Beyond the infrastructure. Designing the cycling space

Rapid urban growth, increasing population concentration, and demographic change have intensified mobility demands, making them a central challenge for planners and urban designers. Urban mobility encompasses technical, functional, social, economic, and symbolic dimensions, rendering it both a key structuring element of cities and a highly complex field of intervention. Its evolving dynamics not only inform urban policies but also drive the transformation of public spaces. In this context, achieving a balanced dialogue between mobility and public space enables the integration of diverse urban logics, recognizing infrastructure as a spatial configurator and mobility spaces as contributors to urban character and identity. The contextual integration of active mobility systems, in particular, offers an opportunity to bridge the traditional divide between transport planning and urban design, fostering synergies that enhance public space quality. Furthermore, ecological transition imperatives and pandemic-related policy incentives have accelerated the reconfiguration of active mobility models, positioning public urban space as a critical arena for promoting health, equity, and quality of life in the pursuit of more just cities. The article explores this landscape of possibilities and research avenues.