Urban Sustainability and Sustainable Mobility

Abstract

Sustainable development is a concept few would disagree with at a general level, but is contested when put into actual practice. How is sustainable urban development discussed, defended and even coopted by actors in urban development? What is the actual urban development compared with the ideal? How useful are models and ideals in environmental policy-making? Urban governance in the Nordic countries has been marked by deregulation, privatisation and market solution. At the same time ecosystem management and the need for cross-sectoral and cross-boundary institutions have been underlined. What are the challenges, constraints and opportunities following from these trends in urban regions? New technology and urbanisation (both in terms of land-use and life-style) represent transport changing drivers with possibly environmentally friendly consequences. A new societal and political preoccupation with climate, energy and health issues might promote a more sustainable mobility pattern. However, the 'sustainable mobility' conceptualisation demands integrative policy measures and analytical planning tools to grasp -and communicate -the relationships and reduce the sustainable mobility complexity -across its causes, changes and consequences. The papers discuss the challenges, constraints and opportunities following from trends in urban regions and various societal (economic, political, social and cultural) drivers as important "policy and planning" challenges for a more sustainable mobility.