On June 1st, Oriol Roig was awarded the Award for Best Doctoral Thesis in Urban Geography, in its 4th edition, granted by the Urban Geography Group of the Spanish Association of Geography (AGE).
The thesis, defended in October 2025 at the Department of Geography of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, is titled The emergence of micromobility in Barcelona. Exploring the behavioural, social and environmental dimensions of new urban modes, and was supervised by Dr. Carme Miralles-Guasch and Dr. Oriol Marquet.
The research analyzes the emergence and consolidation of micromobility in Barcelona, with special attention to its effects on daily mobility behaviors, usage profiles, social inequalities, and the environmental implications of these new transport modes. Based on a mixed methodological approach, the thesis contributes to understanding how shared bicycles, electric scooters, and other forms of micromobility integrate into the urban transport system and transform travel experiences in the city.
The jury particularly valued the academic quality of the research, its methodological soundness, and its contribution to knowledge about new forms of urban mobility, as well as their social, environmental, and territorial implications.
This recognition highlights a line of research that GEMOTT has been developing in recent years around urban micromobility. Several doctoral theses, projects, and publications by the group have contributed to expanding knowledge about the emergence and consolidation of new transport modes, their usage patterns, and their impacts on daily mobility.
Oriol’s thesis represents a significant contribution in this field and demonstrates the growing relevance of micromobility in the transformation of contemporary urban mobility systems.
From GEMOTT, we congratulate Oriol for this well-deserved recognition and for his contribution to urban geography and mobility studies.
The thesis can be consulted at the following link.
