Low Carbon Transition in Finnish Mobility, The clash of experimental transport governance and established practices

Abstract

Finland is a country of few people and relatively long distances, and this places pressure on maintaining an efficient private transport infrastructure, while at the same time visions of low carbon mobility systems exist and are increasingly created, particularly in more densely populated areas. In this chapter we analyse the drivers and barriers for low-carbon mobility in Finland. Recent years have witnessed a phase where several structures have become more supportive of change than ever before, both through long-term focus and experimental governance. Transition towards low carbon transport regimes shows promise particularly in the Helsinki Metropolitan region of Finland. Yet even when the transition towards sustainable mobility is advancing, barriers and drivers co-exist both at the level of the global and national landscapes and of national and metropolitan regimes. Nevertheless, transition can be evidenced by an increasing number of regime drivers and a reducing number of barriers.

Towards Carbon-Neutral Mobility in Finland: Mobility and Life Satisfaction in Day-to-Day Life

“…Geels et al [19] conceptualize sociotechnical change by looking at sustainable innovations between substantial and modest change in social practices and between technologically incremental and radical innovations. Thus far, policy initiatives have focused on incremental and modest changes such as improving vehicle fuel efficiency or promoting cycling and walking without challenging automobility [7,28,40]. Technologically radical, and socially substantial measures such as developing intermodal transport systems or compact cities are also increasingly being taken into account, for example, the EU-level policy on smart city, which aims to integrate sustainable mobility with quality of life [41].…”

“…According to Kivimaa and Temmes [28], significant progress has been made toward sustainable mobility in terms of the creation of niches for new technologies and experimentation coupled with regime level support from the Ministry of Transport and Communications and other public authorities. While young persons are less interested in owning a car, cars tend to dominate, particularly outside central areas [28] and flying abroad has constantly increased [88].…”

“…According to Kivimaa and Temmes [28], significant progress has been made toward sustainable mobility in terms of the creation of niches for new technologies and experimentation coupled with regime level support from the Ministry of Transport and Communications and other public authorities. While young persons are less interested in owning a car, cars tend to dominate, particularly outside central areas [28] and flying abroad has constantly increased [88]. Our results revealed similar results and that many of the explanations about mobility solutions are still based on a culture of automobility [5], although there are signs of a willingness to change behavior toward carbon-neutral mobility and to develop varying strategies for responding to this challenge.…”

“…Kivimaa and Temmes [28] note that policies in Finland have primarily focused on technological change within the private car regime. Thus, the most notable carbon reductions result from an increase in biofuels and improved energy efficiency.…”

“…As suggested by previous research on low-carbon mobility in Finland [20,28,30], we aim to improve the understanding of values, attitudes and practices in sustainable mobility transitions. This article is based on multidisciplinary research drawing on sociotechnical analysis on sustainability transitions [6] and social justice [31] and placed in dialogue with sociopsychological research on well-being and travel satisfaction [17,18,32].…”