While the technological development of vehicles and fuels is not adequate to meet current climate mitigation targets, infrastructure development also plays an important role in transforming the transport system. Previous studies have argued that conventional infrastructure planning is incapable of implementing climate mitigation. The aim of the paper is to provide insights into power means and mechanisms that counteract integration of climate mitigation targets in infrastructure planning. This is done by an in-depth case study of current Swedish national transport planning. This case provides a rich illustration of a situation with high political ambitions regarding climate mitigation on the one hand, and power mechanisms and resistance with regard to climate goals during the planning process on the other. The case is analysed using the perspective of power circuits and shows how forecasting works as an obligatory passage point, sorting in and out which analyses will be part of the decision-making material. Analyses which do not fit the forecasting model are dismissed from planning. The conclusion is that as long as the transport infrastructure planning practice is dependent on forecasting as the only central analysis there will be difficulties in changing the scope of infrastructure planning and making climate goals central for transport planning.

Triple Access Planning (TAP) is the idea that accessibility can be delivered through physical mobility, digital connectivity, and spatial proximity. There is great uncertainty as to how far one of these three elements will substitute for or complement the others in delivering the accessibility we need in future. Sustainable Urban Mobility (SUM) Planning is touted as a relatively new paradigm in local transport planning oriented to the achievement of a wide range of societal objectives. The paper presents a review of how well SUM Plans from eight European countries, and national guidelines from four currently account for TAP and uncertainty in their approach. Our findings suggest that while the concept of physical proximity is well-understood, other aspects of the TAP and uncertainty approach are not. Digital connectivity is largely ignored. The planning future is treated as largely certain, with no consideration of disruptive factors that might alter this future.

Discursive power dynamics are explored that shape dominant meanings and understandings related to climate mitigation in national transport policy and planning. The research is carried out as a Foucauldian-inspired discourse analysis of policy and planning documents from national transport planning in Sweden, focusing on the recent and ongoing rounds of national transport planning. The meanings, problem definitions and suggestions about possible and reasonable ways forward for climate mitigation are examined within the documentation, with specific attention given to the framing of strategic choices and priorities for the future. Five dominant themes are identified on climate mitigation that permeate the documents from national transport policy and planning. Altogether, the discursive framings and meaning making has led to a situation where deep political issues and strategic choices are being avoided and not dealt with explicitly. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion on the need for a changed practice of transport politics and planning.

Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning (SUMP) has been developed and, to various extent, applied throughout the EU during the 2010s. Apart from handling subject matters of sustainable mobility, SUMPs unavoidably involve issues of governance and the handling of a variety of institutional aspects. Broadening the system boundaries of sustainable mobility with an accessibility focus and accommodating uncertainty by foresight methods further adds to institutional and governance complexity in SUM planning. As part of the research project Triple Access Planning for Uncertain Futures, this working paper provides an overview of institutional and governance issues which influence sustainable urban mobility planning. The paper attends to the research questions (1) - what does the literature say about the influence of institutional and governance conditions over sustainable urban mobility planning processes?, and (2) - what do insights from research literature imply for SUMP practice? Based on searches in the Scopus and TRID databases, a final selection of 36 articles was made as a basis for overarching insights about the nature of institutional and governance aspects of SUMP that needs to inform the enhancement of the SUMP guidelines. It is found that planners need to be aware of local context; to stick to basic planning principles but allow practical discretion. Institutional and governance factors needs to be attended to throughout the planning process. The literature also points to that there are limits to integration and participation in SUM planning. Planners should consider where and when these aspects icontribute the most. Planning also need to accommodate processual reflexivity, iteration, and local discretion, and the planning organisation would benefit from developing its institutional capacity for handling a developed SUM planning when it comes to a broad pespective on accessibility and uncertainty. Based on these insights and a critical analysis of the current SUMP framework that is informed by the reviewed literature, some modifications of the SUMP process model is brought forward to better acknowledge institutional and governance aspects of  sustainable mobility planning. 

