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1 Transforming Transport in Thailand Experimenting for Transitions to Sustainable Urban Mobility Frans Sengers2 Transfor...

Transforming Transport in Thailand Experimenting for Transitions to Sustainable Urban Mobility

Frans Sengers

Transforming Transport in Thailand Experimenting for Transitions to Sustainable Urban Mobility

Frans Sengers

This research was funded by the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research NWO-WOTRO (project number W 01.65.330.00) as part of the project ‘Experimenting for Sustainability in India and Thailand’

ISBN 978-90-386-4022-8 Layout and printing: Uitgeverij BOXPress,‘s-Hertogenbosch Cover design and photo: Mural in Korat, adapted from photo by author Copyright © 2016, Frans Sengers All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanically, by photocopying, by recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the author.

Transforming Transport in Thailand Experimenting for Transitions to Sustainable Urban Mobility

PROEFSCHRIFT

ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, op gezag van de rector magnificus prof.dr.ir. F.P.T. Baaijens, voor een commissie aangewezen door College voor Promoties, in het openbaar te verdedigen op donderdag 18 februari 2016 om 16:00 uur

door

Frans-Hendrik Sengers geboren te Eindhoven

Dit proefschrift is goedgekeurd door de promotoren en de samenstelling van de promotiecommissie is als volgt:

voorzitter:

prof. dr. I.E.J. Heynderickx

1e promotor:

prof. dr. ir. R.P.J.M. Raven (Utrecht University)

2e promotor:

prof. dr. ir. G.P.J. Verbong

leden:

prof. dr. F.H.H. Berkhout (King’s College London) prof. dr. L. Bertolini (University of Amsterdam) prof. dr. H. Jeekel prof. dr. R. Kemp (Maastricht University) prof. dr. ir. M. Steinbuch

Het onderzoek of ontwerp dat in dit proefschrift wordt beschreven is uitgevoerd in overeenstemming met de TU/e Gedragscode Wetenschapsbeoefening.

Contents Prologue ........................................................................................................................................................ 9 1.

Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 13 1.1

Transforming transport in Thailand ....................................................................................... 15

1.2

Transitions, experiments and geography ................................................................................ 18

1.3

Goals and research questions................................................................................................... 22

1.4

Case selection ............................................................................................................................. 23

1.5

Methods and data collection .................................................................................................... 26

1.6

Outline......................................................................................................................................... 27

Experimenting for sustainability transitions ................................................................................ 29 2.1

Introduction................................................................................................................................ 31

2.2

Methods ...................................................................................................................................... 33

2.3

Analytical dimensions................................................................................................................ 35

2.4

Conceptualizations .................................................................................................................... 37

2.5

Discussion ................................................................................................................................... 51

2.6

Concluding remarks .................................................................................................................. 55

Appendix I: Finding sustainability transitions publications on experimentation ......................... 57 Appendix II: Sustainability transitions publications on experimentation (N=170) ..................... 59 Appendix III: IST conference papers on experimentation ............................................................. 69 Appendix IV: Most cited core literature outside the sustainability transitions field .................... 77 3.

Informal transport in transition: the case of motorcycle taxis ................................................. 81 3.1

Introduction: neglected mobility systems and the field of transition studies ................... 83

3.2

Experimentation in informal transport regimes.................................................................... 88

3.3

Methodological approach ......................................................................................................... 91

3.4

A multi-level analysis of Bangkok's motorcycle taxis ........................................................... 92

3.5

Metering motorbike mobility ................................................................................................... 95

3.6

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................100

Toward a spatial perspective on niche development: the case of Bus Rapid Transit ......... 103 4.1

Introduction..............................................................................................................................105

4.2

Spatializing the local–global niche model ............................................................................107

4.3

Methods ....................................................................................................................................115

4.4

The global mushrooming of Bus Rapid Transit..................................................................116

4.5

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................128

Appendix V: BRT systems versus informal transport....................................................................131 Re-imagining the city: the case of cycling .................................................................................. 135

5.1

Introduction..............................................................................................................................137

5.2

Envisioning urban sustainability transitions ........................................................................139

5.3

Cycling the Thai city ................................................................................................................143

5.4

Re-imagining the Thai city......................................................................................................146

5.5

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................157

‘Love your home, love your city’: the case of participatory land-use planning .................... 159 6.1

Introduction..............................................................................................................................161

6.2

Stability and change in land-use and urban planning in Chiang Mai City .......................164

6.3

The Multi-level Perspective ....................................................................................................166

6.4

Conclusion and Discussion ....................................................................................................172

Urban mobility experiments in Asia ...........................................................................................175 7.1

Introduction..............................................................................................................................177

7.2

Research Strategy .....................................................................................................................178

7.3

Example 1: Electric Rickshaws in New Delhi .....................................................................180

7.4

Example 2: Motorcycle Taxi Meters in Bangkok ................................................................183

7.5

Example 3: Bus Rapid Transit in Ahmedabad ....................................................................186

7.6

Example 4: Bus Rapid Transit in Bangkok ..........................................................................189

7.7

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................191

Experimenting in the city ............................................................................................................. 193 8.1

Introduction..............................................................................................................................195

8.2

Experimenting in the transitions literature ..........................................................................197

8.3

Toward a definition of experimentation in sustainability transitions ...............................201

8.4

Challenges for urban governance ..........................................................................................206

8.5

Conclusion: experimenting in the city ..................................................................................208

Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................211 9.1

Main findings: answering the RQs ........................................................................................213

9.2

Reflection: concepts, cases and the novelty bias .................................................................224

9.3

Moving forward: follow-up research ....................................................................................231

References ................................................................................................................................................ 235 Summary ................................................................................................................................................... 261 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. 265 Curriculum Vitae ..................................................................................................................................... 267 Selected Publications............................................................................................................................... 269

Prologue

A tall stone peak looms at Bangkok’s horizon: Victory Monument. This towering needle is surrounded by a massive roundabout. Huge volumes of traffic gush through this beating heart of the city’s transport infrastructure, stringing together the vital jugulars and arteries of the road network. The roundabout is teeming with life. The choreography of colorful vehicles bring to mind images of a rich ecosystem populated by a variety of strange animals. Stretching the analogy of the natural world even further, we could say that each vehicle represents an organism and that each transport mode represents a species. The people to be transported represent the ‘borrowed food’ which the hungry vehicles in this proverbial ecosystem greedily seek to ingest. Some species cooperate symbiotically to exchange borrowed food (a school boy hops out of a metro cart and rushes to the minivan queue as fast as his legs can carry him), while others seem to be locked in fierce competition (a tourist who planned to take a an air-conditioned taxi-cab is persuaded by a vocal tuk-tuk driver to board his vehicle instead). In order to keep this transport ecosystem afloat, a steady supply of vital resources is required: fuel, road space and political support. The species of ‘private car’ has captured most of these resources. However, this glutinous species is notoriously inefficient in utilizing scarce road space and finite fossil fuel, which leads to a number of persistent problems. The growing number of cars are the root cause behind the polluted air and the chronic gridlock. To legitimize their dominant position and to retain hardfought political support in the face of these persistent problems, the car has evolved certain adaptations. Some of them now boost more efficient engines, while others have sprouted CNG tanks in their trunks (though the road-space issue is not so easily remedied). Moreover, the emergence and rise of the private car has decisively shaped the physical- and institutional setup of the ecosystem, subordinating the other species in the process and creating the preconditions for its own expansion. The car’s smaller cousin is the genus of ‘motorcycle’. The motorcycle is more efficient in its use of fuel and road space. Residing in the nooks and crannies where others are unable to venture, swarms of motorcycles zigzag through the narrow gaps left vacant by the gridlocked cars. Besides the private motorcycles cruising around Victory Monument, a pack of motorcycle taxi drivers are

lying in wait near a food vendor stall. Perched atop their bikes, wearing their characteristic orange vests, these taxi drivers park in line as they wait for customers to hop on the back of their small vehicles. The motorcycle taxi is a thriving species in Bangkok. Their ranks have swollen in recent years since they benefit from the both automobile overkill and the impending traffic jams, which they it can skillfully bypass. Another big player is the genus of ‘bus’. In addition to the different sizes, shapes and colors of public busses there is a legion of white minivans. Minivan numbers have soared and they are hammering the competition represented by the aging rolling stock of the declining public bus system. After dropping off their passengers, the public busses and minivans ingest new passengers on the way back to their Victory Monument base camp. In a different part of town, the city planners have intervened in the urban environment by marking some roads with bus-only lanes for one brand new type of bus. This species of ‘Bus Rapid Transit’ is a rare breed that grazes solemnly along its fixed-route corridor, eating up willing passengers along the way. Together these different species of the genus of bus account for more passenger kilometers travelled than any other genus of modes. A significant but often forgotten genus is that of ‘non-motorized transport’, constituted by cyclists (few) and pedestrians (many). The many pedestrians have been pushed to narrow ledges on the far sides at Victory Monument, reflecting their precarious position. In order to cross the roads, they have to use the elevated walkways surrounding the monument, separated from the ‘regular’ (read: motorized) traffic. A young man, who rides his bicycle around the monument, introduces himself as a cycling campaigner – a spokesperson for the bicycle who dreams about a transport ecosystem with a different physical layout and a different institutional set-up. This dissertation is about the struggles of people who are trying to change the existing situation in order to pave the way for sustainable transport in Bangkok and in other cities in Thailand. They do so by experimenting with a number of alternatives: buses, bicycles and motorcycle taxis instead of cars and motorbikes for individual use. Mainstreaming these alternatives at the expense of the private motorized transport, they claim, is the way forward in building Thai cities that are more livable, more sustainable and more prosperous. How far have they come so far in their objective of transforming transport in Thailand?

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1

Transforming transport in Thailand

Cities throughout the developing world have embarked on the perilous path of ‘unrestrained motorization’. Cars and motorcycles are welcomed as desirable symbols of progress and modernity and their use and ownership is growing at a relentless pace in the megacities and midsized towns that are sprouting up in the global south. Effective land-use planning and control are absent and urban transport policy is geared toward futile attempts to road-build its way out of congestion. Especially in Asian cities – with compounding conditions of rapid economic growth, fast-paced urbanization, dense settlement patterns and limited road surface area – unrestrained motorization is the root cause of an array of persistent problems: chronic congestion, bad air quality, a range of health- and safety issues, a surge in CO2 emissions and a splintered social fabric (Barter 1999; Schipper 2010; Dimitriou and Gakenheimer 2013). The tragic trajectory of Bangkok is a case in point. The capital city of Thailand, now home to over ten million people, was once described by European traders as the ‘Venice of the East’. The city featured an extensive network of canals and relied on a water-based transport system. Over the course of the twentieth century this serene aquatic world of canals (khlong) gave way to a modern terrestrial world constituted by wide arterial roads (thanon) and a chaotic labyrinth of narrow alleyways (soi) 1. Non-motorized transport (walking, cycling, samlor pedicabs) and public transport (trams, buses) were gradually replaced by motorized private transport (motorcycles, cars) as the preferred way to traverse Bangkok’s densely packed-, tightly woven- mixed use urban fabric. During the economic boom in the 1980s – as the city feverously embarked on the construction of yet more and wider roads, spaghetti junctions and elevated expressways – the initial trickle turned into a veritable flood, unleashing vast numbers of motorized vehicles onto the streetscape. The mismatch between the advent of mass motorization and the city’s preautomobile form became especially apparent from the early 1990s on. Almost exclusive 1. On khlong-based life in Bangkok’s past as well as in popular imagination today see Noparatnarap*rn and King (2007). On the later developments of roads, superblocks and the soi-system see Cohen (1985) and Sintusingha (2006)

commitments to road building without substantial investments in public transport had paved the way for massive traffic jams and a range of problems associated chronic congestion in an increasingly fragmented and unlivable urban environment. Bangkok had ceased to be the ‘Venice of the East’ once and for all; it had become the ‘Los Angeles of the East’ as the Asia’s archetype of urban traffic dysfunction (Tanaboriboon 1993; Kenworthy 1995; Poboon 1997; Rujopakarn 2003). While Bangkok constitutes a notorious worst case scenario, the urban transport challenges in other Thai cities are no less profound. In previous decades, urban growth rates in and around the massive ‘primary’ capital city of Bangkok far outpaced those of Thailand’s medium-sized ‘secondary’ cities (NESDB 1981-2000). Nowadays, the Bangkok Metropolitan Region still dominates the country’s urban development, but towns like Chiang Mai, Korat, Khon Kaen and Udon Thani are fast becoming economic centers in their own right (Romanos and Auffrey 2002; Glassman and Sneddon 2003; Phuttharak and Dhiravisit 2014). Thailand’s resource-constrained secondary cities are motorizing extremely fast and they do not have regulated ‘public’ transport systems. Instead they rely on converted pick-up trucks (songtaew) run by private operators who are trying to cope with the declining demand for their services. As these cities sprawl further and further into their agricultural hinterland, it will be increasingly difficult for these less compact settlements to build future public transport systems to match the perks of private cars and motorcycles. 2 At present, these cities remain essentially self-organizing entities without meaningful transport planning and land-use control (Vorratnchaiphan and Villeneuve 2006). With motorization growing unabatedly, like it did in Bangkok, these sprawling secondary cities are now faced with growing congestion, deteriorating public transport services, decreasing air quality levels and an increasingly unlivable urban core. The extent of unrestrained motorization in Thailand – in the previous decades as well its projected continuation in the decades to come – is reflected in staggering the number of cars and motorcycles that are added to the roads (fig. 1).

2. Although Bangkok may have attempted to embrace the private car, at least its densely-settled core and limited road surface area per inhabitant have prevented it from becoming an ‘automobile dependent’ city and its urban form remains suitable for mass transit and non-motorized modes (Kenworthy 1995; Poboon 1997). For a picture of land-use and transport developments in smaller Thai cities such as Chiang Mai and Korat see Romanos and Auffrey 2002 and GIZ 2009ab. These cities seem to be following in Bangkok’s footsteps: road-building efforts are the main response to rapid motorization, but the roads cannot be built fast enough keep up with the additional numbers of motor vehicles. Although the provision of public transport is Bangkok is limited, at least there are sanctioned transit systems in place that are funded and regulated by state authorities. In other Thai cities this is not the case.

