Barriers and opportunities to car-use reduction - A study of land-use and transport policy in four Norwegian cities

• Published in: Journal of Transport Geography
• Main Author: Tønnesen, Anders
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Bodø
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10852/89113; http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-91726

Reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transport has long been on the political agenda. To effectuate transport change, many policy actors must be coordinated and a range of strategies combined. However, while research has pointed to urban densification, car-regulative measures and strengthening of walking, cycling and public-transport facilities as important, such policy initiatives often meet distinct obstacles. This thesis responds to a call for research on how to facilitate car-use reduction (CUR) in urban areas. Applying a case-study approach, in-depth studies have been carried out in four Norwegian cities – Trondheim, Drammen, Porsgrunn and Bodø. The main methods used are qualitative interviews and document studies. In addition, insight is sought through the reading of statistics. The four case cities are involved in ongoing largescale programmes for land-use and transport-system development, so-called city packages. These can be seen as policy packages involving governance networks, and are central to the analysis. In all four city packages, there is a tension between whether to facilitate or restrict car usage. This is evident in the inclusion of goals for CUR and the simultaneous targeting of traffic efficiency through roadinfrastructure building. However, there are differences between the city packages in terms of economic resources and regulative measures used to facilitate CUR. The case-study approach provided a way to cover contextual conditions important for local decision making. Both structure- and agency-related explanations to the differences have been found. The issue of CUR impinges on policy actors’ interests, mobilising them both for and against policy action. This means that policy outcomes are a result of negotiations between actors holding different interests. Emphasis is therefore placed on understanding how local authorities seek to balance policy for CUR with other experienced needs in urban development. The following main research question is posed: How is the integration of car-use reduction in urban development strategies hindered or facilitated by policy actors? In addition, three subordinate research questions are formulated, one for each article of the thesis. The three articles have different comparative setups, cover different themes and bring up different academic discussions. Still, they feed into the main research question by analysing barriers and opportunities for local authorities in their approaches to CUR. The main contribution of this thesis lies in its combining of existing research and academic discussions. In article #1, research perspectives on policy packaging are blended with the discussion on the role of national authorities in local policy. In article #2, discussions on effectiveness and democratic aspects of network governance are combined, with a focus on how the relationships between them play out in policy for CUR. In article #3, economy–environment relations are highlighted by merging the academic discussion on urban entrepreneurialism with that of CUR. Two critical insights emerge from this thesis. First, it highlights the analytical value of a discussion in which local environmental policymaking is not divided from the management of local economies. To better understand local policy for CUR, issues of urban competition over private and national authority investments, as well as over retail customers and inhabitants, need to be taken into account. Thus, research on climate action cannot be reduced to wish lists of measures to be implemented, also analysis of the local political context are needed. For example, this thesis illustrates how policy supporting CUR is hindered when stakeholders fear that it will negatively influence the competitiveness of a city vis-à-vis its surrounding region. This is evident in both the regulation of parking and urban densification strategies. If such tensions are not resolved, a structured and bold approach to CUR becomes more difficult. The second main contribution of the thesis is that it highlights a spatial perspective to understand urban climate policy. Also here, the relationship between municipalities within a region and notions of urban competition are relevant. The empirical enquiry gives examples of inter-municipal cooperation to reduce competition-related tensions (and thereby facilitate CUR). However, it also gives examples of initiatives for CUR being blocked due to fear of competition in the region. This illustrates how local policy decisions are influenced by actors and processes on different geographical scales. In line with the multilevel-governance perspective, there is thus a need to step beyond the city itself to understand local climate policy. As CUR highly involves regional dynamics, there is also a need for strong regional governance institutions.