Researchers from GEMOTT took part in the World Conference on Transport Research Society (WCTRS) 2026, held in Toulouse, France, from 6 to 10 July. The conference brought together transport researchers and practitioners from across the globe to discuss current challenges and innovations in mobility, accessibility, transport policy, and urban development. Read more about the conference and its programme here.
The GEMOTT team contributed to the programme through both poster session and presentations, showcasing research on walkability, urban transformations, and public transport:
During the poster session, Jaime Orrego-Oñate presented “Scaling Up: Why Disaggregated Models Underestimate Walkability and Aggregated Models Uncover Broader Effects.” The poster captured the attention of conference participants with its striking headline: “Studying individuals instead of neighborhoods can hide 2–4× of the built environment’s effect on walking.” Drawing on travel survey data from the Seattle metropolitan area, the research examines how different analytical scales shape our understanding of the relationship between accessibility and walking. The findings suggest that models focused exclusively on individual travel decisions may substantially underestimate the influence of the built environment on walking behaviour, while neighbourhood-level analyses reveal much stronger effects, with important implications for transport and land-use planning.
On 9 July,, Oriol Marquet presented “Media framing and political discourse of Barcelona’s urban transformations (2016-2024),” examining how media narratives and political debates have shaped public perceptions of urban transformation initiatives in Barcelona. The research forms part of the ERC-funded ATRAPA project, which explores how urban accessibility policies are designed, implemented, and contested across different social and political contexts.
The presentation generated interesting feedback and discussions with international colleagues working on urban governance and transport policy, that the team will bring back to ongoing research within the ATRAPA project.
Another contribution came from Monika Maciejewska, who on 10 July presented “Fare-free and far from worthless. Stable satisfaction with Luxembourg’s public transport after fare abolition.” The study examines public perceptions of Luxembourg’s fare-free public transport system and contributes to ongoing debates about the social and behavioural impacts of fare-free mobility policies. Addressing a key question in current transport policy debates, the research explored what happens to passengers’ perceptions of service quality when fares are removed. The paper, co-authored with Veronique Van Acker (Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research, LISER), is currently under revision, and we look forward to sharing the results once the study is published.
Beyond presenting research, the conference offered an opportunity to exchange ideas with scholars from around the world and strengthen international collaborations. Participants attended sessions covering topics such as parking policy, public transport finance, travel behaviour, and sustainable urban mobility, providing valuable insights for current and future GEMOTT research projects.
For Jaime Orrego-Oñate, the event also included a particularly meaningful moment: attending a tribute session dedicated to Professor Sergio Jara-Díaz (University of Chile), whose retirement brought together researchers from across the Chilean transport research community.