Figure 1: Number of motorized vehicles in Thailand: the last 20 years and projections to 2050 (source: based on GIZ 2014 and Pongthanaisawan and Sorapipatana 2013)

In order to deal with the persistent problems generated by this ever growing fleet of motorized vehicles, a range of technological fixes and end-of-pipe solutions have been tried and tested in Thailand since the early 1990s. As a way to curb the alarming rise in air pollutants, especially particulates and lead, Thai government agencies implemented ambitious and highly effective programs to phase out leaded gasoline between 1991 and 1995 (Sayeg 1998). Around the same time, government-business partnerships, new emission standards and public awareness campaigns made sure that dirty two-stroke motorcycles were gradually replaced by cleaner fourstroke ones (IGES 2004). Within the last ten years, a variety of cleaner alternative fuels have gained popularity – especially CNG, LPG and, to a lesser extent, ethanol – as way to reduce oil imports and address CO2 emissions (World Bank 2009). Though successful in some respects, these clean-tech solutions fall short in addressing the root cause of today’s persistent mobility problems. By not challenging the underlying principles of unrestrained motorization they are 17

complicit in retaining the streetscape status quo and in obstructing the shift to a truly sustainable transport system. This dissertation starts from the basic premise that urban transport development in Thailand requires major overhaul. Establishing sustainable transport requires the streets to be reclaimed by an array of more ‘radical’ 3 alternatives that harbor a greater potential to turn Thailand’s cities into a more environmentally benign, socially inclusive and livable places. In the chapters that follow, this dissertation will investigate the dynamics of experimenting with a number of less conventional mobility systems – such as the informal motorcycle taxi, the ‘metronized’ bus and the humble bicycle – in order to inquire how the shift toward a new radically different multimodal transport regime might be in the making.

1.2

Transitions, experiments and geography

Overcoming the formidable challenges laid out above requires ‘transitions’ to new kinds of systems. Transitions are major shifts in the way societal functions such as transportation are fulfilled and they imply the re-configuration of system elements, such as technologies, policies, infrastructures, industry structures, markets, user practices, cultural meanings and various forms of knowledge (Geels 2002, 2005; Smith 2007). The early academic work on transitions provided center stage to the dynamics of socio-technical change in urban transport. It recognized that new mobility alternatives – promising technologies with the potential to contribute to sustainable development – are underutilized and asked: “why [are] such technologies not introduced into the market-place when their benefits to society are so evident?” 4 (Kemp et al. 1998: 175). The essential part of the answer proposes that technological change is locked into dominant sociotechnical ‘regimes’. Incumbent actor-networks, material infrastructures, routines and institutional frameworks have historically evolved around the production, distribution and use of the privately owned steel-and-petroleum car, thereby providing disincentives for radical socio-technical alternatives (Hoogma et al. 2002; Geels et al. 2012). Alternatives in early stages of development,

3. The term ‘radical’ is used to refer to transport systems geared to undermine the core principles of unrestrained motorization. Establishing these radical alternatives means a head-on challenge to the dominant position of private motorized vehicles in laying claim to scarce road space. 4. The term ‘technologies’ is somewhat misleading here and it might be better to instead talk about ‘socio-technical configurations’ in the broader sense. While new technologies play a central role in the work on mobility transitions (e.g. electric vehicles), other kinds of novel practices (e.g. organized car sharing) or service innovations (e.g. new ways of using public transport) were also studied (see Hoogma et al. 2002).

the argument goes, are not well aligned with the incumbent ‘automobility regime’ and cannot compete on the basis of regime-derived selection criteria. Instead of directly competing with regime-configurations on unfavorable terms, alternatives develop initially in protective ‘niches’ where some of those selection criteria are less pressing and where there is room for ‘experimentation’. Experimentation is crucially important as a first step to establish an open-ended search and learning process and as a way to work toward the societal embedding of promising alternatives. In experiments, collections of emerging technologies (such as electric vehicles) and novel social practices (such as organized car-sharing) are trialed and tested in the real world. The promise is that learning- and demonstration effects of experiments add to the momentum of emerging sustainable systems as they gear up to transform an incumbent unsustainable regime. Some of these experiments embody transition pathways of incremental change and are geared toward optimizing the incumbent regime by selectively targeting a limited number of elements without directly undermining the system-at-large. Other experiments embody transition pathways of radical change and represent a more fully-fledge shift away from the incumbent regime by breaking with the guiding principles of the system-at-large (Kemp et al. 1998; Harms and Truffer 1998; Hoogma et al. 2002; Truffer 2003). 5 The insights sketched out above date back to the late 1990s and early 2000s and much has happened in the meantime. The initial work on European mobility experiments has provided the foundation for the approach of ‘Strategic Niche Management’ (and more generally for much of the now-burgeoning field of ‘sustainability transitions’ 6), while new work building onto these foundations has provided fresh theoretical insights and additional empirical case studies (criticizing and scrutinizing some of the underlying assumptions of the initial work). These later contributions point to new promising directions for future transitions research (STRN 2010).

5. In the socio-technical transitions literature this incremental-vs-radical distinction finds expression in various ways. Hoogma et al. (2002) distinguish between experiments geared toward ‘regime optimization’ and ‘regime shift’. Geels and Schot (2007) distinguish between transition pathways of ‘transformation’ (radical niche alternatives are not sufficiently developed and a stable regime modifies direction without disrupting the system architecture), ‘reconfiguration’ (certain elements of radical niche alternatives are adopted by a stable regime and this triggers further adjustments that do disrupt the system architecture), ‘substitution’ (radical niche alternatives are sufficiently developed so that they can replace an embattled regime and thus disrupt the system architecture) and ‘de-alignment and re-alignment’ (radical niche alternatives are not sufficiently developed, but when an embattled regime crumbles they compete for dominance in building a new system architecture).Smith and Raven (2012) distinguish between ‘fit-and-conform’ (actors trying to make niche innovations competitive within the selection environments imposed by an incumbent regime) and ‘stretch-and-transform’ (actors trying to make niche innovations competitive by challenging the selection environments imposed by an incumbent regime, especially necessary for radical path-breaking innovation) 6. See Markard et al. 2012 for a recent overview of this field

An important element of this newly emerging research agenda is the ‘geography of transitions’ (Coenen et al. 2012; Hansen and Coenen 2014; Raven et al. 2015; Murphy 2015; Truffer et al. 2015). Dissatisfied with the way previous research tended to privilege the temporal over the spatial dimensions of transformative change, geographers have started to ask important questions with regards to the role of place, space and scale in transitions. Why do transitions happen in one place and not in another? How are experimental transition pathways constructed across space and within different territorial contexts? How do processes at different scales interact and add up to foster or frustrate transitions? In earlier transitions research these elements of geographical context were treated as “at best a passive background

variable providing

little causal

explanation or theoretical purchase” (STRN 2010:18). But the new geography of transitions agenda, on the other hand, argues that “adopting an explicit geographical perspective is necessary to disclose the contingencies and particularities of the various contexts where transition pathways evolve and take place in order to develop a better theoretical understanding of factors enabling or impeding these processes” (STRN 2010:18). In line with this emerging research agenda, three research trends and corresponding challenges are put forward as a starting point for articulating a transitions perspective that is more sensitive to geographical context. First, while the early work on transitions investigated individual experiments, new research has emphasized the interaction between multiple experiments and their broader environment (Schot and Geels 2008). Instead of highlighting the intricacies of individual experiments at what has been called the ‘local niche level’, later contributions started to analyze the institutional work that underpins the emergence of more aggregate-level structures required to support experimentation and its impact at what has been called the ‘global niche level’ (Geels and Raven 2006; Smith and Raven 2012). Though an important step forward in the development of the Strategic Niche management framework, this local-global model has received criticism from geographers of transition (Coenen et al., 2012; Hansen and Coenen 2014). Despite the geographical connotation of the local-global concepts, this ‘a-spatial’ model cannot fully address questions about the ‘where’ of niche development. Key challenges remain with regards to developing a framework that can more readily address where niches emerge and why there, how niche innovations travel through territorial space and across boundaries, and the ways in which knowledge becomes embedded in specific locations. Second, while the early work on transitions focused on experiments in Europe and the US, new research has also branched into other geographical contexts, including the emerging economies

of the developing world. This has provided additional opportunities to study the spatial variation in the way struggles between the forces of socio-technical change and stability unfold in places across the globe. Regarding the forces of stability, it was hypothesized that transitions in industrialized countries need to overcome economic and political commitments to incumbent regimes, but that this is much less the case in developing country contexts (Berkhout et al. 2009). Regarding the forces of change, on the other hand, conventional economic growth research argues that the capacity to innovate is difficult to acquire and will first appear at later stages of economic development, and initially only in advanced sectors of the economy. This suggests that innovations underpinning more resource-efficient development pathways are unlikely to emerge in the global south, but will continue to be transferred from firms in the global north. Yet, recent research in emerging economies in Asia appears to confound this picture. Transition scholars have identified a thriving arena for sustainability-oriented experimentation, populated by a great number of innovative projects (Bai et al. 2009; Berkhout et al. 2010; Wieczorek et al. 2015). One explanation for this abundance and diversity in experiments is that they bring together capabilities not just of business firms, but also of civil society, and that they draw heavily on transnational flows of expertise, technology, capital and institutions (Wieczorek et al. 2015). These ‘transnational linkages’ articulate, complement and motivate local capability formation and may contribute to alternative development pathways that defy traditional growth theories, thus pointing toward an alternative geography of socio-technical change. As Berkhout and colleagues have articulated the remaining challenge: “we need to see experiments as located within transnational flows of knowledge, technology and other resources … but we need to know more about the mechanisms” (Berkhout et al. 2011: 380). Third, while the early work was composed of mostly national-level analyses, new research has emphasized the interplay between a variety of geographical scales. Initially, it was implicitly or explicitly assumed that transitions are national-level phenomena and that niches and regimes are national-level structures (Raven et al. 2012). This has been challenged by research on transnational transition dynamics in Europe (Van der Vleuten and Högselius 2012; Dewald and Truffer 2012) and Asia (Binz et al. 2012; Wieczorek et al. 2015). In recent years a different type of argument for the need to ‘break out of the national’ has been articulated by urban geographers, who de-center the nation-state as the default level of analysis by shifting their gaze to the citylevel (Hodson and Marvin 2010; Bulkeley et al. 2011).

In today’s rapidly urbanizing world, cities are critical sites for the making of a sustainable future society: as great concentrations of incumbent socio-technical systems imbricated in the daily lives of millions of urbanites, they are obdurate structures that stubbornly resist changes toward sustainability (Hommels 2005) 7; but as cauldrons of creative imagination, they are also seedbeds for experimenting with new sustainable alternatives (Geels 2011; Bulkeley et al. 2015). It is on this interface between these two struggling forces that the research agenda of ‘urban sustainability transitions’ is situated (Bulkeley et al. 2011; Nevens et al. 2013; Rutherford and Coutard 2014; Loorbach et al. forthcoming). Key questions remain with regard to the kinds of linkages and the frictions that come along with embedding niches and experiments within in the dense institutional- and infrastructural fabric of cities and with regard to how cities can shape transitions and, vice-versa, how transitions can re-shape cities (Hodson and Marvin 2009, 2010). In sum, geographers of transition have made critical contributions to the study of experiments and sustainability transitions in recent years, but a number of challenges remain with regards to developing a more spatially-nuanced understanding on urban transitions in a globalizing world. While empirically focusing on the dynamics of socio-technical change in transport in Thai cities, this dissertation also sets out to address these conceptual challenges with the broader overall aim to contribute to the development of a – for lack of a better word – ‘geography-informed’ perspective on urban mobility transitions.

1.3

Goals and research questions

This dissertation has two main goals. Empirically, it unpacks how experimentation with alternative urban mobility systems is unfolding in Thailand and how this has a bearing on wider transition processes. In addressing this empirical aim, the dissertation also aims to make a conceptual contribution to the academic field of sustainability transitions by sketching out the

7. Marxist geographer David Harvey uses the term ‘spatial fix’ to argue that the obdurate spatial structures of a city (such as the building stock, the road networks and other forms of physical infrastructure) secure capitalism firmly into place. But he also points to the other side of the coin, stressing the importance of mobility and flow of capital. According to Harvey, this ‘fixing’ also points to one of the central contradictions of capitalist expansion: it has to build a fixed space necessary for its own functioning at a certain point in its history only to destroy that space in order to make way for a new ‘spatial fix’ at a later point in its history (Harvey 2001). More recently, social scientists inspired by ‘the new mobilities paradigm’ (Sheller and Urry 2006) have also pointed to this dialectical tension between mobility and immobility in late capitalist societies by arguing how various spatial-, infrastructural- and institutional ‘moorings’ configure and enable flows and movements of various sorts (Hannam et al. 2006)

contours of a geography-informed perspective on urban mobility transitions. This is summarized in the following research questions:

RQ1: How are Thai cities experimenting with alternative mobility systems, and what does this imply for the current state of the transition to sustainable urban transport in Thailand? RQ2: What implications can be drawn for developing a geography-informed perspective on experimenting for transitions to sustainable urban transport?

1.4

Case selection

The transport systems investigated in this dissertation can be considered ‘radical alternatives’. The experiments that embody radical change can be seen as part of a set of emerging mobility niches that do not ‘fit and conform’ (Smith and Raven 2012) to the incumbent regime of unrestrained motorization. Instead, they are geared to ‘stretch and transform’ (Smith and Raven 2012) vested rule-sets, seeking to dislodge a system predicated on the growing use of privately owned motorcycles and cars, questioning dominant meanings of modern urban mobility and opening up surprising new kinds of transport futures. In order to investigate how an alternative multi-modal transport regime is (or is not) gaining a foothold, three cases have been selected. Each of these cases constitute an alternative mobility niche populated by a set of experiments that embody this type of radical change. The first case is so-called informal transport. This term covers a wide range of taxi-like systems, which often do not adhere to fixed routes and schedules and which are not fully sanctioned by the rule of law. It covers rickshaws, pedicabs, pickup trucks, minivans and an astonishing variety other types of small vehicles driven by enterprising private operators, who often persist at the margins of society within the booming cities of the global south. Robert Cervero defines informal transport as ‘illicit paratransit’: it is paratransit because the systems in question can be considered neglected options for urban mobility that exist ‘besides’ (para) dominant systems of individual private transport and sanctioned public transport, and it can be considered illicit because these systems persist ‘somewhat in the background, and outside the officially sanctioned public transport sector … [but] while the means of informal workers are illicit, their ends are licit’

(Cervero 2000). 8 In order to illustrate how these systems are changing and innovated upon, the focus is on one iconic informal transport system: Bangkok’s motorcycle taxis 9. More specifically, the analysis centers on one hands-on experiment with a new electronic device that serves as a taxi-meter as way of showcasing the underlying process of navigating a challenging social and political environment as a starting point for the introduction of a potentially disruptive innovation. This case contributes to the development of a geography-informed perspective on mobility transitions by demonstrating how the spatial scales of the street, the city, the nation-state and international community interact to produce the particular location, form and outcome of an experiment. It provides a glimpse at the uneven geographies of innovation and experimentation within the under-represented and under-researched yet incredibly significant sphere of informal transport. The second case is Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). This refers to an innovative bus-based mass transit option, which is conceptually situated halfway between a conventional public bus system (large rubber-tired vehicles, operates on the road, flexible and relatively cheap) and an urban rail system (dedicated infrastructure, automated ticketing, large passenger capacity and a system with a strong identity) 10. The investigation traces the tortuous innovation journey of BRT around the world – from its 1970s cradle in the Brazilian city of Curitiba to the years after 2010 when such a system materialized in Bangkok. In this case, BRT is positioned as a transnational niche, which is at present populated by around 190 interlinked experiments throughout the world. As a contribution to the development of a geography-informed perspective on mobility transitions, the spatialities of niche development take center stage in the analysis. Sketching out the contours of spatially-nuanced understanding of transition dynamics, a number of geography literatures are mobilized to illustrate how and where (and why there) niches emerge, travel and become embedded in the institutional fabric of particular places.

