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Everyday life depends on access to essential goods and services such as housing, education, work, care, and leisure. These are provided through essential provisioning systems – the ways in which societies organise, govern, and deliver what people need to live well. For young people in particular, access to these systems is often uneven and fragile, and they are frequently excluded from planning and decision-making processes.

T-Path-UP15 (Transition Pathways for Urban Provisioning Systems Toward 15-minute Cities) explores the relationship between mobility and access to essential provisioning systems from the perspective of young people aged 18 to ~25. Rather than treating mobility as an end in itself, the project understands it as a crucial link between everyday needs and their satisfaction, shaping how young people access opportunities and participate in social life.

The project uses a Systems-of-Provision approach to explore which essential provisioning systems matter most to young people, how they access them in everyday life, how these systems are organised and governed, how young people experience and make sense of them, and how they work together to shape mobility and access to essential services.

We combine surveys, interviews, and workshops with young people to capture lived experiences, alongside analysis of how relevant systems and policies currently operate. The research is conducted across different regions in Europe – Austria, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Slovenia. Regional stakeholder forums are established as long-term partners in the research, bringing together civic, public, private, and research actors. These forums work closely with young people in co-producing an understanding of current barriers, identifying policy improvements, as well as radical visions for the future and “next-best steps” to get there. This co-productive approach is also a form of capacity building, supporting young people and stakeholders to learn how to engage with one another, share knowledge, and jointly shape more just, inclusive, and sustainable provisioning systems.

T‑Path‑UP15 delivers tools and co‑created insights that enable researchers to study mobility through a participatory systems‑of‑provision approach, support youth‑led mobility transitions by equipping public authorities and local partners with transition pathways linking mobility to essential services, and empower young people with skills in systems thinking, collaboration, and advocacy.

T-Path-UP15 is a DUT (Driving Urban Transition) funded research project. The DUT Partnership funds transformative research and innovation projects to accelerate urban transitions towards a climate neutral and resilient future for all. The DUT Partnership is co-funded within the European Research and Innovation (R&I) Framework Programme, Horizon Europe. T-Path-UP15 was funded through the DUT call 2024, and runs from March 2026 to December 2028.