Historical transport policy developments : technical report for Stage 3 city, Paris Île-de-France region

Abstract

This document, D4.2 Paris Île-de-France region 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>; The analysis done in CREATE highlights the critical role played by political and institutional conflicts in acontext of exacerbated fragmentation and the extent to which a large variety of actors, namely different levels ofgovernment, technical agencies, political parties, elite groups and professional networks, compete in order toshape transport governance and the distribution of transport policy resources. This was achieved throughcontinuous institutional reforms, major conflicts and competition strategies, and the development of highly visiblepolicy initiatives and projects.By contrast to other cities under study in WP4, where consensus-seeking strategies account for policychange over time, competition emerges as the main driver for change in the case of the Paris and Ile-de-Franceregion: competition between levels of government, between political parties, between transport companies andbetween social and economic groups. Together, this accounts for the coexistence over a long period of time oftwo highly differentiated models of urban and spatial planning in the capital-city region: on the one hand aliveable, sustainable and compact model in which the automobile is integrated in a larger regional sustainabletransport system, and on the other hand, a regional growth model which primarily relies on the automobile inorder to ensure daily accessibility for commuters to the core metropolitan area.Interestingly, such levels of competition have not led to inertia and the report documents the ways inwhich demographics and urbanization dynamics were instrumental in triggering various forms of collective actionacross the region. In terms of transport policy developments and transport behaviours, the evolution of transportpolicy objectives, resources and tools sheds light on both the “What’s” (substance) and the “How’s” (governance)of transport policy change. On the one hand, it shows how a sustainable approach to transport planning andpolicy-making progressively emerged at the margins of the transport policy sector, through the diffusion ofalternative representations and policy solutions, and by drawing on small-scale innovations. But on the otherhand, the evolution of transport policy objectives, resource and tools also highlight how state elites and networksare able to successfully resist bottom-up pressures and maintain, in a number of cases, a state-led approach totransport planning in the capital-city region that prioritizes its role as the national powerhouse.Acknowledging the continued coexistence of both dynamics as well as their interplay over timecontributes to better understanding remaining spatial disparities in terms of transport policy developments - aresult that echoes the analysis done in WP3 regarding individual/collective choices pertaining to transportation inParis and the Ile-de-France region. A shift away from the automotive city undoubtedly took place in the Paris Ilede-France region, and the development of stage 3 policies is precisely documented. Yet this result remainsambiguous: this evolution is unevenly spread – both socially and spatially, recent conflicts over specific transportpolicy initiatives confirmed the permanence of high resistance capacities and the ability of a number of newentrants and old players to draw on new technologies in order to promote car-based forms of mobility.

Original document

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

• https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02396102

• https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-02382144