8. Informal transport systems are highly prevalent throughout the developing world (Cervero 2000; Cervero and Golub 2007). While this motley crew of systems are collectively known by a variety of labels (i.e. ‘third world transport’, ‘low-cost transport’, ‘intermediate transport’). I choose to use the term paratransit here because it reflects the lack of dedicated infrastructure and policy attention for these systems and the dominance of other transport logics and modes (i.e. private cars and motorcycles, big public buses and trains). 9. While great numbers of small vehicles operated in this fashion ply the streets of Thai cities, there are two iconic informal transport systems that I have become most familiar with: the red pick-up trucks in Chiang Mai (rot daeng) and the motorcycle taxis in Bangkok (motorcy rap jang). For both cases I conducted interviews and small surveys. While the case of rot daeng was initially in one of the articles the I published, it was removed in order to make space for a longer theoretical discussion (a brief description of the case can be found in Appendix V in chapter 4). 10. See Levinson et al. 2003 for a comprehensive definition of BRT.

The third case is cycling. While the previous two cases point to experiments with new technologies and vehicles, this case provides center stage to the experimental mindsets of those trying to re-instate technologies and practices which are not new. Given that cycling can be viewed as mundane everyday practice that most people are familiar with and that has witnessed a sharp decline in previous decades, these advocates are pursuing a range of strategies in order to re-inscribe the humble bicycle onto the streetscape of Thai cities. In addition to promotional events and collective bike rides, part of these strategies are discursive in nature and geared toward articulating how an increase in cycling contributes to a desirable urban future. The analysis centers on how this is translated into an array of different visions of what constitutes ‘the good city’. As a contribution to the development of a geography-informed perspective on mobility transitions, this case illustrates what an alternative, more spatially-nuanced, perspective on the process of ‘envisioning’ transformative change looks like. The fourth case is participatory land-use planning. While urban transport and land-use planning are deeply interrelated, meaningful coordination between these two is often lacking (Newman and Kenworthy 1999; Wegener and Fürst 1999, Banister 2008; Bertolini 2012; Switzer et al. 2013). Too often in process of planning new transport systems, land-use is treated as somewhat of an afterthought, which can contribute to more urban sprawl and a settlement pattern conducive for becoming even more firmly locked-in to the regime of unrestrained motorization (Cervero 1998). Although this case is not about transport directly, it does highlight the intricacies of land-use planning and hence the structuration of mobility patterns. More specifically, this case centers on the activities by one civil society group in the Wat Ket quarter of Chiang Mai city and it illustrates how civic engagement can influence the decision-making process. Compared to the other three cases, this case has a more explorative character: it is less extensive empirically, but explores the potential of transitions thinking to contribute to discussions of land-use planning. Explicitly spatial elements, such as such as the various color-coded categories on land-use maps and the broader coordination issues in production of urban space and negotiations of future urban form, are conspicuously absent in previous transitions accounts 11. In highlighting these elements lies this last case study’s contribution to the development of a geography-informed perspective on mobility transitions.

11. Most mobility transition accounts privilege the temporal dimension and focus specific technological niches, such as electric vehicles, while the spatial dimension and a focus on land-use planning has been less elaborated (for this critique see Geels 2012; Switzer et al. 2013; Schwanen 2015)

The underlying rational for choosing the cases laid out above is that they collectively cover the entire spectrum of different types of transport logics. According to Hoogma et al. (2002)12, a distinction can be made between two highly disjunctive regimes of ‘private transport’ and ‘collective transport’ as well as a set of niches that breach this neat divide. Bicycles (case 3) can be considered as an alternative in the realm of individual transport and bus-based mass transit systems (case 2) are part of the realm of collective transport, while informal transport (case 1) reflects an array of taxi-like para-transit systems that breach the classic divide because they are predicated on a different logic. The explorative case of land-use planning is included because transport and land-use constitute an interrelated system.

1.5

Methods and data collection

While the methodological details are described in the individual chapters of this dissertation, a few things should be said about the overall approach to method, data collection and fieldwork. The research design can be described as a ‘multiple-and-embedded case study research design’ (Yin 2003) and a ‘mixed methods approach’ (Teddlie and Tashakkori 2009; Creswell and Plano Clark 2011) combines qualitative approaches (in-depth interviews and ethnographic work) with quantitative ones (constructing large databases of technical reports and articles to conduct citation analyses, mapping out networks and discourses with the help of software). Inspired by mostly qualitative methodological approaches for geographers (Limb and Dwyer 2001; Crang and Cook 2007), ‘process theory’ (Van de Ven and Poole 1995; Pettigrew 1997) is employed as an overall explanatory narrative style. During six-and-a-half months of active fieldwork in Thailand between 2012 and 2014, mostly in Bangkok and the major cities in the North- and North-East (especially Chiang Mai and Korat, but also in Khon Kaen, Ubon Ratchatani and Nan), 85 in-depth interviews were conducted with various actors. The collection of interviewed actors reflect the diversity of stakeholders in the urban transport arena – from transport engineers and policymakers to urban planners and architects; and from entrepreneurs and NGO officials to taxi drivers and bicycle riding activists. Inspired by what Büscher and Urry (2009) have called ‘mobile methods’, part of the ethnographic

12. As Chapter 2 will show, this much-cited book on (urban) mobility transitions was important in sketching out the contours of the approach of Strategic Niche Management and in putting the process of experimentation firmly at the center of present-day sustainability transitions research. Inspired by this book, this dissertation builds on the original insights and aspires to be a kind of ‘2.0’ version with different types of empirical cases and a few modest theoretical additions.

fieldwork was conducted ‘on the move’, following the actors – for instance, traveling along with transport engineers to places were the stations of prospective bus-based mass transit systems were scheduled to be built; biking along with cycling campaigners during their bicycle promotion events; and riding with taxi-drivers in their cars and on the back of their motorcycles to learn about their livelihoods and perspectives on the future of urban transport. These interviews and ethnographic moments form the basis of this enquiry into the prospects for sustainable urban transport in Thailand. Finally, it should be noted that writing this dissertation stems from involvement in a broader research program titled ‘Experimenting for Sustainability in India and Thailand’. 13 By way establishing a common understanding between the members of this research program, this dissertation starts out conceptually with a systematic literature review to unpack the notion of ‘experimentation’ (chapter 2). Because the empirical work for this research program involved cooperating closely (co-authoring and conducting workshops) with scholars from Thailand and India, reflecting on the similarities and differences between these two countries in terms of the urban transport dynamics was crucially important throughout the process of writing the empirical chapters of this dissertation. Besides the four main empirical case studies on experiments in Thailand (informal transport, BRT, cycling and participatory land-use planning), the later part of this dissertation puts these initiatives in broader perspective by comparing them with similar types of experiments in India (chapter 7). The insights that stem from this common research on urban experiments in these two Asian countries allowed for expanding upon the initial literature review of experimentation (chapter 8).

1.6

Outline

This dissertation is based on seven publications: five journal articles and two book chapters 14. Each of these publications constitutes a chapter and aims to contribute to understanding the dynamics of experimenting for sustainable urban transport in Thailand and/or to developing a geography-informed perspective on urban mobility transitions.

13. NWO/WOTRO project number W 01.65.330.00). For more information see http://www.nwo.nl/onderzoek-enresultaten/onder-zoeksprojecten/75/2300159375.html and http://www.sustainabilityexperimentsasia.org/Home.html 14. Three journal articles have been published (chapters 3,4 and 6), two journal articles are in the second round of review (chapters 2 and 5), and the two book chapters are to be published in a forthcoming book (chapters 7,8).

Chapter 2 unpacks the notion of ‘the experiment’ as it is conceptualized within the sustainability transitions field. Experimentation is a central concept in this dissertation because it plays an important role in the development of alternative socio-technical systems, especially in the early phases of transformative change. The chapter presents a systematic review of the notion of experimentation as it appears in the transitions literature and reveals how transition scholars have made sense of the plethora of initiatives and projects designed to foster socio-technical transformations. Chapters 3 to 7 deal with the empirical dimensions of stability and change through experimentation in the domain of urban transport in Thailand. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 constitute the empirical heart of the dissertation by laying out the dynamics of experimentation and niche development as described in the cases of informal transport (chapter 3), Bus Rapid Transit (chapter 4) and cycling (chapter 5). Chapter 6 explores participatory land-use planning as an experimental approach to undermine modernist-, top-down-, car-oriented urban form. Chapter 7 summarizes part of the empirical findings by providing a meta-analysis of several mobility experiments by providing center stage to the navigational strategies of actors conducting experiments in Bangkok and other booming Asian cities. Chapter 8 revisits the literature review of experimentation in chapter 2. It provides additional empirical substance to the initial findings by drawing on examples of experiments in cities in Thailand and other parts of Asia. As its synthesis, it articulates a comprehensive definition of experimentation and specifically points out a number of urban governance challenges related to coordination, commitment and negotiation on experimenting in the city Chapter 9 summarizes the main findings and re-articulates the most important insights of the previous chapters in order to provide a conscious response to the main research questions. It also reflects on the approach used, identifies limitations and provides suggestions for further research.

Chapter 2 Experimenting for sustainability transitions

Chapter 2 Experimenting for sustainability transitions 15

Abstract: This review chapter systematically queries the sustainability transitions literature to unpack the concept of ‘experimentation’. A distinction is made between various terms (niche experiments, bounded socio-technical experiments, transition experiments, sustainability experiments and grassroots experiments), each with their own theoretical backgrounds and discursive and empirical focal points. Observed patterns and trends in the literature are discussed, as well as promising lines of enquiry for further exploration of- and a reflection on experimenting for sustainability transitions in the context of the welfare state.

2.1

Introduction

The notion of ‘experimentation’ is central to transitions thinking. It is one of the innovative keyelements that make this line of thinking so unique within the wider literature of social change and policy theory (Meadowcroft 2011; Van den Bergh 2012). According to transition scholars, the experiment harbors important seeds of change that may eventually lead to a profound shift in the way a human need or societal function – such as the provision of energy or mobility – is being met. As a precious yet-to-germinate flower of sustainability, the novel- or alternative sociotechnical configuration it embodies is applied and tested in real-life conditions to learn about (and aid to achieve) a possible future situation. The eventual promise is that, if it works well in the real world and if it is upscaled successfully, the experiment adds to the momentum of the emerging socio-technical configuration and helps to transform the unsustainable incumbent system. This

15. This chapter is under review as Sengers, F., Wieczorek, A.J., Raven, R., Experimenting for Sustainability Transitions: A Systematic Literature Review. (in 2nd round of review for Technological Forecasting and Social Change)

much, at least, is clear if we look at the literature on experimentation in the growing field of sustainability transitions. Over the last decade this field of study has given rise to a fairly cohesive and integrated community of scholars, who meet each other at workshops and conferences, and read and cite each other’s work (Geels 2013; Chappin and Ligtvoet 2014). Recent contributions in this emerging field have re-conceptualized key transitions concepts, such as ‘protection’ (Smith and Raven 2012) and ‘destabilization’ (Turnheim and Geels 2013), but the notion of ‘experimentation’ has thus far eluded such careful recent scrutiny. Especially at a time when important new conceptual contributions on experimentation are stacking up (e.g. Berkhout et al. 2010; Bulkeley et al. 2015), when this rapidly growing scholarly community is moving out of its initial innovation studies niche to have an impact on wider sustainability research (Geels 2013), and when more researchers from other fields of enquiry (e.g. geography, urban studies) and other parts of the world (e.g. non-OECD countries) are moving in, we feel that there is now more than ever a need to provide a clear and up-to-date overview of the research that has been conducted in our field under the banner of the experiment. As such, the goal of this chapter is to interrogate the salient terms in the academic transition studies debate on experimenting for sustainability as well as the conceptual relationship between these terms. Because the use of concept of the concept of the experiment in the sustainability transitions literature is on the one hand highly central, but on the other hand also highly wideranging, we believe that reviewing this literature warrants a thorough and systematic approach. Following the guidelines of a ‘systematic literature review’ (Petticrew and Roberts 2006) our efforts are conducted with a defined research question in mind: How have scholars in the field of sustainability transitions conceived of and addressed the concept of the experiment? In addressing this question our main aim is to provide a clear overview of various lines of thought. Additionally, we also want to point ahead to promising avenues for further exploration and we want reflect on experimentation in the context of sustainability transitions in welfare states. 16 The chapter is structured as follows. Section 2 describes our methodological approach. Section 3 presents an analytical framework. Section 4 traces the roots of thinking about experimentation through time and highlights where different conceptual variations of this notion come in and branch off, as well as what the various conceptualizations suggest about the specific role of

16. This chapter is based on an article to be published in a special issue on transition in welfare states, hence this feat of reflection

experiments. Section 5 provides a discussion, research agenda and reflections with regard to the welfare state. Section 6 briefly concludes.

2.2

Methods

Within the social sciences, systematic reviewing has been developed as a specific method for identifying and synthesizing research findings (Petticrew and Roberts 2006). The systematic review is considered particularly useful to disseminate the key findings of large and complex bodies of research literature and it employs a transparent and rigorous (more or less protocoldriven) approach to identify and synthesize all the available research findings of sufficient quality concerning a specific research question or subject (Higgins and Green 2009). Instead of just rigidly applying an inflexible and restricted procedure, systematic reviews should be guided by a set of clear principles in order to highlight opportunities for further research (Briner and Denyer 2010). Victor (2008: 1) argues that the systematic literature review can be distinguished from a traditional literature review by a particular emphasis upon the following features: “(1) as far as possible, it should be comprehensive in its coverage of the literature; (2) pay careful attention to the quality of included evidence; (3) take a clear, systematic approach to the synthesis of the data; and (4) generally follow transparent and rigorous processes”. Taking these four features to heart, we want to select a comprehensive set of contributions that adequately represents the body of work published within the field of sustainability transitions (we limit ourselves to how the role of experiments is conceptualized by this community of scholars 17). Regarding the ‘quality of the evidence’ we have to extend the idea of a systematic review beyond the positivist methodological realm of evidence-based medicine from where it emerged and fit it to a more constructivist approach to scientific knowledge that underlies much of the work about sustainability transitions. But we agree that the findings upon which we build our analysis should be of high-quality (with a preference for highly cited books and peer reviewed journal articles). For the sake of rigor and transparency, the process of identifying the set of publications, which serves as the basis for this review, is discussed below.

17. This is a deliberate choice. As members of the sustainability transitions community and as researchers who would identify ourselves as sustainability transitions scholars, we are in a good position to write about developments within our field. We hope, however, that the contribution of this paper is not limited to this field. Our aim is indeed to present a comprehensive up-to-date overview to insiders as well as scholars from other research communities by showing how a relatively coherent body of work has made sense of experimentation.

