Delivering lower carbon urban transport choices: European ambition meets the reality of institutional (mis)alignment

Citation

Gray D, Laing R & Docherty I (2017) Delivering lower carbon urban transport choices: European ambition meets the reality of institutional (mis)alignment. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 49 (1), pp. 226-242. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X16662272

Abstract
Reducing carbon emissions from the transport sector has become a critical imperative for public policy as our understanding of the impacts of the mobility system on the environment has developed. This paper contrasts policy development in three cities (Aberdeen, Bremen and Malmö) that collaborated as part of a European Union knowledge exchange programme designed to share innovative approaches to carbon reduction in the transport sector. We identify a number of critical aspects of governance, including the approach to policy formulation and implementation, and the status of consensus and cohesion, as key determinants of transport outcomes. We conclude that the degree of institutional alignment evident in each city’s governance network is crucial in explaining their appetite for the pursuit of low carbon policies, and in turn the real potential for policy transfer to occur as envisaged by European Union collaboration frameworks.

Keywords
Transport; carbon reduction ; governance ; policy transfer

Journal
Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space: Volume 49, Issue 1

People

Professor Iain Docherty

Dean of Institute for Advanced Studies