Historical transport policy developments : technical report for Stage 3 city, Copenhagen

Abstract

This document, D4.2 Copenhagen report, is part of the second series of technical reports produced as part of WP4 during Task 3, “Qualitative analysis of transport policy development cycle processes in the five Stage 3 cities during the Shift from Stage 1 to Stage 3”. It seeks to develop a comprehensive qualitative analysis of the historical development of policies relating to traffic congestion and car use over the past four decades. It investigates the ways in which transport policies are designed and implemented in the five Stage 3 cities, how they have evolved over time, which policy mix has been favoured at different times, their intended/unexpected effects, and how coordination has been ensured. Published as part of D4.2 report <halshs-02382094>; When, why and how was Copenhagen able to (re-)invent itself successfully into “the bicycle city”? To whatextent are these developments replicable in other cities in CREATE and beyond? This report both highlights andaccounts for the process of gradual yet transformative change, which has characterized transport policy developments inCopenhagen and its metropolitan area over the past four decades. It provides some explanation as to why and how asustainable urban transport agenda emerged as a major political priority and flagship initiative. It also suggests that thesituation is not as clear-cut as suggested by political discourses: pro-car policies and car use have not been completelyabandoned in Copenhagen, and similarly, sustainable mobility policies are being strengthened beyond the city’s limits.In this perspective, the analytical framework developed as part of WP4, which combines the public policyapproach with the urban governance approach (see WP4 D4.1 report), proved particularly useful in order to examine theambiguous relationship between policy discourses on the one hand, and policy outcomes on the other hand. More thanin any other cases studied in WP4, the Copenhagen case confirms the need to examine policy implementation dynamicsin order to make sense of the choice and selection of policy instruments, including the role attributed from an early stageon to communication-based policy tools.

Original document

The different versions of the original document can be found in:

• https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02396098

• https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-02382100