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Smart Mobility Suburbs (SMS) (completed)

Smart Mobility Suburbs (SMS) was a trans-disciplinary project that addressed the conditions for transition towards energy-smart mobility in suburban centres.

Lysaker Pier

«Lysaker Pier 1» by Wasielgallery - Own work. Photo: Lisenced under CC by 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

About the project (completed)

More than half the world's population lives in urban areas, and this is expected to rise to 70% by 2050. City regions generate more than 60% of all carbon dioxide and use an estimated 78% of the world's energy. One sector of particular significance is transport, which is the largest source of CO2 emissions. Simultaneously, it generates local stress and pollution, hampering the ambitions of urban policy makers to increase accessibility and living conditions in city regions. This project has provided knowledge on governance processes and mobility practices, to support the development of urban policy and planning strategies dealing with increasing transport and associated problems.

The project has addressed two shortcomings of urban policies and smart city strategies. First, we have focused on suburban areas, which, in contrast to urban cores, have been little studied. Yet, substantial parts of cities are suburban, and the spatial structure and social practices of suburban areas have profound effects on travel patterns and energy use for urban regions. Second, the project has emphasized social, cultural, and political processes and implications. Existing smart city strategies, being focused on technological innovation, often fall short to address important societal changes. In addition, unintended social implications (i.e. social inequality and exclusion) are little studied.

We have investigated how regional and municipal governance and planning regulate mobility within selected suburban or regional towns in Greater Oslo. We have provided new knowledge about innovations in mobility practices and policies. Our research reveals that a low share of all trips made to most places outside Oslo is made by public transport. People are travelling less by car and more by other modes (walking and public transport) when they live in or travel to urban cores or regional towns, compared to adjacent peri-urban areas. In addition, people living in or travelling to locations along the railway corridors travel less by car and more by other modes. These findings confirm that densification in and around highly accessible regional towns may lead to more sustainable transport. Besides, there are promising innovations. An investigation of shared electrical bikes found that e-biking has a great potential for long-distance suburban and intra-regional travels. We have also mapped changes in housing prices, finding an increase towards the centers of the regional towns, causing possible social inequalities in access to sustainable transport.

Our study of governance and planning processes in the regional towns revealed challenges facing municipal authorities. On the one hand, our findings suggest that the goals and strategies of the municipalities are very much in line with the goals of the regional plan for land use and transportation. The municipalities emphasize compact, transit oriented and multi-functional development in the regional towns, although there are examples of housing projects in conflict with the regional plan. However, the municipalities meet resistance against parts of their policy, especially restrictions on car use. And it is challenging to coordinate the policies of the road authorities with the strategies for developing urban centers. We also found examples of large-scale visions and plans that are promoted as energy smart, even if they contradict the regional land use and transport plan.

On the other hand, our study has revealed that the municipalities have taken on a more active governance role. This implies a use of strategic planning to handle collaboration and pressure from private developers. However, the focus on planning and coordination with the private sector, combined with internal capacity problems, may have hampered civil society participation. The turn towards network governance and market driven urban development, has made networks and partnerships more important, opening up for dialogue and co-creation with private actors. This may lead to democratic and transparent processes, but new power relations and reduced influence by civil society may also lead to less accountability and democratic control. We have found a combination of governance modes. Hierarchical governance has become reactivated through increased use of planning and negotiations where the municipality takes a lead role, motivated by sustainability goals. At the same time, we found a dominant market-based mode of governance, where developers seek profit from urban development.

Research results have been disseminated throughout the project period. Many presentations have been held at international and national conferences, and the project is also presented in popular science articles, newspaper articles and blog posts. Six master theses related to the project have been submitted. Research results have mainly been disseminated in several scientific articles.

Achieved effects

The SMS project has been of strategic importance to each of the research partners and their strategies. It has formed the basis for long-term research collaboration, including stakeholders in the Oslo region, and has developed collaboration with several strategic research initiatives. The SMS project has also been a base for developing the now funded FME Include, Research Centre for Socially Inclusive Energy Transitions, where the SMS project leader is leading the research area Energy Spaces and Flows. A transition towards low energy mobility is crucial for the mitigation of climate change and vitalisation of urban regions, but the large impacts of suburban areas on the regional transport system often overlooked. The knowledge on challenges and innovations in governance and social practices produced by SMS may strengthen local/regional and public/private governance capacities to meet climate challenges, and deal with sustainable accessibility, living conditions and inclusiveness.

International scientific advisory board

  • Marco Helbich: Spatial analyses and GIS
  • Monika Buscher: Mobility practices
  • Greg Marsden: Transport governance
  • Jon Shaw: Geographies of mobilities

Cooperation

Funding scheme

The project was funded by The Research Council of Norway under the Large-scale programme for energy research (ENERGIX). The total grant award was for NOK 7 000 000.

Project period

2016 - 2022

Publications

  • Nenseth, Vibeke & Røe, Per Gunnar (2023). Sustainable suburban mobilities – planning practices and paradoxes. European Planning Studies. ISSN 0965-4313. p. 1–19. doi: 10.1080/09654313.2023.2249950. Full text in Research Archive
  • Wikstrøm, Ragnhild Dahl (2023). The potential of combining qualitative GIS and map elicitation in daily mobility studies. Journal of Transport Geography. ISSN 0966-6923. 108. doi: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2023.103573. Full text in Research Archive
  • Wikstrøm, Ragnhild Dahl & Røe, Per Gunnar (2022). Sustainable mobility transitions in suburbia–exploring (dis)connections between transport planning and daily mobility. Urban Research and Practice. ISSN 1753-5069. doi: 10.1080/17535069.2022.2119430. Full text in Research Archive
  • Røe, Per Gunnar; Kjærås, Kristin Edith Abrahamsen & Haarstad, Håvard (2022). The Spatialities of the Nordic Compact City. In Jakobsen, Peter; Jönsson, Erik & Gutzon Larsen, Henrik (Ed.), Socio-spatial theory in Nordic geography : Intellectual histories and critical interventions. Springer Nature. ISSN 9783031042331. p. 191–206. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-04234-8_11. Full text in Research Archive
  • Hjorteset, Mari Andrine; Böcker, Lars; Røe, Per Gunnar & Wessel, Terje (2021). Intraurban geographies of car sharing supply and demand in Greater Oslo, Norway. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment. ISSN 1361-9209. 101, p. 1–13. doi: 10.1016/j.trd.2021.103089. Full text in Research Archive
  • Vedeld, Trond; Hofstad, Hege; Hilde, Solli & Hanssen, Gro Sandkjær (2021). Polycentric urban climate governance: Creating synergies between integrative and interactive governance in Oslo. Environmental Policy and Governance. ISSN 1756-932X. February(2), p. 1–14. doi: 10.1002/eet.1935.

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Tags: Urban development, Urban politics
Published Feb. 11, 2016 1:12 PM - Last modified Aug. 27, 2023 3:41 PM