Who Benefits from Smart Mobility Policies? The Social Construction of Winners and Losers in the Connected Bikes Projects in the Netherlands
Governance of the Smart Mobility Transition
ISBN: 978-1-78754-320-1, eISBN: 978-1-78754-317-1
Publication date: 13 March 2018
Abstract
We analysed the unequal treatment of target groups and the role of technology in Dutch smart mobility policy, by looking into the connected bike projects of Maastricht and Brabant. In doing so we combined insights from the Social Construction of Policy Design frameworks and Science and Technology Studies. We identified four target groups, receiving a differential treatment in policy. Difference in treatment is driven by the variety of incentives used to encourage behaviour change. We conclude that car users are the winners, while students benefit the least from these projects. In this preferential treatment, technology plays a crucial role. This raises pertinent questions about social equity and the contribution to sustainability of smart mobility technologies in the mobility system.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
We thank the Dutch Ministry for Infrastructure and the Environment and Rijkswaterstaat for funding this research project. We also thank the participating interviewees, as well as Sven Nyholm and Geert Verbong, for their fruitful comments.
Citation
Gironés, E.S. and Vrščaj, D. (2018), "Who Benefits from Smart Mobility Policies? The Social Construction of Winners and Losers in the Connected Bikes Projects in the Netherlands", Marsden, G. and Reardon, L. (Ed.) Governance of the Smart Mobility Transition, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 85-101. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78754-317-120181006
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018 Emerald Publishing Limited