Expert-citizens: Producing and contesting sustainable mobility policy in Mexican cities

Urban transport policymakers in Latin America are increasingly utilizing the “sustainable mobility” paradigm. This paradigm involves not only considering more seriously the environmental consequences of transport, but also including a wider variety of actors in transport policymaking processes. In this article we use qualitative evidence from Mexico City and Guadalajara to show the tensions that exist within the apparent consensus around sustainable mobility policy in Latin American cities. In doing so, we analyze a particular kind of non-state actor who has become a critical figure in both the production and contestation of sustainable mobility policy in Mexico. These actors, whom we call expert-citizens in this article, are characterized by their mobilization of legitimacy as both experts and citizens to influence urban transport policy agendas. This legitimacy is mobilized through three key practices: 1) their focus on small-scale interventions; 2) their capacity to engage the state and civil society through the use of a toned-down language; and 3) a strategic use of media and public opinion tools. We argue that the work these expert-citizens undertake –and the strategies, practices and spaces they use– are telling of a new type of urban political actor that goes beyond the traditional divide between state planners and civil society groups that has characterized studies of urban transport politics. Finally, by focusing on the relational ways in which these actors confront and collaborate with transport activists, planners and experts, both globally and in their home cities, we show new ways in which “sustainable mobility” policy is produced, circulated and contested in Latin American cities.