Mobility and accessibility paradigms in Dutch policies: An empirical analysis

Abstract

To promote sustainable urban development, transport policies need to change from a car-oriented mobility planning paradigm to an accessibility-based paradigm, integrating land-use and transport policies. This paper uses the concept of planning paradigms to describe the current status of municipal transport planning and problem framing. The dominant transport planning paradigm of 172 Dutch municipalities is determined, based on a conceptual framework with 24 mobility and accessibility planning criteria. Statistical analysis is then conducted to find linkages between the planning paradigm and transport, land-use, and institutional characteristics of the municipalities. We show that the mobility planning paradigm still dominates Dutch municipal transport planning, and the accessibility planning paradigm is mostly found in large cities and highly urban municipalities. However, we do find indications of slow change in the transport planning paradigms in Dutch municipalities, as older policy documents are more (car) mobility focused than newer policy documents. Further research is necessary to examine the evolution of the paradigm shift in municipal transport planning over time and what factors promote the realization of such a paradigm shift.