Transport Planning and Governance in Times of Crisis - Changing Practices and Effects on Sustainable Transport

Abstract

The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on sustainable mobility are diverse and ambivalent. In transportation planning and governance, promising new practices are being developed. 'Temporary cycle paths' or 'temporary limited traffic zones' have been established in several cities and it appears that these measures are here to stay. Our study analyses acutely changed processes in urban and transport planning and land use concepts during the Covid-19 pandemic. In a mixed-method-study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 34 experts from urban and transport planning, political decision-makers, civil society, private and public mobility providers in four urban areas in Germany as well as supra-national experts. In addition, a questionnaire survey was administered to decision-makers in German municipalities in all 16 federal states (n=370). The results from the qualitative research suggest that temporary infrastructure may be considered a fitting extension of classic urban planning instruments for the promotion of active mobility. At the same time, spatial conditions, which can be very different, are found to be important prerequisites for the implementation of temporary infrastructure. In particular, cities with limited public space find it more difficult to redistribute traffic areas. The results from the quantitative study support these findings, they show differences in the implementation of temporary infrastructure in terms of demographic factors such as population density which is a proxy for the structural environment. Our contribution presents the results of both parts of the study and discusses potential ways to adapt planning and implementation practices that could help promote infrastructure that is conducive to active mobility in cities.