Proximity-based urban models such as the 15-minute city have gained prominence as strategies to promote sustainable mobility and urban well-being. However, their applicability to medium-sized cities, particularly peripheral districts characterized by low densities, fragmented land uses, and strong car dependence, remains insufficiently explored. This study investigates how participatory evidence can inform the reframing of proximity-based mobility strategies in medium-sized urban peripheries, moving beyond purely spatial interpretations of accessibility. Using the Northern District of Cáceres (Spain) as a critical case, the research adopts a constructivist grounded theory-informed qualitative design. Four multi-stakeholder focus groups were conducted with residents, public authorities, service providers, and mobility-related actors to examine lived experiences of accessibility, everyday mobility barriers, and locally acceptable transition pathways. The material was coded and analyzed using ATLAS.ti 25 through thematic, frequency, and co-occurrence analyses structured around key analytical dimensions related to the built environment, transport systems, governance, diversity, and digitalization. The findings show that perceived proximity in medium-sized urban peripheries is shaped less by physical distance alone than by experiential and systemic factors, including public space quality, continuity of active-mode networks, public transport structure, and institutional legitimacy. Behavioral lock-ins and skepticism toward decontextualized, large-city mobility measures emerge as critical barriers to policy acceptability. Based on the participatory evidence, eight context-sensitive strategies were derived, emphasizing social infrastructure-based micro-centralities, enhanced public transport connectivity, continuous active-mode networks, and inclusive digital integration. By reframing proximity as lived accessibility, this study contributes to the sustainable mobility and proximity planning literature and demonstrates the value of participatory qualitative methods for designing socially robust and transferable mobility strategies in medium-sized cities, supporting SDG 11–aligned urban transitions.
Ramos-Pacheco et al. (Thu,) studied this question.