ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION in HELSINKI and OTTAWA Political
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Running head: ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION IN HELSINKI AND OTTAWA Political Challenges and Active Transportation: A Comparison of Helsinki, Finland and Ottawa, Canada Karl Saidla University of Ottawa Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the PhD in Human Kinetics University of Ottawa, August 2017 © Karl Saidla, Ottawa, Canada, 2017 ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION IN HELSINKI AND OTTAWA ii Table of Contents List of Tables .................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures .................................................................................................................. viii List of Acronyms................................................................................................................ ix Definitions of key terms...................................................................................................... x Abstract .............................................................................................................................. xi Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 The benefits of active transportation............................................................................... 5 Active transportation and public policy .......................................................................... 8 Differing levels of AT success in Europe and North America ...................................... 10 Political challenges in healthy public policy .................................................................11 Political factors and active transportation ..................................................................... 13 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 18 Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework: The Advocacy Coalition Framework ....................... 19 Theories of the policy process ...................................................................................... 19 The Advocacy Coalition Framework ............................................................................ 22 Selection of the Advocacy Coalition Framework for this research .............................. 27 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 29 Chapter 3: Methodology ................................................................................................... 30 ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION IN HELSINKI AND OTTAWA iii Selection of the Case Methodology .............................................................................. 30 Selection of Helsinki, Finland, and Ottawa, Canada .................................................... 31 Criteria .......................................................................................................................... 32 Criterion 1: AT modal splits. ..................................................................................... 32 Criterion 2: Policy-level commitment to AT promotion. .......................................... 33 Criterion 3: Potential AT correlates. .......................................................................... 35 a. total population ................................................................................................. 35 b. population density ............................................................................................. 36 c. climate ............................................................................................................... 36 d. topography ........................................................................................................ 38 e. car ownership.................................................................................................... 39 Criterion 4: Socioeconomic and cultural context. ..................................................... 40 a. wealth ................................................................................................................ 41 b. levels of physical activity .................................................................................. 41 c. age and sex distributions .................................................................................. 41 Methods......................................................................................................................... 44 Primary method: The semi-structured interview. ...................................................... 48 Secondary method: documentary review and analysis. ............................................ 53 Identification of most significant results................................................................... 55 ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION IN HELSINKI AND OTTAWA iv Chapter 4: Health Promotion by Stealth: Active transportation success in Helsinki, Finland .............................................................................................................................. 57 Abstract ......................................................................................................................... 57 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 58 Theoretical Framework: The Advocacy Coalition Framework .................................... 61 Methods......................................................................................................................... 63 Major Findings: The Dominance of the Easy, Beautiful and Green (Pro-AT) Advocacy Coalition ........................................................................................................................ 64 Relatively Stable Parameters. ................................................................................... 65 Major policy changes and external events. ............................................................... 66 Discussion: From a Health Promotion Perspective ...................................................... 70 Advocacy Coalition Membership. ............................................................................ 71 Objectives and motivations of AT advocates. ........................................................... 72 Evidence. ................................................................................................................... 73 Arguments. ................................................................................................................ 74 Conclusion: Implications for Health Promotion ........................................................... 74 References ......................................................................................................................... 77 Chapter 5: Active Transportation in Ottawa, Canada. The Challenge of Enduring Political Obstacles ........................................................................................................................... 83 Abstract ......................................................................................................................... 83 ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION IN HELSINKI AND OTTAWA v Introduction ................................................................................................................... 84 Theoretical Framework: the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) .......................... 86 Methodology ................................................................................................................. 88 Case selection............................................................................................................ 88 Methods..................................................................................................................... 89 Overview: Long term efforts to promote AT in Ottawa ................................................ 91 Major findings and discussion: Relatively stable parameters as obstacles to AT promotion in Ottawa ..................................................................................................... 94 Challenges related to Ottawa’s North American sociocultural context. ................... 94 Obstacles related to Ottawa’s political system........................................................ 103 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 107 References ........................................................................................................................110 Chapter 6: Active Transportation Promotion: Easier in a European City, but Why? .....119 Abstract ........................................................................................................................119 Introduction ..................................................................................................................119 Methods....................................................................................................................... 122 Theoretical framework: The Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF). ................... 122 Case selection.......................................................................................................... 125 Data collection and analysis...................................................................................