Is it possible to discern correlations between past and present urban policies? Do path dependencies exist at the urban level? If so, how do they differ from other links between the past and present? A preview of the literature dealing with dependencies and urban change, a presentation of the research methodology and an examination of the historical archives of six European cities in France, Germany and Switzerland enable us to identify three features common to both past and present transport and urban planning policies—namely, contingency, reproduction and innovation.

In most of the western countries, car is the prevalent means of transport for local mobility. At the same time, sensitivity to environmental issues is increasing, correlated to the consciousness that carbon dioxide emissions have to be reduced. In regard to these two trends (individual mobility and public opinions favourable to a reduction of carbon emissions), energy-efficient vehicles will probably develop in the future-car manufacturers actually prepare new offers for the mass market. Comparable cases have occurred during the last decades-probably more modest but full of learning: some local authorities have promoted innovations based on electric vehicles in the 1990s, and some people have chosen this kind of cars for their daily travels. This article deals with these pioneers (This article comes from a communication at the ECEEE Summer Study, June 2009, Panel 6: Energy efficiency in transport and mobility.). Reporting studies carried out in 2006 and 2008, we intend to identify the reasons of this innovative modal choice, to show the difficulties that electric vehicle drivers then encountered and to analyse the patterns of use that governed their mobility and their use of electric vehicles.

Out of the many ingredients that together build urban areas, three deserve particular consideration as their relationship is evolving: the functional centrality, the morphology of built-up areas and the way of life. Those three characteristics do not necessarily match along territorial lines anymore. To overcome this limitation, this article suggests approaching urbanity in terms of cohesion. To illustrate this approach under a specific analytical point of view, the paper describes a cohesion index based on the commuter relationships between the Swiss communes from 1970 to 2000. For 2000, further distinction is made between car-based and public transport-based commuting patterns, which allowed discrimination between two scales of cohesiveness between the Swiss agglomerations.

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