Abstract

Minskning av transporters negativa miljöpåverkan, eller en ökning av hållbara resor, har blivit en allt viktigare fråga för lokala aktörer. Genom samhälls- och trafikplanering ska dagens ohållbara transportsystem bli mer hållbart. Det gör hur planerare i Helsingborg planerar för hållbara resor intressant att studera. Avhandlingen undersöker hur planerare föreställer sig vad hållbart resande är, vilka resenärer det är som bör resa mer hållbart samt hur en hållbar stad kan se ut. Teoretiskt kombinerar avhandlingen ett intersektionellt ramverk med feministisk planeringsteori samt teorier från STS (teknik- och vetenskapsstudier). Det empiriska materialet består av djupintervjuer med sexton planerare, en fokusgruppsintervju samt bildanalys av de planeringsdokument som Helsingborgs stad använder sig av i planeringen för hållbara resor. Framförallt visar avhandlingen att planerare inte betraktar resors negativa miljöpåverkan som ett argument som kan få människor att resa mer hållbart. Istället är det möjligheten att framställa hållbara resor som roliga, hälsosamma, lustfyllda och praktiska som planerare tror kan få helsingborgarna att cykla eller åka mer buss. Men det är bara vissa resenärer som antas kunna ta del av de hållbara resornas positiva värden. Planerarnas föreställningar om bland annat kön, etnicitet och klass är avgörande för hur de förstår hållbara resor. Planerarna menar sammanfattningsvis att det är stort att resa rätt av miljöskäl, men större att fritt välja det mest attraktiva färdsättet. Demands for sustainable mobility have become an increasingly important issue for local actors. Through city and traffic planning, the current unsustainable transport systems are going to become more sustainable. However, how to define sustainable mobility is disputed. Therefore, how planners in the Swedish municipality of Helsingborg define sustainable mobility makes an interesting case. This thesis examines how planners imagine sustainable mobility, who the sustainable traveler is, and what a sustainable city might look like. Theoretically the thesis combines an intersectional framework with a feminist planning theory and theories from Science and Technology Studies. The empirical material is based on in-depth interviews with sixteen planners, a focus group interview, and visual analyses of the planning documents the city of Helsingborg uses in planning for sustainable mobility. The analyses show that planners do not see the negative environmental impact of traveling as an argument which will persuade people to travel more sustainably. Instead, it is the possibility to construct sustainable mobility as fun, healthy, pleasurable, and practical that planners believe will persuade the inhabitants of Helsingborg to cycle or travel by bus more often. But not all travelers are likely to benefit from the positive values of sustainable mobility. To conclude, when planners imagine sustainable mobility, they imagine that it is good to travel the correct way for environmental reasons, but it is even greater to make independent travel choices, based on what modes of transport attract the most people. "p"I denna elektroniska version av avhandlingen är bilderna i bilaga 2 uteslutna på grund av upphovsrättsliga skäl.

Abstract

This thesis fills a gap in contemporary transport research and planning as it introduces perceived accessibility as a theoretical and methodological concept for incorporating the individual dimension of accessibility in current practice. Perceived accessibility is defined as “how easy it is to live a satisfactory life with the help of the transport system”, and is proposed as a complement to objective measures and understandings of accessibility. The thesis includes three studies. Study I developed a measure for capturing perceived accessibility with a specific transport mode, based on theories and conceptualizations of accessibility. Study II looked at determinants of perceived accessibility, and Study III further developed the measure of perceived accessibility to include actual travel (combinations of transport modes), and explored the relation between perceived accessibility and objectively measured accessibility for the same geographical area in Sweden. In all, the thesis provides background ideas and theory on perceived accessibility, and a validated quantitative approach to capturing perceived accessibility in day-to-day travel. Empirical findings further support the complementary nature of the approach and results indicate that assessments of perceived accessibility may be helpful in determining where to direct interventions aiming at improving accessibility by evaluating different transport modes or different segments of individuals. The method developed for capturing perceived accessibility shows merit in contributing to further theory development on accessibility by its ability to identify determinants of perceived accessibility and its potential in identifying segments of the population that experience significantly lower accessibility than other groups, and thus are at risk of experiencing social exclusion or suffer from transport disadvantage. This thesis introduces perceived accessibility as a theoretical and methodological concept for including the individual dimension of accessibility in transport research and planning. Perceived accessibility is defined as “how easy it is to live a satisfactory life with the help of the transport system”, and as it captures individual experiences and abilities, it is proposed as a complement to objective measures and understandings of accessibility. The thesis includes three studies. Study I developed a measure for capturing perceived accessibility with a specific transport mode, based on theories and conceptualizations of accessibility. Study II looked at determinants of perceived accessibility, and Study III further developed the measure of perceived accessibility to include actual travel (combinations of transport modes), and explored the relation between perceived accessibility and objectively measured accessibility for the same geographical area in Sweden. In all, the thesis provides background ideas and theory on perceived accessibility, a validated quantitative approach to capturing perceived accessibility in day-to-day travel, and empirical findings supporting the complementary nature of the approach and its potential to differentiate between individuals. Mistra SAMS (Sustainable Accessibility and Mobility Services)