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This article examines the possible contributions that transition studies can make to better understand the problems that hinder attempts to deliver coordination between transport and land-use planning and better integration between modes of transport in urban regions. Recent publications focus on barriers of coordination between transport and land use and methods to overcome them. Obdurate social and material structures are the dominant obstacles for change. For this reason, transition studies are considered to conceptualize the mobility system. In the article, key theories in transition studies are first considered. Following this, the ways in which these concepts can be used to characterize the system of transport and land-use planning are explored; it is demonstrated that the system and the challenges facing it can be better understood by using these concepts. This has resulted in a conceptual model for the development of the mobility system. A focus-group session in the Noordvleugel region of the Randstad in the Netherlands has been used to test the usability of this model in practice, gauge the participants' reactions to it and to supplement it, if necessary. By combining insights about how to conceptualise change in socio-technical systems and more specific knowledge about transport land-use planning, this article gives new insight into how a transition towards better coordination between transport and land-use planning and the transport network could occur, as well as how it could be hindered. It also provides interesting indications of research options examining cases where such transitions have taken place or been attempted.

Inter-actor trust (or the absence of it) plays an important role in complex planning processes. Trust has received much attention in management science, but surprisingly little in planning literature despite the similarities between the two and its increasing importance in ensuring coordination between multiple, heterogeneous actors in delivering developments. This paper aims to explore the role of trust in coordination in transit-oriented developments processes, based on literature research and two empirical case studies in the region of Toronto in Canada and the province of Zuid-Holland in the Netherlands. This research suggests that in both planning contexts trust is an important element in achieving successful outcomes. Trust was often identified at a personal level as something which can bridge differences between organizations, but that can be hindered by a history of distrust between organizations. The building of trust between stakeholders seems dependent on a commitment to building a good relationship early and openness throughout. Breaches of trust, as long as they are not fatal for the relationship, can lead to a stronger trust relationship in the long term. Trust, however, is not just an individual or organizational matter: the broader institutional context was also found to have pronounced impacts on the ability of trust to take root.

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The broadly advocated coordination between transport and land-use planning is being hindered by barriers nested in persistent societal structures and intertwined practices. In order to understand how such barriers can be overcome, we use insights from transition studies to develop hypotheses with regard to why and how transitions in transport and land-use planning take place through an imbedded case study of transitions in the region of Munich from the period of 1945-2013. Of importance are changes in the practices of households and firms, attention from interest groups, institutions allowing for conflict but also being supportive of conflict resolution and the identity of the city as a powerful discursive element in urban transitions.