Att resa rätt är stort, att resa fritt är större: Kommunala planerares föreställningar om hållbara resor

Abstract

Demands for sustainable mobility have become an increasingly important issue for local actors. Through city and traffic planning, the current unsustainable transport systems are going to become more sustainable. However, how to define sustainable mobility is disputed. Therefore, how planners in the Swedish municipality of Helsingborg define sustainable mobility makes an interesting case. This thesis examines how planners imagine sustainable mobility, who the sustainable traveler is, and what a sustainable city might look like. Theoretically the thesis combines an intersectional framework with a feminist planning theory and theories from Science and Technology Studies. The empirical material is based on in-depth interviews with sixteen planners, a focus group interview, and visual analyses of the planning documents the city of Helsingborg uses in planning for sustainable mobility. The analyses show that planners do not see the negative environmental impact of traveling as an argument which will persuade people to travel more sustainably. Instead, it is the possibility to construct sustainable mobility as fun, healthy, pleasurable, and practical that planners believe will persuade the inhabitants of Helsingborg to cycle or travel by bus more often. But not all travelers are likely to benefit from the positive values of sustainable mobility. To conclude, when planners imagine sustainable mobility, they imagine that it is good to travel the correct way for environmental reasons, but it is even greater to make independent travel choices, based on what modes of transport attract the most people.