Notwithstanding that there is no clear single way to define which contributions are ‘in’ and which are ‘out’ of the rapidly growing field of sustainability transitions, there have been at least three earlier efforts to map these contours and to identify the set of publications that constitute this field. This includes the most recent list of transition publications 18 compiled by the chairman of the Sustainability Transitions Research Network (Geels 2013) and two bibliometric analyses using a specific search query in the Scopus database (Markard et al. 2012; Chappin and Ligtvoet 2014). As the starting point for our analysis we have chosen to include all the publications from the inception of the field in the 1990s up to and including the year 2015 that can be identified in these three ways and selected only the contributions (peer reviewed articles, books and book chapters) that mention the term ‘experiment*’ (that is the word ‘experiment’ and variations, such as ‘experiments’, ‘experimental’ or ‘experimentation’) in their title, key-words or abstracts 19. This yielded 150 publications. Using our own assessment based on our expertise and knowledge of the transitions field, we identified 20 additional prominent transitions publications about experimentation, which were not found by the protocol-driven search of the STRN list and Scopus database, but which should be included in our view. 20 For this total of 170 key publications we have identified crucial characteristics of the ways in which experimentation is

18. See http://www.transitionsnetwork.org/files/Reference%20list%20to%20transition%20publications.pdf. The current 2013 version of this list contains 643 publications (mainly journal articles, but also books, book chapters and viewpoints) 19. Chappin and Ligtvoet (2014) sketched out the contours of the transition studies field by identifying a set of publications based on the terms ‘transition’ and ‘transformation’ within the Scopus Database (http://www.scopus.com/.). The search query we used is based on the same idea, but modified in order to find the articles in the sustainability transitions field which are specifically about experimentation. The following Boolean search query was used: TITLE-ABS-KEY(experiment* AND (transition OR transformation) AND (sociotechnical OR socio-technical OR societal OR technological OR sustainability)). We first used this search query to find articles about experimentation within a set of the twenty most highly cited core articles in the sustainability transitions field (see Markard et al. 2012 for this list). We then expanded the set of articles in which we searched with this query: first the set of publications which cite at least one of those twenty core articles and then all of the publications in Scopus (though for the latter case we hand-picked the articles which we deemed to be part of the sustainability transitions field - this last step was undertaken because the record in Scopus on which publication cites which other publication is incomplete). 20. The protocol-driven search efforts has certain limitations. Some publication types (for instance, older journal articles, PhD theses, books and book chapters) are underrepresented in the STRN and Scopus databases so that certain key publications were not been found in this way. Other key publications were not found through the protocol driven search effort because they mobilize other terminology to talk about experimentation in their title or abstract but use other terms (e.g. pilot project, initiative etc.) and only later in the body text the notion experiment is then used interchangeably to discuss the same phenomenon. The downside, however, of scoping for the notion of experiment in the body text and include all publications that mobilize this notion at some point is that a far too big sample is obtained which includes lot of contributions not predominantly about experimentation as such. Because of these limitations, we chose to stick with the initial protocol and add additional publications based on our further search efforts and personal assessment. It could be argued by complementing a protocol-driven search effort with own additional search efforts and assessment that we run the risk of undermining the ‘systematic’ character of this literature review and introduced bias and lack of methodological rigor in our analysis. Nevertheless, we believe that our pragmatic choice to do has paid off and that the eventual sample of 170 contributions we obtained through this combination is more comprehensive than any sample that we could have obtained by relying only on either a quantitative data-driven protocol or an unstructured qualitative search effort.

conceptualized 21. We have also created a citation network showing which publication refers to which others within this sample of 170 as a way to show how these various conceptualizations relate to one another and ‘branch off’ from mainstreamed lines of reasoning. As an additional exercise to help identify recent developments and current trends in debates about experimentation we have also screened all accepted abstracts that were submitted to the annual International Sustainability Transitions (IST) conferences 22. In order to trace the ontological foundations of each conceptualization of experiments we have analyzed the most cited ‘core’ literature from both within as well as outside of the field of sustainability transition 23. Besides studying the literature and its terminology with regards to experimentation, we have looked at the descriptions of the actual experiments in order to find out which domains or ‘societal functions’ were studied (e.g. transport, energy, water) and where (e.g. an island in the Netherlands, cities in India, a neighborhood in Boston). Tracing these elements through time allows us to identify a number of patterns and trends in the kinds of experimental activities and settings that have been studied over the years.

2.3

Analytical dimensions

An initial overview of the various contributions reveals a great diversity of terms in relation to experiments in sustainability transitions. This includes notions such as ‘niche experiments’ (Kemp et al. 1998), ‘bounded socio-technical experiments’ (Brown et al. 2003), ‘transition experiments’ (Van den Bosch 2010), ‘sustainability experiments’ (Berkhout et al. 2010) and ‘grassroots experiments’ (Seyfang and Smith 2007). The scholars who coin new terms on top of the preexisting ones argue that new conceptual vocabulary is required because the character of the initiatives they describe and, more importantly, the broader trend that the string of initiatives represent, is not adequately captured by the existing conceptual terminology. The review of this literature reveals that conceptualizations of experiments tend to do differ in terms of (some of) the following analytical dimensions. First, each of the different conceptualizations of experiments is associated with a particular normative orientation. For example, the goal of sustainability experiments is achieving sustainability, 21. For a comprehensive overview of our search efforts see Appendix I and for complete overview of our sample of 170 contributions see Appendix II 22. For an overview see Appendix III 23. For an overview see Appendix IV

transition experiments aim at stimulating transitions with more broadly defined societal goals in mind, while the expected aim of grassroots experiments is green niche development through inclusive social innovation (see Table 1). Second, while almost all types of experiments build on the notion of the original niche experiment as developed by Kemp et al. (1998) and Hoogma et al. (2002), at the same time they link to other theoretical backgrounds to make sense of- and engage with the process of experimentation through the use of particular approaches and frameworks. We refer to this background as theoretical foundation. This may refer to such analytical frameworks as the Multi-level Perspective (Geels 2002) and the reflexive governance approaches of Strategic Niche Management (Hoogma et al. 2002; Raven 2005) or Transition Management (Loorbach and Rotmans 2006). Each of these conceptual tools has its own ontological foundations and discursive focal points, which enables a particular way of thinking about the role of experimentation. For example, niche experiments were conceptualized in the context of MLP and SNM approaches which have their origins in science and technology studies, evolutionary economics, sociology, and history of technology, while sustainability experiments build on the idea of niche experiments combined with literature on environmental innovation in developing countries and theories of economic convergence (i.e. Kuznets 1966; Gerschenkron 1962). Third, and strongly related to the theoretical foundation, is the analytical emphasis in each of the conceptualizations. By this we refer to the analytical procedure that is being deployed by the researchers with the purpose of studying particular types of empirical experiments and their role. For example, niche experiments that are meant to stimulate niche creation are analyzed by means of three nurturing strategies (expectations alignment, learning and network formation amongst actors and individual experiments) with the implicit aim of having a wider influence over ongoing transition processes. The literature on transition experiments, on the other hand, features three different strategies or processes (deepening, broadening and upscaling), while the literature on sustainability experiments provides center stage to transnational linkages of five types (actors, technology, capital, knowledge and institutions). Fourth, various actors are highlighted as initiators or otherwise critical for the various experiments. The niche experiment and SNM highlight the role of ‘regime outsiders’ (Van de Poel 2000), while the transition experiment and Transition Management approach talk about the importance of ‘frontrunners’ (Loorbach and Rotmans 2010). Countering part of government/business focus of these two ‘management’ approaches, the literatures on bounded socio-technical experiments and grassroots experiments emphasize different aspects. They elaborate on the function of civil

society organizations and local communities in initiating action for a transformation towards sustainable development. Next to these four analytical dimensions, each of the different conceptualizations of experiments is associated with a set of exemplary hands-on initiatives that illustrate the theoretical claims. In the following section we provide an empirical illustration of each concept. We will also discuss in more detail each of the conceptualizations of experiments that we found in the screened literature in terms of their normative orientation (goal), their theoretical background, analytical emphasis and main actors that are thought to be of critical importance.

2.4

Conceptualizations

An experiment can be broadly conceptualized as an attempt at something novel or different. Within the wider scientific community, the term experiment is often narrowly interpreted as a type of planned investigation carried out to test a hypothesis by providing insight into cause and effect and by demonstrating what outcomes occur when particular factors are manipulated. In the sustainability transitions community, on the other hand, the experiment is interpreted as a ‘sociotechnical’ entity and it has a rather specific meaning with regards to the introducing new technologies or novel social practices into society. Whereas the scientific experiment that features in the natural sciences is geared to test something new in a taken-for-granted and completely controlled environment (i.e. a laboratory), the sociotechnical experiment that features in sustainability transitions can be interpreted as something that is tested in a metaphorical ‘laboratory’ where a group of diverse social actors team up to test something new in a dynamic real-life social context with the eventual aim to achieve a societal transformation. 24 These metaphorical laboratories are sites of experiential learning where a course of action tentatively adopted without being sure of the outcome and thus where the ability to learn as well as previously gained experience can help the actors in the art of introducing a new technology of social practice. Now that the common ground and origins of the broad idea of experimenting for

24. The field of sustainability transitions literature is partly informed by earlier Science and Technology Studies (STS) contributions. STS scholars have long since argued that the ideas of ‘laboratory’ and ‘experiment’ have ventured outside of the their natural science confines and invaded society at large, thus blurring the strict lines between the privileged scientific knowledge and the pragmatic knowledge of everyday life (for a comprehensive overview see Karvonen and Van Heur 2014). As Bruno Latour has argued: “we are all engaged into a set of collective experiments that have spilled over the strict confines of the laboratories … on matters as different as climate, food, landscape, health, urban design, technical communication and so on. As consumers, militants, citizens, we are all now co-researchers” (Latour 2004:16).

sustainability transitions have been established, we move to the more subtle set of meanings and connotations that can be found in the 170 key publications that form the basis of our literature review. Starting from the emergence of the field in the 1990s all the way up to recent developments in 2015, at least five unique terms that have been coined and widely mobilized. These terms have been taken up consecutively by transition scholars in order to identify specific types of experiments and to describe with distinctly different logics in mind (Table 1). Figure 1 further depicts how the different conceptualizations diffused through time across the literature on the basis of a citation analysis. It shows the main citations paths through the reference sections of this set of publications and draws a conceptual ‘tree of life’ representing the lineages and legacies of different ways of thinking about experimentation.

Figure 1: Visual overview of 170 publications on experimentation through time in the sustainability transitions literature. Node sizes are proportional to the number of times a publication is cited within the sample and colors represent the dedicated terms that have been coined to distinguish been various types of experiments: blue = niche experiment; red = bounded sociotechnical experiment; yellow = transition experiment; green = sustainability experiment; purple = grassroots experiment; pink = new terms on urban experiments (such as urban climate change experiment and urban living lab).

Table 1. Conceptualizations of experiments in the sustainability transitions literature Concept

Definition

Niche experiment

“a first step towards the development of a niche for new technologies and concepts. While an experiment is carried out under "laboratory-like" conditions, developing a niche means exposing the innovation step-by-step to real-world conditions. It involves a second stage of interaction with users and learning about constraints and requirements in a less isolated environment than an experiment … [Experimentation] stretches from the initial diffusion phase of a new technology to the time when a technology is sufficiently stabilized to survive without protection, to be replicated or extended and to induce a transformation of the technological regime” (Weber et al. 1999)

Bounded sociotechnical experiment

“an attempt to introduce new technology or service on a scale bounded in space and time; a collective endeavor, carried out by a coalition of diverse actors, including business, government, technical experts, educational and research institutions, NGOs and others; a cognitive process in that at least some of the participants explicitly recognize the effort to be an experiment, in which learning by doing, trying out new strategies and new technological solutions, and continuous course correction”(Vergragt and Brown 2007)

Transition experiment

“an innovation project with a societal challenge as a starting point for learning aimed at contributing to a transition” (Van den Bosch and Rotmans 2008)

Grassroots experiment

“Innovation is an experimental process …We use the term ‘grassroots innovations’ to describe networks of activists and organizations generating novel bottom–up solutions for sustainable development; solutions that respond to the local situation and the interests and values of the communities involved. In contrast to mainstream business greening, grassroots initiatives operate in civil society arenas and involve committed activists experimenting with social innovations as well as using greener technologies” (Seyfang and Smith 2007)

Sustainability experiment

“a planned initiative that embodies a highly novel socio-technical configuration likely to lead to substantial (environmental) sustainability gains” (Berkhout et al. 2010)

Normative orientation

Theoretical foundations

Analytical emphasis

Main actors

Creation of market niches for radical innovation in the context of sociotechnical transitions

CTA, STS and evolutionary economics,

Three niche nurturing processes:

Regime-outsiders,

Part of SNM / MLP

(building networks, articulating expectations, second order learning)

Social learning towards new sociotechnical systems

Social learning theory

Social learning processes

Stimulating transitions towards societal goals

Complex systems theory, Three processes:

Inclusive green niche development with the potential for wider transformation of mainstream society

Social movement theory, Sustainable consumption indicators: Draws on niche based

Civil society

Sustainability gains, avoiding environmental convergence

Geography and innovation studies in developing country context,

Multi-scalar innovation networks

important role for users

Civil society (but as part of a diverse set of stakeholders)

Part of TM

approaches (i.e. SNM / MLP)

Influenced by SNM / MLP

(broadening, deepening, scaling-up)

Frontrunners as initiators

(especially local (localization, reduction of communities, ecological footprint, ecological citizens as initiators) community building, collective action, new social infrastructure) Transnational linkages: (actors, technology, knowledge, capital, institutions)

