A methodological approach in order to support decision-makers when defining Mobility and Transportation Politics

As importance as the integration of policies and projects, is the monitoring and evaluation of their
effectiveness at the transportation and the non-transportation sectors. This management
technique ensures that even a weaker policy can be corrected in time, giving a positive result to
society (Jones, Lucas and Whittles, 2003).

To ensure the success of these kinds of policies, Geerlings, H. and Stead, D. (2003) suggests
that there are eight determinant factors:

o vertical integration—policy integration between different levels of government;

o horizontal integration—policy integration between sectors or professions within one
organisation (i.e. inter-sectoral);

o inter-territorial integration—policy integration between neighbouring authorities or
authorities with some shared interest in infrastructure and/or resources;

o intra-sectoral—policy integration between different sections or professions within one
department (integration between different environmental sectors such as air quality and
noise or biodiversity, for example, or integration between different transport sectors such
as roads, public transport, cycling or walking);

o policy co-operation, at the lowest level, which simply implies dialogue and information

o policy co-ordination, policy coherence and policy consistency—all quite similar, which
imply co-operation plus transparency and some attempt to avoid policy conflicts (but do
not necessarily imply the use of similar goals);

o policy integration and joined-up policy—includes dialogue and information (as in policy
co-operation), transparency and avoidance of policy conflicts (as in policy co-ordination,
policy coherence and policy consistency) but also includes joint working, attempts to
create synergies between policies (win-win situations) and the use of the same goals to
formulate policy.

The same author also identifies barriers to the use of these polices, such as narrow perspectives,
weak or perverse incentives, lack of management mechanisms, professional and departmental
culture (adapted form Cabinet Office (2000). And as supportive conditions for the success of
these policies the author points out, political commitment, establishment of strategic policy
frameworks, existence of coordination capacity, measures to anticipate and solve conflicts,
administrative culture that promotes cross-sectoral cooperation.

Another condition, considered as very important for the success of these policies, regards the
way these policy measures are implemented. A single policy by it self has low probabilities of
success, while a package of coherent measures can be much more effective. (May, Jopson and
Matthews, 2003)

In the case study presented in this paper, there will be an effort to prepare a good package of
guidelines that are supposed to boost the importance of an average municipality in a high
competitive region.

4/17

<<   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   >>

More intriguing information