Suchergebnisse

To abate problems resulting from increased car use, hard transport policy measures have been introduced. Such measures often meet public disapproval, are politically infeasible, and may alone be insufficient. As a consequence, alternative soft transport policy measures have been proposed. These measures are designed to motivate individuals to voluntarily reduce car use. This paper reviews implementations of soft transport policy measures in Japan, Australia, UK, and several other countries. The review underscores the effectiveness of soft transport policy measures in general and points to a variety of positive outcomes. Yet, the variety in the results makes it hard to infer why the measures are effective. Several gaps of knowledge are also identified. A companion paper will discuss these and identify research needs.

Many countries are today facing substantial environmental and societal costs of private car use such as congestion, noise, and air pollution. Transport authorities therefore implement various policy measures that aim to modify or reduce private car use. These are generally referred to as Travel Demand Management (TDM) measures. In this research report we propose a classification of the various TDM-measures, encompassing the specific characteristics of each, how the various measures may be distinguished from each other and to what extent they may interact, as well as how effective they are in modifying or reducing private car use. A theoretical framework is proposed next, to account for how the TDM measures impact on car users' change in travel behaviour. The theoretical framework posits that, if a change goal is set, it is followed by forming plans to attain the set goal (e.g., to change from using the car to using alternative modes). A principle of cost-minimization is proposed that describes how car users incrementally implement plans to achieve their set goals. A review of voluntary travel-behavior change (VTBC) programs shows that in general the VTBC-related TDM measures are effective. Yet, it is still unclear whether these positive effects are long-term. Furthermore, the positive effects are apparently only observed for motivated (and self-selected) participants and not even necessarily for all of them unless some facilitating conditions are fulfilled. However, the VTBC measures meet with higher public acceptance, are politically feasible, and cost-effective. It is argued that more research is needed to answer the questions of when and why VTBC measures work, wherein also a closer investigation into which individual and situational factors it is that generates the positive effect.

Eutrophication is one of the key environmental problems of today, both in terms of complexity and magnitude. For the Baltic Sea (BS), eutrophication is an acute problem, leading to hypoxic conditions at the bottom; a situation that is sustained and amplified, when phosphorus is released from hypoxic sediments. Reducing nutrient loading is a top political priority but the present situation is believed to require active measures within the catchments and recipients to reduce both loading and adverse effects. Implementation of effective and cost-efficient abatement methods requires understanding of natural processes in watersheds, streams and recipients as well as technological expertise in order to compare the effects of measures of different kinds and locations. This thesis tries to combine process understanding of catchment transport behaviour, especially in coastal zones, and feasibility of certain technologies for reducing nutrient loading and effects of eutrophication in-situ. The over-arching theme is the fate of the individual contaminant, from injection to removal. Transport and dispersion in catchments are investigated, combining physically-based, distributed, numerical groundwater models with Lagrangian stochastic advective reactive solute (LaSAR) transport modelling. The approach is powerful in the sense that it incorporates catchment structural, geomorphological dispersion in the numerical model with hydrodynamic and sub-scale dispersion as well as uncertainty in the LaSAR framework. The study exemplifies the complex nature of transport time distributions in catchments in general and when varying source size and location, importance of dispersion parameters and retention due to molecular diffusion. It is shown that geomorphological control on dispersion is present even for relatively heterogeneous systems and that neither the mean residence time nor a statistical distribution may provide accurate representations of hydrological systems. To combat internal loading of P from sediments in-situ, ...