Niche experiments Much of today’s research on sustainability transitions has its roots in the 1990s with the sociotechnical experimentation as a center piece of the Strategic Niche Management (SNM). With its theoretical foundations in evolutionary economics and constructivists science and technology studies (i.e. major citations to Dosi 1982 and Nelson and Winter 1982)5, SNM is based on the observation of an abundance of novel technologies with clear benefits for society being developed in R&D labs but failing to make it to the market because of interrelated social and technical factors. The factors select against the novelties and decisively shape the selection environments embodied in so-called regimes (Kemp et al. 1998; Geels 2002). These sociotechnical regimes are complex configurations of three interlinked dimensions: network of actors and social groups, formal, normative and cognitive rules that guide the activities of actors and material and technical elements (Geels 2004). They create the core of socio-economic structure by providing stability and continuity and are critical to structural change towards greater sustainability. To facilitate a shift from an incumbent socio-technical regime to a more sustainable one (a transition), SNM assumes that creating new technological niches through protective policy measures and strategically exploiting existing market niches can facilitate this innovation journey. Niches are the loci where radical (as opposed to incremental) innovations can develop without being subjected to the harsh selection pressures of the prevailing regime. They are spaces that allow nurturing and above all experimentation with the co-evolution of technology, user practices, and regulatory structures (see Schot and Geels 2008 for an overview). The process through which niche experiments can come to influence regimes is called ‘upscaling’ (Jolly et al. 2012) or ‘empowering’ (Smith and Raven 2012). This comprises all activities aimed at embedding of the experiment in regime-level structures (or transforming them), gaining structural support, involving key regime-players, overcoming barriers and making experiment part of a broader process of change (Jolly et al. 2012; Wilson et al. 2012). The normative orientation of niche experiments is thus the creation of niches. Actors who are outsiders to the incumbent regime are considered critically important. Great emphasis in SNM is put on the role of users in niche experiments. However, the lessons learned about the nature of experimentation from the early empirical research showed that “we were certainly over-optimistic about the potential of SNM as a tool for transition …. The experiments were relatively isolated events [and] there are limits to the power of experiments. Only occasionally will an experiment be such a big success that it will influence strategic decisions. Experiments may tip the balance of decision-making, but they will not change the world in a direct, visible way … Experiments

influence the world but do not bring particular futures about. Their influence is more indirect.” (Hoogma et al. 2002: 195-196). In line with this feat of reflexive criticism, later work on SNM studied not only individual user-oriented experiments, but also their relation to broader nichebuilding activities (Geels and Raven 2006). Early SNM work used to analyze niches and niche experiments by studying the learning processes, network formation and articulation of expectations. More recently, the analytical emphasis in niche experiments has expanded to include conceptualizations of protective space itself (Smith and Raven 2012). This conceptualization emphasizes three processes core to protection of experimentation: shielding which is a process that holds off the selection pressures in an active or passive way; nurturing, a processes that supports the development of path breaking innovation; and empowering, a process that makes niche innovations competitive vis-àvis regimes. The development of biogas experiments in Denmark illustrates how the notion of niche experiments is put to work for empirical analysis. Initially, farmers in the 1970s and 1980s responded to the global oil crisis by tinkering with biogas technology on their own farms, but with little success. In the mid-1980s the Danish government started to act more pro-actively as a strategic niche manager when it established a long-term policy program for biogas technology. This policy initiative shifted attention towards more centralized forms of biogas technology. The so-called biogas action program initiated a long-term development program organized around the establishment of more than 20 centralized biogas plants. The program orchestrated a heterogeneous network of both outsiders and insiders to the energy regime, including farmers, biogas technology suppliers, plant operators, municipalities, academics and policy actors. Social learning processes where facilitated through regular meetings, which increasingly give rise to shared expectations around socio-technical designs of biogas plants and the ways in which they could contribute to environmental challenges in energy, agricultural and waste regimes.

Bounded socio-technical experiments Research on bounded socio-technical followed directly from the earlier work on what was then called ‘social experiments’ (Verheul and Vergragt 1995) 25. This notion surfaced when the SNM

25. Philip Vergragt played a central role in coining both the concept of the social experiment as well as the bounded sociotechnical experiment. He notes: “we wrote [the paper that coins the notion of social experiment] as part of an EU-funded project

approach was being developed in the 1990s as a way of criticizing its central focus on technology. The starting point of SNM, and hence the niche experiment, is a set of ideas and concepts from the field of evolutionary economics dealing with technological regimes and technological innovation within industrial firms (Nelson and Winter 1982), although this literature consistently focused analytical attention to technology-society relations based on insights from science and technology studies (STS). The social experiment, on the other hand, is a plea for social innovation and the idea of ‘social niche management’ emphasizing the role of civil society and the process of building a social network of diverse technical- and non-technical actors. What followed later under the explicit header of bounded socio-technical experiments (BSTE for short) took the idea of the social experiment a step further with a clearer and more elaborate set of delineations and case studies to back it up. In contrast to the notion of the niche experiment, which is rooted in evolutionary and STS thinking, the BSTE draws on the social learning literature with most references to Argyris and Schon (1978) and Bandura (1977). To qualify as a BSTE, the initiative has to be recognized as being an experiment by at least some of the participants. And, as the name suggests, it attempts to introduce a new technology or service on scale bounded in space and time. It features a small number of users, often a geographically delineated community, and takes around five years 26. A good example of a BSTE is a zero-fossil-fuel residential building in a gentrifying neighborhood in ‘blue collar’ South Boston (Brown and Vergragt 2008). The developer’s ambition was to innovate in three areas: product (the building by use of as many cutting edge energy efficient technologies as possible), process (design and construction by assembling heterogeneous team,

called SMEC (Social Management of Environmental Change). In those days I came already to the conclusion that too much emphasis in SNM was laid on technological rather than social innovations; so we invented the term “social niche management” as a sort of alternative. Later we developed that further in our papers of the early 2000s on Bounded Socio-Technical Experiments; so in a way BSTE developed from Social Niche Management; however we emphasized less the “management’ and more the role of social learning” (Vergragt 2014, personal correspondence). A good example of an initiative labelled as a social experiment (the BSTE precursor) is the development of the Greenfreeze refrigerator as portrayed by Verheul and Vergragt 1995. 26. This is more specific than in case the niche experiment. According to Brown and Vergragt (2008) existing environmental projects can be ‘turned into’ BSTEs, when learning is enhanced and monitored as a part of action research. Along similar action research lines, proponents of Transition Management also argue that technical projects can be turned into transition experiments when transitions researchers are embedded (Van den Bosch 2010). In SNM research, on the other hand, definitions on what exactly constitutes and experiment are not so strict (basically the researcher only needs to show convincingly that the hands-on project to be studied is part of a socio-technical configuration that presents an alternative to the incumbent socio-technical regime, which is also to be characterized by the researcher him/herself). But despite some differences, there are also many similarities between BSTEs, niche experiments and transition experiments. Most notably perhaps, they are explicitly framed as concrete socio-technical projects conducted as part of an incremental strategy to help overcome the resistance of dominant unsustainable socio-technical systems or regimes. Reflexive higher order learning is the most important theme in BSTE analyses, but it also features prominently in SNM’s niche experiments where (learning is one of the three core processes) and in TM’s transition experiments (especially in the process of ‘deepening’ related to social learning)

including potential residents, who interacted in a creative manner), and end use (life in the building by planning roof gardens or car sharing). The participants were expected to acquire a fresh perspective on their occupancy and, as a way of scaling up, to forward the experiences to others. This initiative qualifies as a BSTE because it is bounded to a specific area and community and because it emphasizes the importance of higher order learning, which occurred at the individual- as well as team level at four levels: problem solving, problem definition, dominant interpretative frame and worldview. Brown and Vergragt follow the minute details of the project by mapping and monitoring the interactions between a heterogeneous team of individuals, who play “their roles in a drama of sorts” as changes in the team’s problem definitions and interpretation take place.

Transition experiments Transition experiments can be defined as a specific type of innovation projects with the aim to proactively explore radically new ways to meet societal needs, such as the need for energy, mobility or health care (Van den Bosch and Rotmans 2008). They aim at solving persistent societal problems and, contrary to much previous work on niche experiments, are therefore not limited to technological change or environmental sustainability (Van den Bosch 2010). They have been developed in the context of Transition Management approach (TM), which is aimed at influencing and directing sustainability transitions and has its roots in the complex system theory and evolutionary theory. The most references to the non-transition literature are made to Kauffman’s (1995) work on complexity. Although TM consists of a deliberate attempt to bring about structural change in a stepwise manner, it does not attempt to achieve a particular transition goal at all cost. Rather, it utilizes the existing dynamics and re-orients it to transition goals chosen by society. The goals and policies to further these goals are not set into stone but constantly assessed and periodically adjusted in development rounds. Transition experiments are thus considered tools of TM. The normative orientation of transition experiments is stimulating transitions towards societal goals. The analytical emphasis of transition experiments is on three processes: deepening, broadening and scaling up. Deepening refers to learning about the experiment and its (restricting) conditions. Deepening can be stimulated by: providing (financial, juridical and mental) space for setting up and conducting transition experiments in specific contexts; facilitating social learning; providing support, to overcome barriers, stimulating adequate monitoring and evaluation.

Broadening concerns learning from related experiments or similar experiments in new contexts. It can be stimulated by: providing resources to replicate radically new practices in different contexts; facilitating interactions between similar experiments; stimulating network building; sharing learning experiences within the sector and stimulating linkages with adjacent sectors. Scaling up relates to learning about the regime change and (use of) broader developments (such as crises or world debates). It can be stimulated by: selecting and supporting frontrunners with the motivation and ability to experiment and scale up; balancing between providing protection from the regime and directly involving regime-actors who have the willingness and power to change existing structures (e.g. financial structures, regulation); realising agreements with the regime; actively feeding back learning, experiences to the regime (Van den Bosch 2010: 187). Frontrunners are thereby critical in transition management and experiments. The TM literature very specifically prescribes that these should not be usual stakeholders but individuals that are engaged with sustainability, who have new ideas and are able to transcend organizational boundaries. Frontrunners should get together in a so-called transition arena, the outcome of which includes a portfolio of transition experiments that fit within the developed societal vision and pathways. To operate optimally the arena needs frontrunners with complementary backgrounds ranging from business, citizens, NGO’s, science, government, art, media, religion etc. and matching competencies: mix of networkers, innovators and communicators. An example of the transition experiments is the Transition Programme in Long-term Care (20072010) initiated by the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports and the Dutch care sector organizations. The programme was run by the Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT) in collaboration with health care experts (CC Care Advisors) and organisational management (Ernst & Young). This programme qualifies as a transition experiment because it was initiated in practice and the Transition Management (TM) was applied as the central steering approach. The programme aimed at enabling the care sector to fulfil the societal need for long-term care in the Netherlands in a radically different way. Its central focus was on exploring and learning about radical innovations in health care, in a real-life context in which the end user is central. A total of 26 experimental projects were initiated by the frontrunner care institutes from all over the Netherlands and a transition arena was set up. The frontrunners participating in this arena developed a problem definition, a sustainability vision and transition pathways for long-term care (Transition Arena Care 2009). A number of learning experiences regarding deepening, broadening and scaling-up were drawn and suggested for use by other transition experiments (Van den Bosch 2010).

Grassroots experiments Grassroots experiments refer to networks of activists and organizations generating novel bottom–up solutions for sustainable development; solutions that respond to the local situation and the interests and values of the communities involved. They are thereby motivated by the social needs and ideology. In contrast to mainstream business greening, grassroots initiatives operate in civil society arenas and involve committed activists experimenting with social innovations as well as using greener technologies (Seyfang and Smith 2007: 585). The institutional forms for grassroots innovative niches differ from those of conventional innovations (firms) and include: cooperatives, voluntary associations, informal community groups or social enterprises. According to authors, grassroots innovation may take various forms: organic gardening cooperatives, low impact housing or farmers’ markets. The concept has been developed using niche based approaches as proposed by Hoogma et al. (2002) and Schot et al. (1994) and multilevel socio-technical change (Geels 2002) but it also has roots in the non-sustainability transition literature with most references to Douthwaite (2002). The normative orientation of grassroots innovation is a more inclusive form of strategic green niche development beyond the conventional scope of formal policies and markets. There is no pronounced and widely used analytical emphasis in studying grassroots innovations. Earlier, Seyfang and Smith (2007) studied grassroots innovative potential by evaluating intrinsic benefits (when an experiment is valued for its own sake and does not seek to change regime) and diffusion benefits (when it is intended to contribute to wider transformation). More recently Seyfang (2010) proposed the sustainable consumption indicators developed based on New Economics approaches to sustainable consumption 27 including: localization; reduction of ecological footprint, community building, collective action, new social infrastructure. Other contributions such as by Seyfang and Haxeltine (2012) use the three niche processes of learning, expectations and networks to analyze the niche development potential.

27. An alternative theoretical approach to environmental governance and sustainable consumption based on combined insights from ecological economics, institutional economics, political economy and behavioral economics (Ekins 1986; Boyle 1993). It argues that economics has intrinsic foundations in environmental and social contexts, so sustainability should primarily be aimed at well-being rather than at economic growth (Jackson 2009). It also emphasizes the usefulness of decentralized social and economic organization and local self-reliance for protection of local environments and economies from the negative impacts of globalization (Jacobs 1984; Schumacher 1993). New Economics adopts a ‘Spaceship Earth’ view of the environment, which argues that resources are finite, and functioning ecosystems are critical for our survival.

An example of a grassroots experiment is the Transition Towns (TT) civil society (specifically local community-based) movement (Hopkins 2008) aimed at addressing the challenges of climate change and peak oil. The objective of TT movement is not to spark a transition. It is rather a local response to these two external pressures and an attempt to create an alternative niche of new infrastructure and practices by empowering public and engaging them in a transition to a low carbon economy (Seyfang and Haxeltine 2012). The idea was developed by Rob Hopkins a permaculture teacher and his students in 2005 and is growing ever since. TT concern various local activities such as establishing community-owned renewable energy companies, promoting locally grown food, garden sharing, encouraging energy conservation, exemplifying low-carbon living and reusable shopping (Hopkins 2008). There are a number of TTs which are supported by a Transition Network Ltd, a formal coordination body that also endorses local groups that meet their official requirements. Greatest achievements of TTs include establishment and maintenance of supportive communities around these activities, building links with other local groups and government, awareness raising and community engagement activities. Seyfang and Haxeltine (2012) report that majority of local groups (89%) are set up by individual citizens coming together to form a TT while 19% had pre-existing groups involved in getting set up. None were started by local councils, which validates TT claims to be a citizens’ movement, generating energy and action from the grassroots. In case of this experiment the SNM theory is deployed to make practical recommendations for this initiative to move beyond its niche and suggestions for SNM theory refinement made. It is argued that to better explain the development and broader impacts of grassroots innovations, SNM needs to pay more attention to better understanding of the role of identity and group formation and how social practices change in grassroots innovations.

