Committing to a Tramway Through Policy Development
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Committing to a tramway through policy development Alexander Linné Urban Studies Two-year master 30 credits Spring 2020 Supervisor: Peter Parker Committing to a tramway through policy development Summary This thesis researches a decision-making process culminating in the building of a tramway in Lund, Sweden drawing on theories of institutionalism and isomorphism (DiMaggio & Powell, 1991; Chien 2008; Czarniawska, 2015), and policy development (Flyvbjerg, Skamris holm, & Buhl, 2003). Discourse analysis and a case study is used as methodology to interpret and analyze collected empirical data. The overall objective of this thesis is to find out what role policies play in decisions of urban infrastructure investments. A case study will help to find out if the decision to build a tramway in Lund was influenced by the global phenomenon of cities growing more alike. More specifically, the thesis researches the driving factors behind the decision to build a tramway in Lund and how policies influenced the decision. By doing this, the thesis uncovers and break down what influenced the decision to build a tramway to reveal potential risks or benefits for decision-makers in Lund municipality. The empirical data mostly consists of documents found on the official website (sparvaglund.se) for finding information about the tramway in Lund. The analysis of the empirical data over the tramway project uncover a certain level of local development isomorphism in the decision-making process. The municipality singled out a tramway to be the only feasible public transport mode, that could solve the city’s anticipated capacity problem. The decision formed a sort of singular truth because it is, empirically, the only appropriately investigated alternative. The decision to build a tramway is supported by a couple of policy documents which creates a narrative for a certain political intent. Then, findings in these essential policy documents reveal an intentional or unintentional commitment to a certain degree of local development isomorphism. The thesis concludes that the decision to build a tramway in Lund has been reinforced by consultancy involvement by adopting strategies that are perceived as successful in eliminating risks and abide to external pressures. Resulting in municipalities forming similar, if not identical, solutions to potential problems. Inclusion of consultancy groups may therefore reinforce the tendency of imitation phenomena outlining the future for municipalities in Sweden. Keywords: Imitation, Lund, tramway, policy, isomorphism Number of words: 18271 Contents 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................7 1.1 Research objective and purpose ............................................................................................ 9 1.2 Literature review ................................................................................................................. 10 1.2 Layout ................................................................................................................................. 11 2. Methodology ..............................................................................................................................12 2.1 Discourse analysis ............................................................................................................... 12 2.2 Case study ........................................................................................................................... 13 2.2 Material ............................................................................................................................... 14 3. Theoretical framework ...............................................................................................................16 3.1 Isomorphism of local policy development .......................................................................... 16 3.1.1 Coercive pressure typology...................................................................................... 20 3.1.2 Mimetic learning typology ....................................................................................... 20 3.1.3 Normative involvement typology ............................................................................ 21 3.3 Summarising the theoretical framework ............................................................................. 21 4. The tramway project in Lund ....................................................................................................22 4.1 Lund in a multi-city region ................................................................................................. 22 4.2 Global policy development ................................................................................................. 24 4.3 The emergence of tramway discussions in Lund ................................................................ 26 4.4 The controversial tramway ................................................................................................. 28 4.5 Policy documents in Lund .................................................................................................. 29 4.5.1 Pre-study: tramway Lund C to ESS ......................................................................... 29 4.5.2 LundaMaTs .............................................................................................................. 31 4.5.3 Lund comprehensive plan ........................................................................................ 32 5. Analysis......................................................................................................................................34 5.1 How the municipality assessed the availability of a tramway ............................................ 34 5.2 The tramway constructed through policies ......................................................................... 37 5.3 How isomorphism helps explain the decision to build a tramway in Lund ........................ 40 6. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................43 7. Discussion .................................................................................................................................46 8. References ..................................................................................................................................48 8.1 Pictures ................................................................................................................................ 52 8.2 Newspapers / magazines ..................................................................................................... 52 8.3 Public material .................................................................................................................... 52 Acknowledgements I would like to thank the department of Urban Studies in Malmö University for offering me the opportunity to study an interdisciplinary scientific field that is rising to be crucial to cities every day. Also, for managing to push through the COVID-19 pandemic. I would like to disclaim that this thesis is not about giving critique to the municipality of Lund or saying that the investment in a tramway is appropriate or not. Making the most appropriate urban infrastructure investment is challenging. Instead, this thesis is about finding out if there are underlying potential issues or risks in the decision-making process to develop the tramway in Lund. This should hopefully give insights into the transport infrastructure decision-making processes in a growing municipality. Allowing for improvements in decision-making processes that hopefully in the end, helps decision-makers to develop Lund in the most appropriate way. I would also like to thank my partner for the quality of time spent during COVID-19 isolation. In the end, this allowed for discussions that positively improved this thesis. 1. Introduction In recent discussions of urban infrastructure investments, a controversial issue has been whether actual costs are overrun, risks overlooked, and benefits exaggerated. On one hand, some argue that infrastructure investments have positive economic impacts, improve accessibility, increase land and property values. From this perspective, investments in urban infrastructure is good for the general wellbeing of a city. On the other hand, however, other argue that the exceptional power of intervention and decision-making that project agencies obtain in the process of developing a major urban project may leave vulnerable gaps in urban policy development. In the words of Flyvbjerg, Skamris-Holm, & Buhl (2003), one of this viewer’s main proponents, “…with overwhelming statistical significance that in terms of costs transport infrastructure projects do not perform as promised”. According to this view, decisions of urban infrastructure projects needs to be thoroughly investigated before implemented in the built environment. In sum, then, the issue is what the decisions of urban infrastructure investments are based on or what influences it. This thesis view is that decisions of urban infrastructure investments are often based on other cities successful investments. Though this thesis concede that imitating other cities may turn out to be successful, this thesis still maintain that blindly importing solutions from a globalization context may turn out be counterproductive and have economic, social,