The occurrence of runaway and irreversible climate change is a realistic risk for humankind. The effective mitigation of both long- and short-lived climate pollutants will minimize the risk of crossing climate-tipping points and maximize co-benefits, such as reduced air pollution. Effective mitigation requires a rapid transformation of our societies. Transformative climate policies are key to triggering tipping points in socio-technical systems and accelerating the fundamental redesign of our societies. To effectively mitigate climate change, ambitious transformative policies will not only need to induce rapid technological change, but also alter human behavior through intervening in individuals' everyday lives – for example, by changing peoples' food and mobility habits. While such policies can successfully reduce the emission of climate pollutants, they simultaneously make the costs of mitigation visible to citizens. In essence, the open question is if ambitious transformative climate policies are politically feasible. The main objective of this dissertation is therefore to contribute to the growing body of research at the intersection of political economy, political psychology, and transition studies that seeks to identify both effective and feasible climate policies. In particular, the thesis addresses an important research gap with regard to public opinion about socio-technical transformation. Empirically, this dissertation studies the political feasibility of, particularly public opinion about, transformative climate policies in the food and transport systems across three countries, namely, China, Germany, and the United States. Specifically, the thesis focuses on policies that aim at reducing meat consumption and the use of cars that run on fossil fuels. Changing individuals' meat consumption and car usage are key measures for transforming food and transport systems. The dissertation builds on the premise that public support is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for implementing such ambitious climate policies and making food and transport systems transformations feasible. Specifically, the dissertation investigates to what extent political communication and policy design techniques affect public opinion about ambitious and transformative climate policies in the food and transport system. Theoretically, the thesis builds on and speaks to the debate about rational choice and bounded rationality in political science, particularly policy analysis and public opinion research. It thereby combines political economy, political psychology, and transition study perspectives. Building on framing and dual-process theory, I argue that in the case of fundamental transformation processes with perceptible implications for people's lives, individuals form their policy attitudes through a rather conscious and rational decision-making process. This also implies that there are clear limits to how much elites can influence public opinion about salient and contested issues through simple communication and framing techniques. In other words, people are neither rational nor irrational per se, but individual-level information processing and decision-making modes interact with contextual factors. Methodologically, I employ a comparative and mixed-methods approach that combines quantitative survey experiments, qualitative interviews, and recent advances in computational social science methods. The thesis presents original survey-embedded conjoint and framing experimental data from around 20,000 citizens from China, Germany, and the United States. It also includes a systematic review of 110 peer-reviewed framing studies in the area of environmental governance and psychology. Each of the six dissertation papers contributes to the overarching research question about the political feasibility of transformative climate policies. The first paper (published in Nature Climate Change) outlines the motivation for conducting more research into the political feasibility of transformative climate policies for both short- and long-lived climate pollutants. The second paper (in revise and resubmit at Global Environmental Change) investigates to what extent different issue frames alter public support for environmental policies aimed at reducing meat consumption and the use of fossil-fuel cars. The third paper (for submission to Nature Climate Change) systematically reviews the effects of different framing strategies on individuals' environmental beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. The fourth – single-authored – paper (under Review at American Political Science Review) studies how policy packaging affects support for climate policies intended to fundamentally redesign and transform the food and transport system. This paper compares the effects of political communication and design strategies on public opinion, and therefore links the two central building blocks of my dissertation. The fifth (published in Nature Food) and sixth paper (published in Environmental Research Letters) have a more applied focus and address how different policy designs alter public support for food and transport policies aimed at reducing meat consumption and car use in China, Germany, and the United States. Overall, the results buttress the argument that there are clear limits to the degree that elites can manipulate public opinion through simple communication and framing techniques. However, policy design, and specifically the systematic packaging of different instruments, can substantially increase support for ambitious transformative climate policies. The findings of this dissertation also have several policy-relevant implications that go beyond the scientific contributions. In the first paper, the dissertation highlights the importance of adopting transformative climate policies in food and transport systems and outlines the practical relevance of simultaneously reporting global warming potential over a 100-year time frame (GWP100) as well as a shorter period such as a 20-year time frame (GWP20). The second, third, and fourth papers highlight that simple communication techniques are unlikely to boost public support for transformative climate policies. Politicians should therefore concentrate their resources on designing effective and feasible mitigation policy packages rather than investing energy in reframing and manipulating public opinion. A key finding of the dissertation is that politicians do not need to be overly concerned with potential public backlash against effective mitigation measures, and could in fact consider climate policy design as a political opportunity. Finally, papers five and six outline a number of concrete policy package designs for transforming food and transport systems that can achieve majority support among citizens in China, Germany, and the United States. The hope is that the dissertation will provide practical guidance to policymakers that seek to design feasible and effective climate policies to accelerate the transformation of food and transport systems.