Sustainability experiments Sustainability experiments are planned initiatives that embody a highly-novel socio-technical configuration likely to lead to substantial (environmental) sustainability gains (Berkhout et al. 2009). They are experimental tests of new sustainability transition ideas. The ideas are highly novel meaning that they radically differ from the known and prevailing solutions and ways of providing human needs within a specific context. They are planned, which implies that they are conscious choices and not accidents or accidental occurrences. The reference to socio-technical configuration suggests that they are socio-technical in nature, not taking place in a lab, but in a societal context. Sustainability experiments are also strongly goal oriented. They are expected to lead to substantial sustainability gains, which encompass environmental, social and economic aspects of development. 48

By this sustainability experiments deliberately contribute to a broader vision of sustainability transition and are associated with alternative sustainable development pathways. Finally, sustainability experiments may result from activities at various societal levels. They may be topdown governmental actions set to support the process of transition or grassroots type of innovations. Hence, sustainability experiments may exhibit features of various types of experiments that have been described in the system innovation literature (Wieczorek et al. 2014). The idea of sustainability experiments emerged in the context of debate about alternative development pathways in developing countries (Berkhout et al. 2009, 2010, 2011). Conventional development paradigms argue that developing countries follow stages of development of the developed economies and over time converge in economic structure, growth, productivity and environmental footprint (Rostow 1960; Gerschenkron 1962; Kuznets 1966; Abramovitz 1986). Research into Asian developing economies identified a great number of local innovative projects for sustainability that draw on transnational flows of knowledge, technology, capital, institutions or actors. The normative orientation of sustainability experiments is therefore sustainability gains. Avoidance of environmental convergence is what is observed theoretically. a clear point of analytical emphasis are ‘transnational linkages’, which were found important for stimulating sustainability oriented experimentation by motivating local capability formation and thereby contributing to development pathways that defy the traditional growth models theorized in the literature on catch-up (for a recent overview see Wieczorek et al. 2015). An example of a sustainability experiment provided by Wieczorek et al. (2014) is Aurore Solar Home Systems (SHS) in Tamil Nadu, India from 2004. The main objective of this experiment is combined socio-economic and environmental sustainability based on replacing the use of diesel with solar energy. SHS provides brighter and safer light, it replaces unhealthy kerosene lamps and candles and yields saving of about 1,300 CO2. ton per year. The project was initiated by Auroville Foundation, a national NGO that employs a number of international(-ly educated) experts. The transnational actors and knowledge linkages can be observed in in a number of other (inter-) national actors involved as e.g. software provider (WIPRO, national SME); infrastructure supplier (SREI national SME), local financial organisation (IFCL Chennai), six NGOs including international Greenpeace and a multinational industry: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd and Tata BP. The project was awarded a 2004 Ashden Award and recognized by UNDP (an institutional transnational linkage). Funds were provided by the National Ministry of Renewables. The project is replicated and expanded quantitatively at a national level. Together with many similar initiatives in SHS it contributes to the emergence of a SHS trajectory in the solar photovoltaics energy that

serves the needs of mainly rural communities. This experiment is an example of locally driven but transnationally informed initiative. The various transnational linkages contribute to the enhancement of local capabilities and are ways of complementing for missing resources. They may thereby give rise to alternative development pathways that defy the convergence models of development envisaged by the mainstream literature.

Other conceptualizations While the experiment types discussed above provide a perspective on how transition scholars have thought about experimentation and its role, it is not an exhaustive typology. Although these are the five most salient terms (or at least the most often cited ones), there are other terms that have not (yet) received as much of a following, but which are, nonetheless, worth mentioning. This includes terms such as ‘governance experiments 28’ and ‘real-world experiments 29’. Another promising new term, which deserves to be mentioned, is the ‘climate change experiment’. Drawing on Foucault’s work on governmentality combined with ideas from transition studies, STS, policy mobilities and urban political ecology, Bulkeley et al. (2013, 2015) provide a large sample of ‘interventions’ where the notion of climate change is put to work locally in a variety of urban settings across the globe. Defined according to clear criteria, these interventions become climate change experiments when they are (1) purposive and strategic while recognizing the open-ended nature of socio-technical processes, (2) geared toward the mitigation of- or adaption to climate change, (3) delivered in the name of an urban community (Bulkeley et al. 2015: 19). Because the above terms are rather new and therefore not yet prominently visible within the wider transitions literature, we have chosen not to include it at length in our review.

28. In their conceptualization of governance experiments, Bos and Brown (2012) and Bos et al. (2013) follow Hoffman’s term to highlight the configuration of decision making by drawing on collaborative planning-, participation- and social learning literatures as a way to look beyond ‘the disproportional focus on technical experimentation’ of previous SNM accounts. 29. In his conceptualization of real-world experiments, Schneidewind (2012) follows Gross and Hoffman-Riem’s term on urban projects that involve the public in ecological restoration.

2.5

Discussion

Trends in the literature What patterns do we observe if we follow the evolution of the collective body of work carried out under the banner of the experiment? We see an expansion in both scale and scope of the projects studied. While the earlier work has been characterized as foregrounding technological innovation and state-or-firm-driven experimentation within nation-states of the West (e.g. Kemp et al. 1998; Hoogma et al. 2002), more recent work branched out to include a larger variety of projects, mostly in urban settings (e.g. Nevens et al. 2013; Bulkeley et al. 2015), sometimes in the Global South (e.g. Berkhout et al. 2010; Jolly et al. 2012) and often foregrounding social innovation by engaged citizens (e.g. Brown and Vergragt 2008; Seyfang and Haxeltine 2012). Tracing the different experiment-types through time, it could be argued that two main lines of thought have emerged. The first ‘techno/managerial’ line directly follows the initial work on niche experimentation, geared toward the creation of markets to upscale new green technologies – taking into account the importance of new socio-technical alignments. A second ‘social/civic’ line, which emerged soon after, then developed in response and emphasizes social innovation by engaged citizens. While the first line runs through the formulations of the notions of the niche experiment and the sustainability experiment, the second line is especially apparent in the emergence of the terms bounded socio-technical experiment and grassroots experiment, although individual papers and scholars often take nuanced position highlighting both technical and social developments, and taking into account complex relationships between formal, commercial actors such as industries and social actors such as NGOs or communities 30. Despite some shifts and distinctions highlighted so far, there is much more that binds this thinking about experimentation. Indeed, many real-life transition projects described in the literature as one type of experiment could equally well be described in the terms of any of the other experiment types. This is apparent when we look, for example, at the literature on sustainability experiments, some of which are described with the classic SNM approach reserved for niche experiments (Verbong et al. 2010). Other niche/transition experiments are described by combining the SNM and TM frameworks (Raven et al. 2010), while some of the literature on

30. The irony is perhaps that the most successful case of experimentation described with the SNM approach - in a way a foundational case study for the approach - was carsharing in the 1990s (Hoogma et al. 2002). As part of developing the SNM approach, Harms and Truffer (1998) and Truffer (2003) describe how citizen cooperatives in Switzerland were crucial for the development of this social innovation.

bounded socio-technical experiments mobilizes the same grassroots framing as grassroots experiments (Vergragt and Brown 2012). Obviously, the distinctions between the experiment types are more subtle and fluid than expressed here. The reason why we have nonetheless chosen to highlight the differences first and foremost is because it reveals the vastness and scope of experimental transition projects undertaken as well as the multiplicity of ways of making sense of these interventions.

A research agenda Based on our findings as well as recent formulations of research agendas for the field of sustainability transitions as a whole (STRN 2010; Markard et al. 2012), we now sketch out a number of promising avenues for further exploration. The first promising avenue is concerned with thick descriptions and analysis of the different forms of politics, power and agency in experimentation. We believe that there is scope to get under the skin of experimental projects in more detail and spell out the actual practices in experimentation. This includes the ways in which negotiations and struggles between actors involved in experimentation unfold and how their access to resources and respective relational positions shape their ability to influence the design and outcome of experimentation. This involves political questions of exclusion and social justice. Who becomes a participant in experimental activities and who is left out, and with what implications for the socio-technical design and outcome of experimentation in terms of the structural changes they help to shape? Who decides on who participates in experimentation and what are possible impacts for ‘stakeholders’ not involved (Shove and Walker 2007)? This includes ethnographic research that unpacks which kind of social, economic and environmental interpretations of sustainability get promoted through experimentation and which ones are ignored. Addressing such questions can also counter-balance the prominent focus in the experiments literature on consensus-oriented, learning-based and shared visioning approaches to experimentation. Controversies and tensions are more often than not a central part of transition processes and experimental initiatives (Jorgenson 2012). A key-question is how fully acknowledging the existence of controversies within experimental actor-networks and the ways in which they may or may not productively generate structural change can further our understanding of the role of experimentation in broader transition processes.

A second promising direction – the polar opposite of zooming in on the micro politics of one or a few experiments – is to move beyond case-study based approaches by zooming out to engage with very large number of projects over multiple empirical domains, perhaps with the help of more quantitative tools. This may include research designs around bringing together great numbers of experiments in databases to find patterns (a few authors have already started to do this, see Castán Broto and Bulkeley 2013; Wieczorek et al. 2015). This might allow us to more comprehensively identify crucial success- and failure factors of experiments (including the governance and policy conditions that triggered their design and implementation), conceptualize multiple experimental pathways (similar to the notion of transition pathways) and deploy network analysis to grasp how experiments are connected across locations and the kind of flows that go through them. A third avenue that deserves further exploration is what we could label the geography of experimentation, as part of the expanding research agenda on the geography of transitions (Truffer et al. 2015). This may include a variety of topics, some of which are already explored in more recent publications in the literature. Experimentation in urban contexts is a core topic that is currently explored by several scholars and deserves further scrutiny (Bulkeley et al. 2015; Hodson and Marvin 2010). Cities are sites of frantic interaction where multiple socio-technical systems connect, possibly providing opportunities for radical changes when tensions between multiple systems create windows of opportunity for agents of change. Conversely, inter-system alignments can also be sources of additional complexity and path-dependency, thereby limiting the opportunities for sustaining attempts for radical change. What role can city-officials and other change agents play in local experimental forms of transition management given these pathdependencies and complex settings? Another geographical topic that deserves attention is the ways in which experiments are embedded (or fail to become embedded) in local contexts such as cities and regions. How do proximities in local and regional networks, infrastructures, resource endowments, political agendas, market structures, cultural settings and so on influence the form and outcome of experimental initiatives and, vice versa, how are these local spatial structures and processes reconfigured through experimentation? Such an agenda, when sensitive to the historical, pathdependent conditions in local or regional settings, would be able to improve our understanding of which experiments are more successful in some place than in others (Coenen et al. 2010). A related interesting topic to be explored in more detail is the ways in which experiments become connected across different spatial scales, perhaps through the connections facilitated by a set of

highly mobile change agents. Research has empirically demonstrated that whilst local or national actors often initiate experimentation, transnational linkages in experimentation are omnipresent in experimentation, in particular in the context of the Global South (Wieczorek et al. 2015; Sengers and Raven 2015). The ways in which these multi-scalar structures influence experimentation positively or negatively, and the kind of resources that flow through them, deserves further attention, including a better understanding of how experimental activity can diffuse across scales. A fourth promising avenue for further exploration is concerned with the role of businesses in experimentation. Several domains that are core to transition research on experimentation – such as renewable energy, electric mobility or organic food – have moved beyond the early phases of niche creation in the 1990s and are now more established industrial sectors. An increasingly prominent question is how conventional firms can generate green growth and benefit from these new ‘clean-tech’ opportunities. This includes looking at the role of large incumbents as well as green challengers (Hockerts and Wüstenhagen 2010; Smink et al. 2013; Loorbach and Wijsman 2013). A key question is also how (under which conditions) incumbent firms may benefit from participating in experimentation, and how – for better or worse – their participation is changing the nature of experiments (from radical, outsider experiments to more hybrid forms of experimentation bridging the niche-regime divide). Besides studying conventional firms, looking at the business-side of experimenting for sustainability transitions could include the application of management studies perspectives on the role of ‘social entrepreneurs’, local communities and engaged citizens who are organizing themselves in novel ways, coming up with new ‘business models’ and finding new ways of ‘creating shared value’ (Boons and Lüdeke-Freund 2013; Huijben and Verbong 2013). A final avenue for research relates to the theme of this special issue. Based on our findings and suggestions, we can make a distinction between experimenting for the transformation of welfare states versus experimenting for transformations of societal functions in welfare states. Most contributions on experimentation in the transitions literature are geared to address the transformation of specific societal functions or sectors (mobility, energy, water, healthcare, etc.) and not the transformation of ‘the welfare state’ as such. But there is nothing inherent in the concept that would limit such an extension. As we showed, transition scholars already extended the concept of experimentation from its technology-oriented beginnings into other social domains. Especially the work on transition experiments and governance experiments might be productively mobilized to address questions on experimenting for transforming welfare states.

With the welfare state increasingly under pressure, and with decreasing possibilities (and perhaps ambitions) of national state actors to shape sustainability transitions, an interesting question is: who will be the key actors in future experiments? Recent work on experimentation in transition studies has started to look beyond ‘the national’ (Raven et al. 2012). Instead of providing center stage to nation-states and national governments, it highlights the role and re-emergence of the city as an experimental arena to address persistent problems (Hodson and Marvin 2010; Bulkeley et al. 2011, in particular see Bulkeley et al. 2015 on urban climate change experiments). Yet, national governments are still crucially important actors in enabling this experimentation in cities (Sengers and Raven 2015). Moreover, although the field of transition studies mostly started out with the study of experiments in North- and Western European countries with strong welfare state traditions (most early contributions in fig.1 highlight this), there are plenty of later contributions on experimentation in other nations (a significant part of the later contributions in fig.1, especially the green dots). Parts of the welfare state may have been dismantled or restructured in the wake of the Regan/Thatcher era in the US and the UK (Clayton and Pontusson 1998), but many transition accounts feature thriving grassroots experiments and bounded-sociotechnical experiments in these two countries to show how civil society has picked up the baton instead (e.g. Brown and Vergragt 2008; Vergragt and Brown 2012; Seyfang and Haxeltine 2012; Seyfang and Longhurst 2013).

2.6

Concluding remarks

This chapter provides an overview of how experimentation is conceptualized in the literature on sustainability transitions. Various types of experiments were identified and patterns and trends in the literature we discussed. It is clear that experimentation is a long-standing concept that started with a focus on their role in creating niches for sustainable technologies and that, more recently, alternative conceptualizations and promising new lines of thought were developed as scholarly work on the topic expanded. This signals a bourgeoning field of research, which is likely to expand both conceptually and empirically in the future. Since experiments contain the seeds of sustainable change for future sociotechnical systems, the numerous transformative initiatives studied in the transitions literature are indeed a great source of hope. Yet, for all its positive connotations, the profusion of experimentation should not be uncritically hailed as a sure blessing for transitions to sustainability. As the early work on SNM made 55

convincingly clear, experimentation with new socio-technical configurations is a naturally occurring phenomenon in modern societies obsessed with progress and new technologies, but is it difficult to modulate – let alone steer – this overarching project in a sustainable direction (Schot and Rip 1997). Too often, sustainability-oriented experiments are isolated events that fade into oblivion without any effect on incumbent regimes (Hoogma et al. 2002). Backed by meaningful and enduring state support, some welfare states (most notably Denmark, Sweden and Germany) have become world leaders in the manufacturing and adoption of important green technologies, while others feature low levels of reliable government support and seem to be lost in a labyrinth of experimental paths. The Netherlands is a case in point: an explosion in creative new business models applied in small-scale green energy initiatives has taken place in the country (Schwenke 2014), but its renewable energy shares remain much lower than in surrounding countries (IEA 2014). Those who claim to support transitions to sustainability should not lose themselves in the rhetoric the creative profusion of experimentation, but also confront the obduracy of incumbent regimes through far less sexy policy- and regulatory measures.

