Organising multi-level public governance in transport and urban development

The project is led by Susanna Hedborg , post-doc at IBF. 

Strategic transport and urban planning and development at the municipal, regional, and national levels are closely interconnected and influence one another - acting either as barriers or as bridges for sustainability transformation. Institutional barriers often create fragmented systems with unclear mandates, roles, and responsibilities, posing challenges for integrating goals and processes across planning and development projects. Additionally, differing professional approaches, regulatory frameworks, and everyday practices complicate the coordination of processes between governmental levels. In practice, multi-level governance at the intersection of transport and urban development can therefore be messy.

The purpose of this study is to uncover how planning and development processes at different governmental levels influence municipal planning for sustainable transformation in transport and urban development. The research is grounded in an ethnographic study - drawing on observations, interviews, field visits, and document analysis - following strategic planning and development processes where collaboration between municipal, regional, and national actors is necessary.

Through a practice-oriented approach, the study sheds light on organising beyond formal governance structures, highlighting the informal collaborations required to align across levels. Revealing the “nitty-gritty” of multi-level governance is crucial, as formal policy goals for sustainable transformation can only be effective if they genuinely shape the practices of those tasked with implementing them in transport and urban development projects. This will illustrate how shifts in practice are necessary for multi-level governance to function as bridges rather than barriers.