Learning Interdependence and Mutual Trust in Environmental Policy Integration Three cases of urban transport governance

Abstract: This paper highlights and discusses governance aspects and collaborative practices in relation to three cases of environmental integration in urban transport policy and planning. In each their way, the cases of Lund (Sweden), Groningen (the Netherlands) and Aalborg (Denmark) illustrate that environmental policy integration is very much an issue of managing policy processes and of conflict-handling; and hence of how to do rather than what to do. In particular, the cases offer illustrative examples of the importance of interdependence and trust between policymakers and influential actors in processes dealing with environmental policy integration. The cases support prescriptive conclusions that interdependence and trust should be viewed and dealt with as transformative processes. Trust and interdependence, and in particular the actors perception of interdependence, can itself be transformed, developed or established through interactive and more open policy and planning processes. Interdependence and trust can be learned, changed or adjusted through deliberative policy and planning processes. Hence, the cases indicate how environmental policy integration may be eased through an increased attention to the policy process itself; in particular through the facilitation and mediation of more interactive, collaborative and deliberative modes of conflict resolution and of collective learning