Governing Urban Transport Packages in Norway: Understanding Conditions for Public Participation
Public Participation in Transport in Times of Change
ISBN: 978-1-80455-038-0, eISBN: 978-1-80455-037-3
Publication date: 3 May 2023
Abstract
Urban transport plays a key role in reducing climate gas emissions. However, public policies are developed and implemented in an increasingly complex, fragmented, and multilevelled society. This chapter focuses on how interactive political leadership can address challenges related to spatial justice, network cooperation, and communication to increase legitimate and robust policies. Through in-depth case studies of the Norwegian urban regions of Trondheim and Nord-Jaeren, the importance of ensuring broad political alliances, handling spatial complexity, strong political leadership, as well as engaging in dialogue and communication with the public is shown. This may be more challenging to achieve in a complex institutional structure. We argue that governance structures reflect dynamics of the urban regions in which they are implemented. Related to our two empirical cases, the urban structure of Nord-Jaeren is more complex, compared to that of Trondheim, and likewise is their governance network. Linking the conditions of interactive political leadership to the three interconnected urban governance challenges, we see that contextual characteristics are important to explain differences in political leadership and public engagement.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
The data used in this chapter have been collected through several research projects. Urban Agreements as a Tool for Sustainable Living, Land-use, and Transport Development financed by the Research Council of Norway (258979), Include – Research centre for socially inclusive energy transitions financed by the Research Council of Norway (295704), Comparative evaluation of the transport policies of Nord-Jæren, Bergen and Trondheim financed by Miljøløftet in Bergen, Bymiljøpakken in Nord-Jæren and Miljøpakken in Trondheim, as well as ‘Changing commuting in large urban areas – identifying acceptable and effective measures (COMMUTE)’ financed by the Research Council of Norway (249733/O80). We appreciate discussions and cooperation with research colleagues on urban governance and policy packages during the course of the abovementioned projects. A special thanks to the following researchers who have been involved in these projects: Hege Westskog, Sigrid Stokstad, and Einar Leknes. We would also like to thank the editors and co-authors of this book for their constructive comments.
Citation
Tønnesen, A., Krogstad, J.R. and Christiansen, P. (2023), "Governing Urban Transport Packages in Norway: Understanding Conditions for Public Participation", Hansson, L., Sørensen, C.H. and Rye, T. (Ed.) Public Participation in Transport in Times of Change (Transport and Sustainability, Vol. 18), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 137-156. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2044-994120230000018010
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023 Anders Tønnesen, Julie Runde Krogstad and Petter Christiansen