Appendix I: Finding sustainability transitions publications on experimentation

Appendix II: Sustainability transitions publications on experimentation (N=170)

Author(s) and year of

Title

Experiment notion

publication

Bai et al. 2010

Urban sustainability experiments in Asia: patterns and pathways

sustainability

Bai et al. 2009

Enabling sustainability transitions in Asia: The importance of vertical and horizontal

sustainability

linkages Beers et al. 2010

Future sustainability and images

niche

Bergman & Eyre 2011

What role for microgeneration in a shift to a low carbon domestic energy sector in the

niche

UK? Berkhout et al 2009

Sustainability transitions in developing Asia: Are alternative development pathways likely

sustainability

Berkhout et al. 2012

Understanding energy transitions

sustainability

Berkhout et al. 2010

Sustainability experiments in Asia: innovations shaping alternative development

sustainability

pathways? Berkhout et al. 2011

Avoiding environmental convergence: a possible role for sustainability experiments in

sustainability

latecomer countries? Bos et al. 2013

A design framework for creating social learning situations

transition

Bos & Brown 2012

Governance experimentation and factors of success in socio-technical transitions in the

transition

urban water sector Brown et al. 2004

Bounded socio-technical experiments (BSTEs): Higher order learning for transitions

BSTE

towards sustainable mobility Brown & Vergragt 2008

Bounded socio-technical experiments as agents of systemic change: The case of a zero-

BSTE

energy residential building Brown et al. 2003

Learning for sustainability transition through bounded socio-technical experiments in

BSTE

personal mobility Brown et al. 2013

Actors working the institutions in sustainability transitions: The case of Melbourne's stormwater management

transition

Caniels & Romijn 2008

Strategic niche management: Towards a policy tool for sustainable development

niche

Carvalho et al. 2012

Green urban transport policies and cleantech innovations: Evidence from Curitiba,

niche

Göteborg and Hamburg Castan-Broto 2012

Social housing and low carbon transitions in Ljubljana, Slovenia

BSTE

Ceschin 2013

Critical factors for implementing and diffusing sustainable product-service systems:

niche

Insights from innovation studies and companies Chappin & Dijkema 2008

Agent-based modeling of energy infrastructure transitions.

transition

Coenen et al. 2010

Local niche experimentation in the energy transition: a theoretical and empirical

niche

exploration of proximity advantages and disadvantages Coenen & Truffer 2012

Places and spaces of sustainability transitions: Geographical Contributions to an

Emerging Research and Policy Field De Bruine et al. 2010

Dealing with dilemmas: How can experiments contribute to a more sustainable mobility

transition

system Eames & Egmose 2011

Community foresight for urban sustainability: Insights from the citizens science for

sustainability Farrelly & Brown 2011

Rethinking urban water management: Experimentation as a way forward?

niche

Farenny et al. 2011

Transition towards sustainable cities: Opportunities, constraints,and strategies in

planning. A neighbourhood ecodesign case study in Barcelona Foxon et al. 2009

Governing long-term social-ecological change: What can the adaptive management and

transition

transition management approaches learn from each other? Frantzeskaki & Loorbach

Towards governing infrasystem transitions: Reinforcing lock-in or facilitating change?

transition

Frantzeskaki et al . 2012

Governing societal transitions to sustainability

transition

Frenken et al. 2012

Branching innovation, recombinant innovation, and endogenous technological

2010

transitions Geels & Schot 2007

Comment on 'techno therapy or nurtured niches?'

niche

Geels et al. 2008

The dynamics of sustainable innovation journeys

Gelcich et al. 2010

Navigating transformations in governance of chilean marine coastal resources

Gopakumar 2010

Sustainability and the indispensability of politics: A study of sanitation partnerships in

urban india Hegger et al. 2007

Niche management and its contribution to regime change: The case of innovation in sanitation

niche

Hermans et al. 2013

Niches and networks: Explaining network evolution through niche formation processes

niche

Hielscher et al. 2013

Community innovation for sustainable energy

grassroots

Holm et al. 2011

Local climate mitigation and eco-efforts in housing and construction as transition places

niche

Hoogma et al. 2002

Experimenting for Sustainable Transport. The approach of Strategic Niche Management

niche

Huijben & verbong 2013

Breakthrough without subsidies? PV business model experiments in the Netherlands

niche

Ieromonachou et al. 2003

Using strategic niche management to evaluate and implement urban transport policy

niche

instruments Jolly et al. 2012

Upscaling of business model experiments in off-grid PV solar energy in India

sustainability

Kallis 2010

Coevolution in water resource development. the vicious cycle of water supply and

demand in Athens, Greece Kemp et al. 2011

Transition management as a model for sustainable mobility

transition

Kemp et al. 2007

Transition management as a model for managing processes of co-evolution towards

transition

sustainable development Kivisaari et al. 2004

Managing experiments for transition: Examples of societal embedding in energy and

niche

health care sectors Lauridsen & Jensen 2013

The strictest energy requirements in the world: An analysis of the path dependencies of a

niche

self-proclaimed success Lawhon 2012

Contesting power, trust and legitimacy in the South African e-waste transition

niche

Lebel et al. 2010

Innovation cycles, niches and sustainability in the shrimp aquaculture industry in

sustainability

Thailand Loorbach et al. 2010

Introduction: Infrastructures and Transitions

transition

Loorbach & Wijsman 2013

Business transition management: exploring a new role for business in sustainability

transition

transitions Luiten & Van Sandick

Experiments for transitions: An interactive approach to setting up breakthrough

2007

experiments

Luthea & Schlapfer 2011

Effects of third-party information on the demand for more sustainable consumption: A

choice experiment on the transition of winter tourism Mahama 2012

2012 International year for sustainable energy for all: African frontrunnership in rural

electrification McGrail 2012

Cracks in the system: Problematisation of the future and the growth of anticipatory and interventionist practices

niche

McMeeking & Rothman

Innovation, consumption and environmental sustainability

Metcalfe & Dolan 2012

Behavioural economics and its implications for transport

Mickwitz et al. 2011

Sustainability through system transformation: Lessons from Finnish efforts

Mohamad et al. 2012

Role of religious communities in enhancing transition experiments: a localised strategy

transition

2012

for sustainable solid waste management in Malaysia Mulder 2007

Innovation for sustainable development: From environmental design to transition

management Nevens et al. 2013

Urban transition labs: Co-creative action research for sustainable cities

transition

Ngar-yin Mah et al. 2012

Governing the transition of socio-technical systems: A case study of the development of

niche

smart grids in Korea Park 2011

Iceland’s hydrogen energy policy development (1998–2007) from a sociotechnical

niche

experiment viewpoint Parson & Kravitz 2013

Market instruments for the sustainability transition

Patankar et al. 2010

A promising niche: waste to energy project in the Indian dairy sector

sustainability

Pekkarinen et al .2011

Clashes as potential for innovation in public service sector reform

niche

Quilley 2012

System innovation and a new 'great transformation': Re-embedding economic life in the

context of 'de-growth' Quist et al. 2011

The impact and spin-off of participatory backcasting: From vision to niche

Radwyl & Biggs 2013

Reclaiming the commons for urban transformation

niche

Raven et al. 2008

The contribution of local experiments and negotiation processes to field-level learning in

niche

emerging (niche) technologies: Meta-analysis of 27 new energy projects in Europe Raven et al. 2009

ESTEEM: Managing societal acceptance in new energy projects. A toolbox method for

niche

project managers Raven 2006

Towards alternative trajectories? Reconfigurations in the Dutch electricity regime

niche

Raven et al. 2010

Transitions and strategic niche management. Towards a competence kit for practitioners

transition

Rehman et al. 2012

Distribution of improved cook stoves: analysis of field experiments using strategic niche

niche

management theory Rehman et al. 2010

Rural energy transitions in developing countries: a case of the Uttam Urja initiative in

sustainability

India Rohracher 2008

Energy systems in transition: Contributions from social sciences

Romijn et al. 2010

Biomass energy experiments in rural India: Insights from learning-based development

niche

approaches and lessons for Strategic Niche Management Ros et al. 2009

New environmental policy for system innovation: Casus alternatives for fossil motor

transition

fuels Rotmans

Loorbach

Complexity and transition management

transition

Strategic niche management and sustainable innovation journeys: Theory, findings,

niche

2009 Schot & Geels 2008

research agenda and policy Schreuer et al. 2010

Negotiating the local embedding of socio-technical experiments: A case study in fuel cell

niche

technology Schwanen et al. 2011

Scientific research about climate change mitigation in transport: A critical review

niche

Seyfang & Longhurst 2013

Desperately seeking niches: Grassroots innovations and niche development in the

grassroots

community currency field Shackley & Green 2007

A conceptual framework for exploring transitions to decarbonised energy systems in the

BSTE

United Kingdom Smith & Seyfang 2013

Constructing grassroots innovations for sustainability

grassroots

Steward 2012

Transformative innovation policy to meet the challenge of climate change: sociotechnical

niche

networks aligned with consumption and end-use as new transition arenas for a lowcarbon society or green economy Suwa & Jupesta 2012

Policy innovation for technology diffusion: a case-study of Japanese renewable energy

niche

public support programs Thakore et al. 2013

Housing and society: Need for progressive sustainability indicators for societal

niche

sustainability Truffer et al. 2003

The Coupling of Viewing and Doing. Strategic Niche Management and the electrification

niche

of individual transport Tukker & Butter 2007 Ulsrud et al. 2011

Governance of sustainable transitions: about the 4(0) ways to change the world

transition

The solar transitions research on solar mini-grids in india: Learning from local cases of

niche

innovative socio-technical systems Urry 2012

Changing transport and changing climates

Van Bree et al. 2010

A multi-level perspective on the introduction of hydrogen and battery-electric vehicles

niche

Van den Bergh et al. 2011

Environmental innovation and societal transitions: Introduction and overview

Van den Bergh 2012

EIST one year: Something to celebrate?

Van der Laak et al. 2007

Strategic niche management for biofuels. Analysing past experiment for developing new

niche

biofuels policy Verbong et al. 2013

Smart grids or smart users? involving users in developing a low carbon electricity

niche

economy Verbong et al. 2010

Strategic Niche Management in an unstable regime: Biomass gasification in India

sustainability

Vergragt 2004

Transition management for sustainable personal mobility: The case of hydrogen fuel cells

BSTE

Vergragt 2013

A possible way out of the combined economic-sustainability crisis

grassroots

Vergragt & Brown 2012

The challenge of energy retrofitting the residential housing stock and socio-technical

grassroots

system change in Worcester, MA Von Malmborg 2007

Stimulating learning and innovation in networks for regional sustainable development:

niche

The role of local authorities Voss & Bornemann 2011

The politics of reflexive governance: Challenges for designing adaptive management and

transition

transition management Wells

Nieuwenhuis

Transition failure: Understanding continuity in the automotive industry

niche

Sustaining trajectories towards Sustainability: Dynamics and diversity in UK communal

grassroots

2012 White & Stirling 2013

growing activities Wilson 2012

Up-scaling, formative phases, and learning in the historical diffusion of energy

niche

technologies Xia & Pahl-Wostl 2012 Yucel 2013

The process of innovation during transition to a water saving society in China

Extent of inertia caused by the existing building stock against an energy transition in the

Netherlands Verheul & Vergragt 1995

Social experiments in the development of environmental technology: a bottom-up

BSTE

perspective Kemp et al. 1998

Regime shifts to sustainability through processes of niche formation: The approach of

niche

strategic niche management Weber et al. 1999

Experimenting with Sustainable Transport Innovations: A Workbook for Strategic Niche

niche

Management Hoogma 2000 Van Mierlo 2002

Exploiting Technological Niches

niche

Kiem van maatschappelijke verandering: Verspreiding van zonnecelsystemen in de

niche

woningbouw met behulp van pilot projecten Raven 2005

Strategic niche management for biomass

niche

Van

den

Bosch

Deepening, Broadening, and Scaling up: Towards a Conceptual Framework for

transition

Rotmans 2008

Transition Experiments

Van den Bosch 2010

Transition Experiments: Exploring Societal Changes Towards Sustainability

transition

Seyfang & Haxeltine 2012

Growing grassroots innovations: Exploring the role of community-based initiatives in

grassroots

governing sustainable energy transitions Truffer 2003

User-led innovation processes: The development of professional car sharing by

niche

environmentally concerned citizens Smith 2007

Translating sustainabilities between green niches and socio-technical regimes

grassroots

Seyfang & Smith 2007

Grassroots innovations for sustainable development: Towards a new research and policy

grassroots

agenda Castan-Broto & Bulkeley

A survey of urban climate change experiments in 100 cities

2013 Bulkeley & Castan-Broto

change Government by experiment? Global cities and the governing of climate change

2013 Bulkeley et al. 2013

urban-climate-

urban-climatechange

Low-carbon Transitions and the Reconfiguration of Urban Infrastructure

urban-climatechange

Beers et al. 2014

Social learning inside and outside transition projects - Playing free jazz for a heavy metal

niche

audience Boyd & Juhola 2014

Adaptive climate change governance for urban resilience

urban-climatechange

Burch et al. 2014

Triggering transformative change - a development path approach to climate change

response in communities Carvalho 2014

Smart cities from scratch - a socio-technical perspective

niche

Ceschin 2014

How the Design of Socio-technical Experiments Can Enable Radical Changes for

niche

Sustainability Frantzeskaki et al. 2014

The role of partnerships in realising urban sustainability in Rotterdam’s City Ports Area

transition

The Netherlands Fuchs & Hinderer 2014

Situative governance and energy transitions in a spatial context - case studies from

niche

Germany Horne & Dalton 2014

Transition to low carbon - An analysis of socio-technical change in housing renovation

niche

Nastar 2014

What drives the urban water regime - An analysis of water governance arrangements in

niche

Hyderabad India Newman et al. 2014

Urban sub-urban or rural - where is the best place for electric vehicles

niche

Rapoport 2014

Utopian Visions and Real Estate Dreams

Sengers & Raven 2014

Metering motorbike mobility - informal transport in transition

niche

Slingerland & Schut 2014

Jatropha Developments in Mozambique

niche

Wittmayer et al. 2014

Making sense of sustainability transitions locally

transition

Zhang et al. 2014

The erratic path of the low-carbon transition in China - Evolution of solar PV policy

Baas & Hjelm 2014

Support your future today - enhancing sustainable transitions by experimenting at

academic conferences Bettini 2015

Understanding institutional capacity for urban water transitions

transition

Ceschin 2015

The Role of Socio-Technical Experiments in Introducing Sustainable Product-Service

System Innovations Coenen et al. 2015

Path Renewal in Old Industrial Regions - Possibilities and Limitations for Regional

