on contemporary data interpreted through a historical lens) and the degree of standardisation needed for comparability (shared protocols and uniform data versus greater contextual flexibility, while maintaining rigour through common objectives and an overarching narrative).