VIRTUAL Manchester Livable Cities

Abstract

Over the past decade, Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility (CCAM) has been promoted as a cornerstone of the smart city agenda and a catalyst for urban renaissance through enhanced safety, efficiency, and sustainability. However, its deployment frequently follows technocratic, infrastructure-led pathways that insufficiently account for cultural, institutional, and socio-spatial diversity across regions. This paper critically examines the governance challenges of CCAM integration in Catalonia (Spain), drawing on the Two-Step Co-creation Framework (TSCCF) developed within the European project CulturalRoad. The study combines institutional stakeholder workshops with focus groups involving diverse population segments, including older adults and low-income expatriates. Through qualitative analysis, it identifies regulatory fragmentation, data governance gaps, coordination deficits, and equity concerns as key barriers to meaningful deployment. The findings expose tensions between technological optimism and the complex realities of multi-level governance, highlighting how innovation narratives can overlook structural and social constraints. Rather than approaching CCAM as a purely technical advancement, the paper reframes it as a socio-institutional transformation requiring participatory planning and territorially adapted deployment strategies. By embedding stakeholder perspectives into regional roadmaps, the research contributes to debates on smart mobility governance and offers a grounded critique of contemporary urban renaissance narratives. The Catalan case demonstrates how participatory frameworks can bridge technological ambition and urban liveability objectives.