Background: Although multi-sector policy is a promising strategy to create environments that stimulate physical activity among children, little is known about the feasibility of such a multi-sector policy approach. The aims of this study were: to identify a set of tangible (multi-sector) policy measures at the local level that address environmental characteristics related to physical activity among children; and to assess the feasibility of these measures, as perceived by local policy makers. Methods: In four Dutch municipalities, a Delphi study was conducted among local policy makers of different policy sectors (public health, sports, youth and education, spatial planning/public space, traffic and transportation, and safety). In the first Delphi round, respondents generated a list of possible policy measures addressing three environmental correlates of physical activity among children (social cohesion, accessibility of facilities, and traffic safety). In the second Delphi round, policy makers weighted different feasibility aspects (political feasibility, cultural/community acceptability, technical feasibility, cost feasibility, and legal feasibility) and assessed the feasibility of the policy measures derived from the first round. The third Delphi round was aimed at reaching consensus by feedback of group results. Finally, one overall feasibility score was calculated for each policy measure. Results: Cultural/community acceptability, political feasibility, and cost feasibility were considered most important feasibility aspects. The Delphi studies yielded 16 feasible policy measures aimed at physical and social environmental correlates of physical activity among children. Less drastic policy measures were considered more feasible, whereas environmental policy measures were considered less feasible. Conclusions: This study showed that the Delphi technique can be a useful tool in reaching consensus about feasible multi-sector policy measures. The study yielded several feasible policy measures aimed at physical and social environmental correlates of physical activity among children and can assist local policy makers in designing multi-sector policies aimed at an activity-friendly environment for children.

Experiences from the Sustainable Transport in the Barents Region (STBR) project and other ongoing projects show the specific conditions in the northern parts of the participating Barents region countries to be not well considered in either the modelling tools or the databases. The national transport models are only somewhat useful, at present, in analysing the cross border and specific Barents region regional transport flows. There is a need for a model capable of handling specific situations in the region, such as: -Seasonal variations -Loose networks -Countries with different development and political backgrounds -Special destinations -Handling of goods A Barents transport database (BTD) should be based on such a structure so as to be integrated with the national databases in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia. The database should be basically a virtual database based on already existing databases and include traditional data as well as data found in the STBR project and other later defined important data. The establishment of the database should start with the road infrastructure and include the infrastructure for other transport modes later on. Benefits from the use of existing transport flow models in the region are mainly based on the experiences from using the models for domestic comparisons of different objects in the investment planning process. A Barents Transport Analysis Tool (BTAT) should be developed based on existing national models in Sweden, Norway and Finland. The specific modules, or adoptions of existing modules, for each existing national model of special interest in the region, should be developed in a cross-country organised project. Development of the BTAT should be made as complementary modules to the already existing tools used in each of the countries. Particular Barents functionality shall be specified jointly. Development of the complementary modules shall therefore be made for each of the national models in the Barents region. Analyzing seasonal variations, in particular, should be of importance. Opportunities to create scenarios, and analyze the consequences of such scenarios, are also vital. Cross border transport flow analyses specifically considering the conditions of the Barents region shall be included. ; Godkänd; 2005; 20061117 (ysko)

Transport is the only sector that has not yet contributed to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. To understand why sustainable transport has not been developed yet, Oliver Schwedes highlights the special features of the transport sector and describes the political conditions for a successful change in transport development. He makes clear that technical innovations alone will not be enough; rather, transport policy must be practised as social policy.

Transport is the only sector that has not yet contributed to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. To understand why sustainable transport has not been developed yet, Oliver Schwedes highlights the special features of the transport sector and describes the political conditions for a successful change in transport development. He makes clear that technical innovations alone will not be enough; rather, transport policy must be practised as social policy.