This article presents findings from a qualitative in-depth analysis of a four-year Swedish national policy initiative where six public agencies were commissioned to produce a strategic plan for a transition towards a fossil-free transport sector. The aim of the article is to provide empirically grounded insights on principles and practices of importance for building transformative capacity in strategic, long-term transport planning. In the analysis, the concepts stewarding, unlocking, transforming and orchestrating are applied to explore and discuss transformative features of the policy initiative. Altogether, several elements of transformative capacity were developed through the process. Of specific importance was the establishment of an open and explorative approach to carrying out the commission, and ways in which the organizations involved started to challenge dominant perspectives and analytical practices in conventional transport planning. Shared principles and practices for analysis and assessment were developed, which allowed for a broadened consideration of climate mitigation measures. However, due to a lack of coordination with formalized planning settings and a lack of political decisions to sustain the commission, there are yet no signs of the work influencing conventional transport planning. Even so, gained experience and insights from this case can inform future change-oriented initiatives. 

This thesis concerns the need to transform the transport system to meet climate mitigation objectives. It provides insights into how specific approaches and practices in transport policy and planning affect prospects for transformation. It focuses on specific practices and knowledge perspectives in policy and planning, exploration of future uncertainty, and the scope and agency attributed to planning for influencing the future development of the transport system. The empirical interest is directed towards contemporary Swedish national transport policy and planning, analyzed in four articles: organization and procurement of physical planning of road and rail investments (Article 1), an emerging discursive framing of digitalized, 'smart' accessibility (Article 2), the approach to future uncertainty in the national investment plan for transport infrastructure 2018-2029 (Article 3), and an inter-agency collaboration on a plan for a fossil-free transformation of the transport system (Article 4).

The thesis follows a qualitative research approach based on a social constructivist and poststructuralist understanding of knowledge as socially constructed and sustained. To highlight the influence of practice and knowledge perspectives on understandings of the future development of the transport system and conditions for transformation, a Foucauldian discursive approach is applied. This approach emphasizes reciprocal dependency between discourse and practice.

Results make evident that Swedish national transport planning and policy is largely characterized by a ‘conventional’ approach with dominant quantitative practices and knowledge perspectives, through which the future is mainly portrayed as a continuation of the historical development. The studies show that this approach strongly influence how the transport system and prospects for transformation are understood and described. The thesis illustrates tendencies to avoid issues of future uncertainty, and how this is taken as an argument for not exploring alternative development directions. Consequently, opportunities to influence future development are portrayed as limited. This has a restrictive effect on the conditions for transformation. However, the thesis also shows contexts where future uncertainty is considered as a basic planning condition, which justifies exploration of opportunities for transformation by broader practices and knowledge perspectives.

Overall, the thesis makes visible ways in which specific practices and knowledge perspectives exert significant influence over which choices regarding future pathways that are presented to the public and decision makers. A central conclusion regards a need for a more politically oriented discussion on what knowledge and practices in transport policy and practice that are relevant and fit for purpose in the light of the climate mitigation challenge as well as other societal objectives.

Denna avhandling tar sin utgångspunkt i behovet av omställning av transportsystemet för att möta politiskt uppställda klimatmål. Den bidrar med insikter om hur specifika förhållningssätt och praktiker i policy och planering inom transportområdet påverkar förutsättningar för omställning. Fokus riktas mot specifika praktiker och kunskapsperspektiv, hur aspekter av framtida osäkerhet i utvecklingen hanteras, och vilken roll som planering antas kunna spela i den framtida utvecklingen av transportsystemet. Avhandlingens empiriska intresse riktas mot samtida svensk nationell transportpolicy och -planering, som analyseras genom fyra delstudier: organisering och upphandling av fysisk planering av väg och järnväg (artikel 1), en framväxande diskursiv förståelse av digitaliserad, ’smart’ tillgänglighet (artikel 2), förhållningssätt till framtida osäkerhet i Nationell plan för transportsystemet 2018-2029 (artikel 3), samt ett myndighetsgemensamt utarbetande av en plan för omställning av transportsystemet till fossilfrihet, populärt benämnt SOFT (artikel 4).

Avhandlingen följer en kvalitativ forskningsansats grundad i en socialkonstruktivistisk och poststrukturalistisk syn på kunskap som socialt konstruerad och upprätthållen. För att belysa praktikers och kunskapsperspektivs inflytande över förståelser av transportsystemets framtida utveckling och förutsättningar för omställning tillämpas en Foucauldiansk diskursiv ansats. Denna ansats betonar ett ömsesidigt beroende mellan diskurs och praktik.

