Vetenskapliga artiklar

The negative effects of transport in terms of pollution, congestion and climate change has urged the need for higher shares of cleaner and more efficient modes of transport, especially in urban settings. While new technology can solve some of these issues, behaviour changes has also been identified as an important factor to achieve a modal shift from cars to walking, cycling or public transport. This study investigates how ICT has been used to influence behaviour change and synthesizes key aspects into a conceptual model for creating a behaviour change support system (BCSS) for smartphone applications. A literature review concerning behaviour change and ICT in the fields of transport, health, energy and climate was conducted to gather empirical evidence which forms the foundation of the conceptual model. The empirical findings were tested and verified against a theoretical framework consisted of The Transtheoretical Model, Theory of Planned Behaviour, Diffusion of Innovations and the concept of Gamification. The results suggest that customization to the user, relevant and contextualised information and feedback, commitment, and appealing design are important aspects when influencing users to behaviour change through smartphone applications. The conceptual model provides further knowledge of key aspects to consider when developing persuasive tools that aims to encourage more sustainable modes of transport.

Green public procurement is believed to have the potential to contribute to environmental improvement and diffusion of green technologies. The aim of this paper is to compare and analyse how two Swedish regions use public procurement to promote the introduction of renewable fuels in their public bus transport systems. The method is a qualitative comparative case study, based on interviews and document studies. The paper addresses the questions of what the strategic motivations are for using public procurement to stimulate renewable fuels, and what the practical challenges have been in relation to five important factors identified from previous research: strategies, requirements, costs, size and knowledge. In one region, procurement is used in a strategic way to create a local market for biofuels, which poses higher demands on political backing, information and knowledge, the way requirements are set, and an acceptance of increased costs. In the other region, procurement is used instrumentally to increase the share of biofuels in a cost-effective way that gives room for more flexibility and reduces the demands on the procurers. This paper highlights the importance of context when assessing green public procurement schemes and analyses the case-specific influence of factors on the outcome of green public procurement.

This study aims to provide an understanding of the everyday life of older people in a Swedish urban neighbourhood, with a special focus on the experienced fear of crime and how fear may affect mobilities in later life. The paper draws upon in-depth data from an ethnographic case study conducted between December 2011 and April 2013, which followed a group of older people in the neighbourhood of Seved in the city of Malmö, Sweden. The average income in the neighbourhood is one of the lowest in the city, where unemployment is high. Seved is often negatively portrayed in the media, and the residents generally feel more insecure than those in the rest of Malmö. The senior group followed, is part of a municipal project aimed at strengthening networks and enhancing feelings of social participation for older people. Through a variety of activities, the municipality seeks to achieve social sustainability through everyday life mobility and social participation. Findings highlight that news media plays a substantial role in forming perceptions of the neighbourhood. Mental maps and imagined geographies do negatively impact the everyday mobility of persons both inside and outside the area. Some older residents display both avoidance and protective behaviour, which implies that their everyday life mobility is restricted because of their fear of crime. However, social participation and knowing people in the neighbourhood seems to have a salutary effect on their fear of crime and a commendatory effect on their everyday life mobility. The results also raises questions about stereotyping (the Other) and ageism.

This paper presents an ethnographic case study that aims to understand the meaning of social participation in a neighbourhood for daily mobility in later life. In the study, the mobility of the participants of a senior-citizen project was monitored over 18 months. The project was founded as a result of a municipal district’s targeting of social sustainability. The results show that social participation had positive effects on the daily mobility of the participants. The implementation of broad-minded thinking from the municipality and the cooperation of various municipal actors were shown to be essential for the positive outcome of this project.

Due to the fragmented organizational landscape characterizing public transport, it is important to study and explore how regional governance of public transport adapts to national institutional reforms. By employing the term ‘governance cultures’ to a comparative case study of regional public transport planning in Sweden, we contribute to theories of governance by cultural sensitization. Combining governance theory with cultural analysis, we apply a cultural perspective to understand the two cases. We conclude that public transport planning in the Stockholm region is defined by ‘negotiations’ between stakeholders, whereas in the Västra Götaland region it is characterized by a governance culture of ‘collaboration’. The evidence from our case studies emphasizes the importance of understanding local governance practices as situated in cultural contexts as well as of viewing governance cultures as an important factor affecting the purpose, degree and outcomes of collaboration in planning practices.