Although multi-sector policy is a promising strategy to create environments that stimulate physical activity among children, little is known about the feasibility of such a multi-sector policy approach. The aims of this study were: to identify a set of tangible (multi-sector) policy measures at the local level that address environmental characteristics related to physical activity among children; and to assess the feasibility of these measures, as perceived by local policy makers.In four Dutch municipalities, a Delphi study was conducted among local policy makers of different policy sectors (public health, sports, youth and education, spatial planning/public space, traffic and transportation, and safety). In the first Delphi round, respondents generated a list of possible policy measures addressing three environmental correlates of physical activity among children (social cohesion, accessibility of facilities, and traffic safety). In the second Delphi round, policy makers weighted different feasibility aspects (political feasibility, cultural/community acceptability, technical feasibility, cost feasibility, and legal feasibility) and assessed the feasibility of the policy measures derived from the first round. The third Delphi round was aimed at reaching consensus by feedback of group results. Finally, one overall feasibility score was calculated for each policy measure.Cultural/community acceptability, political feasibility, and cost feasibility were considered most important feasibility aspects. The Delphi studies yielded 16 feasible policy measures aimed at physical and social environmental correlates of physical activity among children. Less drastic policy measures were considered more feasible, whereas environmental policy measures were considered less feasible.This study showed that the Delphi technique can be a useful tool in reaching consensus about feasible multi-sector policy measures. The study yielded several feasible policy measures aimed at physical and social environmental correlates of physical ...

Transport is the only sector that has not yet contributed to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. To understand why sustainable transport has not been developed yet, the author highlights the special features of the transport sector and describes the political conditions for a successful change in transport development. He makes clear that technical innovations alone will not be enough; rather, transport policy must be practised as social policy.

Transport is the only sector that has not yet contributed to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. To understand why sustainable transport has not been developed yet, Oliver Schwedes highlights the special features of the transport sector and describes the political conditions for a successful change in transport development. He makes clear that technical innovations alone will not be enough; rather, transport policy must be practised as social policy

In the first half of 2020, the global pandemic of the COVID-19 virus became a phenomenon affecting all spheres of human life. Measures against the spread of the virus have led to restrictions in life in public spaces and have also affected the transport sector. These impacts consisted of two types - firstly, the number of connections was reduced due to a drop in transport demand, and secondly, it was necessary to comply with hygiene measures on the part of carriers and passengers. The impacts of these measures could be monitored at all spatial levels, from global to local. This paper deals with the course of the so-called first wave of the pandemic in the Czech Republic in relation to public transport and its organization. The aim of the paper is to provide an overview of these measures in relation to general government regulations and their subsequent implementation at the national, regional (county) and local (selected large cities) level. Furthermore, the paper uses three case studies to show what changes long-distance domestic transport has undergone on selected routes. There was a significant reduction in the number of long-distance connections, some lines were not operated at all, and of course, all cross-border connections were canceled. The paper covers the period from the turn of February and March 2020, when the measures began to take effect, to the end of May 2020, when almost all the adopted measures were gradually relaxed. The paper concludes with a summary of the basic features of the organization of transport during the validity of the special measures, as well as areas where significant changes took place and whose consequences may persist after the pandemic subsides.

Transport brings significant social, economic, spatial and environmental effects, and thus is an important factor in the sustainability of society and the economy. The subject of the work is the sustainable development of transport, meaning socially and economically justified activities related to the creation of conditions and the implementation of environmentally friendly and human-friendly practices of facilities, equipment and other solutions that perform the functions of movement. The purpose of the study was to present the theoretical basis for the sustainable development concept, derived from the idea of sustainable development - sustainable transport, and to present goals that are to be achieved by improving sustainable transport, with the potential to contribute to a specific target by means of instruments divided into categories: economic instruments, technological instruments, legislative instruments, organizational instruments, market instruments, educational instruments.