Resultaten visar att svensk nationell transportplanering och policy i hög grad präglas av ett så kallat ’konventionellt’ förhållningssätt till transportsystemet, med dominerande kvantitativa praktiker och kunskapsperspektiv genom vilka framtiden i huvudsak framställs som en fortsättning på den historiska utvecklingen. Studierna i avhandlingen visar att detta förhållningssätt får stort inflytande över hur transportsystemet och förutsättningar för omställning förstås och beskrivs. Avhandlingen visar på tendenser att undvika osäkerhet om framtiden, och hur detta tas som argument för att inte utforska alternativa utvecklingsriktningar och anspråk på framtiden. En konsekvens är att möjligheter att påverka utvecklingen framställs som begränsade. Avhandlingen visar dock också på sammanhang där framtida osäkerhet beaktas som en grundläggande planeringsförutsättning, vilket motiverar utforskande av möjligheter till omställning utifrån bredare praktiker och kunskapsperspektiv.

Sammantaget synliggör avhandlingen att specifika praktiker och kunskapsperspektiv har betydande inflytande över vilka vägval kring transportsystemets framtid som presenteras för allmänheten och beslutsfattare. En slutsats är att detta inflytande, i kombination med de kontrasterande praktiker och kunskapsperspektiv som präglar olika planeringssammanhang, motiverar en tydligare politiskt orienterad diskussion om vilken kunskap som är relevant i ljuset av uppställda samhällsmål, och vad som utgör relevant praktik i relation till det.

Deep uncertainties in planning and policy-making related to climate mitigation pathways actualises the need for transport planning practices that embrace exploration and assessments of alternative future development directions. While conventional, forecast-based assessment practices are acknowledged to be of limited relevance in assessing potential trend-breaking developments, those practices have become strongly institutionalised and proven difficult to challenge. Applying a discourse perspective, this paper contributes with a practice-oriented analysis of how knowledge perspectives and established assessment practices influenced the consideration of alternative development directions and policy measures in the Swedish 12-year National Investment Plan for road and rail infrastructure 2018–2029. More specifically, the analysis regards how alternative futures and measures aimed at supporting a more ’transport efficient society’ were addressed and assessed. The analysis illuminates a strong influence of established practices over the definition of what is considered relevant knowledge, in constructing an understanding of transport infrastructure investments as insignificant to climate mitigation, and in legitimizing the marginalization of alternative development directions. In effect, the study shows how established practices may result in significant democratic consequences, when public and political discussion over transport futures and climate mitigation pathways is constrained by a narrow span of possible futures presented.

In recent years, ideas related to digitalization have gained significance on the contemporary transport policy agenda. Based on discourse analysis of the digitalization agenda in Swedish transport policy, this paper investigates the ongoing formative phase of the emerging policy and planning area of digitalization and smart mobility. It examines and critically discusses the current discursive framing of digitalization in current transport policy and planning, and considers perspectives and meanings related to "smart" mobility and accessibility that are being established in strategic plans and policies for the Swedish transport sector. The empirical focus is on transport strategies and official reports developed at national level. The main findings indicate that digitalization is being framed as a rapid, unstoppable transformation process, which will lead to a range of positive outcomes such as reduced climate emissions, less congestion, improved accessibility, and a smoother and more resource-efficient transport system. According to the ideas and assumptions promoted in the current discourse, this transformation can only occur through stronger involvement of business enterprises. This governing strategy, or lack of governing strategy, makes it unclear how transport policy objectives are balanced against market and innovation interests. It also risks delegating the transition to sustainable mobility to less formalized and less transparent policy arenas that operate in parallel to, and partly outside, established planning and strategy-making processes.

Planning of transport infrastructure in Sweden has undergone successive legislative changes as well as neoliberal corporatization and marketization reforms in recent years, with a general aim to increase efficiency and effectiveness. This paper presents planning practitioners’ experiences of far-reaching marketization of physical planning practice in line with a strategy within the Swedish Transport Administration (STA) to become a ‘Pure Purchaser’. The strategy implies that all practical planning work should be carried out by procured consultants. The paper follows a qualitative, explorative approach based on document studies and interviews with practitioners actively involved in carrying out physical planning of road and rail investments. The concept of ‘modes of governance’ is applied to highlight and analytically interpret differences in perspectives on efficient and effective governance as expressed in the planning legislation, and the STA marketization strategy, respectively. The empirical results make evident that the recent marketization reforms are generally perceived as strongly and negatively affecting the efficiency and effectiveness of planning practices while also circumscribing professional discretion. The study highlights the importance of specific organization and management perspectives as explanatory factors in studying efficiency and effectiveness of planning practices.