We investigate the opportunities and challenges of the forth wave of digitalization, also referred to as the Internet of Things (IoT), with respect to public transport and how it can support sustainable development of society. Environmental, economical, and social perspectives are considered through analysis of the existing literature and explorative studies. We conclude that there are great opportunities for both transport operators and planners, as well as for the travelers. We describe and analyze a number of concrete opportunities for each of these actors. However, in order to realize these opportunities, there are also a number of challenges that needs to be addressed. There are both technical challenges, such as data collection issues, interoperability, scalability and information security, and non-technical challenges such as business models, usability, privacy issues, and deployment.

This paper analyzes how public transport planning is managed in institutional contexts where governance is spread across local and regional scales. The paper sheds light on two facets of the relationship between local and regional government: first, the decision-making process regarding where to provide public transport services and at what level, and second, integration of public transport with land use planning. An analytical matrix is used to cross-reference the roles of formal institutions (governance established in law) and informal institutions (governance not established in law) against local and regional responsibilities for public transport and land use. Analysis of the interplay between these three axes (formal/informal, local/regional, public transport/land use) reveals how informal institutions help regional and local authorities to negotiate the constraints of formal, statutory institutions and help to “oil the wheels” of delivering measures and policies that make public transport work as a well-functioning system. However, informal institutions clearly have their limits, in the paper exemplified by the remaining challenges to integrate regional public transport and local land use planning. An identified challenge is that, by their very nature, informal institutions are difficult to influence or modify, therefore relying on them to fill gaps in formal institutional responsibilities may be a risky strategy when unpopular decisions are made.

In the context of public transportation, just as in many parts of society, the level of organizational complexity has increased over the last twenty years. Due to structural reforms and policy adjustments, responsibilities for the public transportation system in Sweden have become increasingly divided between a variety of public and private actors, thus fragmenting the organizational landscape. This development has led to an increased awareness of the need to coordinate efforts in the public transport system. Not only does this involve coordination between private and public actors, it also involves coordination between public actors located at different vertical and horizontal scales in the government structure. The literature on governance has developed as a means to theorize these shifts and changes.

Driver fatigue has received increased attention during recent years and is now considered to be a major contributor to approximately 15–30% of all crashes. However, little is known about fatigue in city bus drivers. It is hypothesized that city bus drivers suffer from sleepiness, which is due to a combination of working conditions, lack of health and reduced sleep quantity and quality. The overall aim with the current study is to investigate if severe driver sleepiness, as indicated by subjective reports of having to fight sleep while driving, is a problem for city based bus drivers in Sweden and if so, to identify the determinants related to working conditions, health and sleep which contribute towards this. The results indicate that driver sleepiness is a problem for city bus drivers, with 19% having to fight to stay awake while driving the bus 2–3 times each week or more and nearly half experiencing this at least 2–4 times per month. In conclusion, severe sleepiness, as indicated by having to fight sleep during driving, was common among the city bus drivers. Severe sleepiness correlated with fatigue related safety risks, such as near crashes.

This paper describes the changing everyday life mobility of an older couple living in a suburb in Sweden. The methods used are longitudinal interviews and time-geographical diaries. The results show a pronounced dependence on car use. Representations of suburbia – as places of freedom, independence and mobility enabled by private cars – devolve into a harsh reality, i.e. disabling lock-in effects for people gradually losing locomotion, and experiencing diminishing mobility capital and social intercourse. From a time-geographical perspective, capability constraints unfold in the form of time-demanding basic needs and limited access to different modes of transport due to deteriorating health and location of residence. Increased neighbourhood barriers and authority constraints also imply restricted access to different spaces and reduced control over one’s life situation.