Rethinking strategic resilience through urban mobility: A conceptual model of Homo Urbanus Mobilitatis Sustinens (HUMS) and the geo-economic autonomy of the European Union

In light of growing geopolitical volatility, the energy transition, and rapid digitalization, urban mobility emerges as a critical vector of the European Union's strategic resilience. This article presents the Homo Urbanus Mobilitatis Sustinens (HUMS) model as a novel conceptual framework that integrates behavioural and geo-economic dimensions of resilience. Grounded in systems thinking and behavioural public policy, HUMS redefines mobility practices as forms of behavioural capital - a systemic resource that underpins Europe's open strategic autonomy. By extending resilience theory beyond technological infrastructures, the model positions mobility as a cognitive, social, and institutional process of adaptive learning within complex socio-technical systems. Developed through conceptual synthesis and informed by empirical insights from the NCN MINIATURA 6 project (2022-2023), HUMS links micro-, meso-, and macro-levels of analysis. As a normative and diagnostic tool, it offers a foundation for designing urban mobility policies where behavioural, infrastructural, and governance components coalesce to advance behavioural sovereignty and long-term adaptive capacity in the EU.