Unlearned lessons and misplaced hopes: discursive spaces of transport in twenty-first century Australia

Abstract

In this position paper, we discuss contemporary discursive spaces of transport in Australia and their reflexive relationships with policy and practice. With a focus on ‘devious frames' developed and safeguarded by a range of powerful pro-car actors, we illustrate how these discursive spaces sustain ‘cultural maladaptation’ and hinder progress in urban and transport policy and practice. By so doing, we aim to encourage urgently needed reflexive critical imaginaries whose narratives engage with their deleterious effects. We conclude by describing possible pathways for changing the paradigm, namely recognition of and resistance to devious frames that shape mainstream transport discourses in Australia to open up epistemic possibilities to facilitate a long overdue cultural reform.