Innovation Policy Davies & Doyle 2015

Transforming Household Consumption - From Backcasting to HomeLabs Experiments

Engels & Munch 2015

The micro smart grid as a materialised imaginary within the German energy transition

niche

Ernkvist 2015

The double knot of technology and business-model innovation in the era of ferment of

digital exchanges Etzion et al. 2015

Unleashing sustainability transformations through robust action

Fatimah et al. 2015

Scripts in transition - Protective spaces of Indonesian biofuel villages

niche

Herk et al. 2015

Understanding the transition to integrated flood risk management in the Netherlands

transition

Laakso

Household-level transition methodology towards sustainable material footprints

User-integrated innovation in Sustainable LivingLabs

transition

Lettenmeier

2015 Liedtke et al. 2015 Longhurst 2015

Towards an alternative

geography ofinnovation -

Alternative

milieu

socio-

grassroots

cognitiveprotection and sustainability experimentation Martindale 2015

Understanding humans in the Anthropocene - Finding answers in geoengineering and

Transition Towns McAlpine et al. 2015

Transformational change - creating a safe operating space for humanity

transition

Moloney & Horne 2015

Low Carbon Urban Transitioning - From Local Experimentation to Urban

niche

Transformation Pant et al. 2015

Adaptive transition for transformations to sustainability in developing countries

sustainability

Pereira et al. 2015

Organising a Safe Space for Navigating Social-Ecological Transformations to

transition

Sustainability Popa et al. 2015

A pragmatist approach to transdisciplinarity in sustainability research - From complex

systems theory to reflexive science Porter et al. 2015

Transition experiments in Amsterdam - Conceptual and empirical analysis of two

transition

transition experiments in the WATERgraafsmeer program Schwanen 2015

The Bumpy Road toward Low-Energy Urban Mobility

Tews 2015

Europeanization of Energy and Climate Policy

Tricoire 2015

Uncertainty vision and the vitality of the emerging smart grid

Vezzoli et al. 2015

New design challenges to widely implement Sustainable Producte Service Systems

niche

Voytenko et al. 2015

Urban living labs for sustainability and low carbon cities in Europe - towards a research

agenda Wieczorek et al. 2015

Transnational linkages in sustainability experiments - A typology and the case of

sustainability

solarphotovoltaic energy in India Wildt-Liesveld et al. 2015

Governance strategies to enhance the adaptive capacity of niche experiments

niche

Sengers & Raven 2015

Toward a spatial perspective on niche development: The case of Bus Rapid Transit

niche

Bulkeley et al. 2015

An Urban Politics of Climate Change: Experimentation and the Governing of Socio-

urban

Technical Transitions

change / urban

climate

lab Evans & Karvonen 2011

Living laboratories for sustainability: exploring the politicsand epistemology of urban

urban

climate

transition

change / urban lab

Evans & Karvonen 2014a

Governance of urban sustainability transitions - advancing the role of living laboratories

urban

climate

change / urban lab Evans & Karvonen 2014b

Give Me a Laboratory and I Will Lower Your Carbon Footprint

urban

climate

change / urban lab Karvonen & Van Heur

Urban Laboratories - Experiments in Reworking Cities

2014

urban

climate

change / urban lab

Appendix III: IST conference papers on experimentation Amsterdam 2009

Author(s)

Tittle

Societal

Location

function Adomssent,

Relevance, practicability and transferability of

2009

indicators for the assessment of sustainability

education

Germany

Urban

Framework

Experiment

focus

employed

notion

sustainability related projects

transitions in German higher education Berkhout and

Sustainability transitions in developing Asia:

energy,

Wieczorek, 2009

Are alternative development pathways likely?

mobility

Boon et al., 2009 Shared Value Development towards a

Asia

MLP, SNM

sustainability

agri-food

Netherlands

yes

niche

health

Netherlands

transition

water

Melbourne,

yes

TM, MLP

on-ground

Metropolitan Agriculture Bosch et al.,

Managing a Portfolio of Transition

2009

Experiments: The Experiences of the Transition Programme in the Care

Brown, 2009

Australia’s Transitioning to Sustainable Urban Water Management: Analysis of Green Niche-

Perth,

demonstration

Regime Translations

Brisbane,

projects

Australia Budde and

Interrelated visions and expectations on fuel

Konrad, 2009

cells as a source of dynamics for sustainable

energy

Germany,

TM, SNM

transition

yes

transition

system

Europe

transition processes Craps et al.,

Transition Management “From Grave to

2009

Cradle”

Driessen, 2009

Ethics in transition? An inquiry into the moral

waste

Flanders, Belgium

agri-food

worldwide

dimensions of processes of system innovation Eijndhoven and

Creating quality criteria for transition

Loorbach, 2009

management activities

Elberse and Broerse, 2009

innovation x

Europe

transition

Pharmaceutical industry: laggards within a

health and

Netherlands

niche meant as

transition towards a more need-oriented health

energy

research system

transition

Gearty, 2009

Accelerating Carbon Reduction in the Field of

energy

yes

Local Authorities: From tales to themes to

niche meant as transition

transition? Hermans et al.,

Comparing rural discourses and niche

2009

perspectives in Dutch agriculture: assessing the

agri-food

Netherlands

SNM

niche

agri-food

Netherlands

SNM

niche

water

Denmark

SNM, MLP

niche

energy

Netherlands

transition

potential for radical transitions using q methodology Hoes et al., 2009

Anticipating public protest in niche experiments

Jensen, 2009

SNM: Expanding the concept of intentional agency

Kemp and

Dynamics & Governance of Transition to

Corvers, 2009

Sustainability

Kivisaari and

Case of Primary Health Care Management

health

Finland

MLP

local

How to maintain a distinct role of science in

education

Zurich,

transition

Saari, 2009 Lang et al., 2009

informing the governance of sustainability

Switzerland

transitions – lessons learned from the transdisciplinary case study at the ETH Zurich Loeber, 2009

Legitimizing system innovative change: the

Netherlands

niche

waste

Flanders,

transition

construction of authority in ‘reflexive arrangements Mathijs, 2009

The Case of the Sustainable Materials Usage Transition in Flanders, Belgium

McNally and

Testing and evaluating the PROTEE approach

Valve, 2009

to supporting ‘governance from the inside’: The

Belgium x

SNM

niche

waste

SNM

grassroots

yes

transition

field trial as a niche?’ Monaghan, 2009

Grassroots Innovation and ‘Modernised Mixtures’ For Sustainability: The Case Of Body Disposal Practices In The UK

Paredis et al.,

Transition management and the need for

building,

Flanders,

2009

mature connections with EU and national

waste

Belgium

mobility

Netherlands

transition

energy

yes

action research

innovation policies Pel, 2009

The politics of experimentation; definitional power in the case of the Dutch highway 80 km zones

Reason, 2009

Action Research and the Transition to

Sustainability Regeer et al.,

TransLearning – a web-based tool to enhance

2009

the sharing of learning experiences from

agri-food

Netherlands

transition

yes

MLP

niche

yes

MLP

pilot

Netherlands

MLP

niche

Energy and Switzerland

policy

yes

MLP, SNM

niche

transition experiments Søndergård et

Climate and eco-adaptation in housing and

housing

Zeeland,

al., 2009

construction – transition as local and regional

and energy

Netherlands,

processes Späth and

Visions of urban energy system transitions: The

Rohracher, 2009

eco-cities of Graz and Freiburg in retrospect

Denmark energy

Graz, Freiburg, Germany

Spoelstra and

Top-down versus bottom up: the challenge of

Elzen, 2009

combining two approaches towards developing

agri-food

sustainable livestock production in the Netherlands Ulli-Beer et al.,

Energy transition processes in the building

2009

sector: An endogenous perspective on diffusion building drivers of energy efficient housing designs in Switzerland

Vergragt and

Socio-technical experiment as agents of

Brown, 2009

transition toward low carbon emitting cities: the

energy

Worcester, USA

case of Worcester, MA Vermeulen, 2009 Case studies for governance in the initial phase

agri-food

Netherlands

transition

of transitional projects – supporting initiatives for energy webs between glasshouses and nonhorticultural counterparts in The Netherlands Zagema, 2009

Governance of the Dutch Energy Transition

energy

Netherlands

MLP

experiments

Zagema and

Mapping and capturing knowledge from Dutch

energy

Netherlands

transition

Koch, 2009

energy transition projects A method to monitor progress in content learning

Lund 2011

Author(s)

Tittle

Societal

Location

function Bos and Brown,

How emergent governance experimentation

2012

contributes to transitions within the Australian

Urban

Framework

Experiment

focus

employed

notion

water

Australia

yes

governance

energy

Sweden,

SNM, MLP

Niche, ‘real’,

urban water sector. Coenen et al.,

Upscaling emerging niche technologies in

2011

sustainable energy: an international comparison

Denmark,

of policy approaches

Netherlands

Crivits, 2011

Elzen, 2011

The normative road of transitions ; welfare

building

Flanders,

criteria and risk assessment. The case of

and

Belgium

sustainable building and housing

housing

Stimulating the Development of Sustainable

agri-food

Netherlands

transition

MLP, TM

transition

SNM and

niche

Agro-Production Systems: Application results

TM, LES2

of a Learning and Experimentation Strategy (LES) Fam and

Learning to facilitate learning

sanitation

Australia

BSTE, niche

Farla and

Measuring the alignment of perspectives in a

mobility

Netherlands

SNM, TM

transition

Walraven, 2011

socio-technical system. The case of the

mobility

Melbourne,

yes

MLP

on-site

transition

Mitchell, 2011

introduction of the electric vehicle in the Netherlands Ferguson et al.,

A History of Melbourne's Water Servicing

2011

through the Lens of Transition Patterns

Kenis and

Unravelling ‘the (post-)political' in Transition

Mathijs, 2011

Management: challenges for sustainable change

Laes, 2011

In what sense can we talk of ‘democratic'

Australia x

Belgium, Netherlands

energy

Netherlands

MLP

niche

Netherlands,

transition

energy transition governance, and how might this be achieved? Loorbach, 2011

Transition Management 2.011

Belgium Schneidewind

De-Growth Strategies from a Transition

and Palzkill,

Perspective

de-growth

various

Germany,

SNM

grassroots

2011 Seyfang and

Desperately Seeking Niches: Grassroots

UK,

Longhurst, 2011

Innovations and Complementary Currencies

Netherlands

Ulli-Beer, 2011

How does the multi-level perspective help to

housing,

conceptualize a system dynamics analysis of a

mobility,

specific transition challenge?

energy

van Rijnsoever

Measuring public preferences for energy

energy

and van Mossel,

alternatives using choice experiments

Europe

yes

MLP

policy

Netherlands

choice experiment

2011 Verbong et al.,

How to make the Dutch Grid smarter Lessons

2011

from Stakeholder interviews and previous

energy

Netherlands

agri-food

Netherlands

SNM

niche

Innovation local

Smart Grid experiments Vogelezang et

How do local system innovation projects

al., 2011

interact with sustainability transitions policy:

experiments that

experiences with two transition programs in the

induce policy

Dutch agri-food sector

change

Wittmayer et al.,

The Community Arena: Combining Transition

2011

Management & Backcasting for application in

Austria and

local communities and consumption domains

Germany.

city

Netherlands,

yes

transition

Copenhagen 2012

Author(s)

Tittle

Societal

Location

function

Bergen et al.,

On the role of government in Transition

2012

Management: three discourses and their

Urban

Framework

Experiment

focus

employed

notion

energy

Netherlands

transition

water

Beijing,

niche

niche,

validation with Dutch Energy Transition Project professionals Binz and

Reconceptualizing niche upscaling in emerging

Truffer, 2012

Asia with multiscalar technological innovation

China

systems – the case of on- site water recycling in Beijing Boon, 2012

Governance of learning processes in

energy

transdisciplinary climate research projects -

(climate)

Netherlands

sustainability

knowledge co-production in protective spaces Coenen, 2012

Scaling-up local niche experiments for

Nordic

transitions to low carbon energy & transport

countries

SNM

niche

SNM

transition meant

systems Cramer et al.,

Strategic Niche Management & Transition

2012

Experiments - Business Modelling and

health

as niche

Changing the Socioeconomic Healthcare System Elzen, 2012

Managing a Portfolio of Promises - An

agri-food

Netherlands

LES

mobility

India

yes

MLP

niche,

application in Animal Production and Greenhouse Horticulture Ghosh et al.,

Motorization of cycle-vans in India

2012 Hoffman, 2013

sustainability Learning with friction: interplay between

energy

creativity and power in biofuels experiments

Rotterdam,

yes

MLP

Netherlands

creative experimental action, experimental practices

Jolly and Raven,

Empowering’ niche innovations: Case of PV

2013

solar energy in India

energy

Klitkou et al.,

Role of demonstration projects in innovation:

energy and

2013

transition to sustainable energy and transport

mobility

India

SNM

Niche, sustainability

Scandinavia

SNM, MLP

niche

Kronsell et al.,

States acting as niches in low-carbon transition

energy

2013

governance

(climate)

Sweden

MLP, TM

Governance

Paredis and

From transition management to change in

building

Flanders,

TM, MLP

policy

Block, 2013

regular policy regimes. Explaining different

and waste

Belgium

mobility

Bangkok,

yes

MLP

niche

yes

MLP

Niche,

routes of policy renewal Sengers and

Metering Motorbike Mobility: informal

Raven, 2013

transport, sociotechnical experimentation and

Thailand

the case of motorcycle taxis in Bangkok Steward, 2013

Pioneer Cities - challenge led transition clusters

energy

for sociotechnical systems innovation

(climate)

Europe

transition, climate change

Unknown, 2013

Conceptualizing learning in sustainability

Flanders,

transition initiatives A theoretical contribution

Belgium

Transition, experimentation

to the assessment of learning processes

in the context of learning

Wieczorek et al.,

Transnational linkages in sustainability

2013

experiments of India

Wiek and

From process to outcomes in sustainability

Forrest, 2013

transitions of small-scale communities

energy

India

SNM,MLP

sustainability

community

grassroots

Appendix IV: Most cited core literature outside the sustainability transitions field

Experiment

Reference

Topic / Field

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Chapter 3 Informal transport in transition: the case of motorcycle taxis

Chapter 3 Informal transport in transition: the case of motorcycle taxis 31

Abstract: Vast numbers of people in rapidly growing cities throughout the developing world depend on informal transport services for their mobility needs. Thus far the field of transition studies has addressed the dynamics of socio-technical change in situations where regimes of automobility and sanctioned public transport constitute the dominant order, but not in contexts of cities in the developing world, where informal transit thrives. This chapter enquires about stability and prospects for change in these kinds of socio-technical systems. To this end, we trace the evolution of Bangkok’s motorcycle taxi industry including recent efforts to introduce a potentially radical innovation: an information and communications technology (ICT) platform used as a taximeter. The chapter concludes that innovations in informal urban transport are opening up alternative mobility pathways for the developing world, which might even spread far beyond their original confines into the West; and that the persistence of informal transport systems and the proliferation of innovations within those systems in developing countries prove to

relevant

phenomena

for

defining

prominent

topics

the

agenda

(sustainability)transitions research.

3.1

Introduction: neglected mobility systems and the field of transition studies

Vast numbers of people in rapidly developing cities depend on so-called ‘informal transport’ services for their mobility needs. Essential services to growing urban populations are provided by operators of small vehicles which are unlicensed as public transport providers, such as bekaks (pedicabs in Jakarta), okadas (motorcycle taxis in Lagos), mishuks (motorized three-wheelers in

31. This chapter was published as Sengers, F., Raven, R., 2014. Metering motorbike mobility: informal transport in transition? Technology Analysis and Strategic Management 26(4): 453–468

Dhaka), kombis (minivans in Johannesburg), jeepneys (extended US army jeeps used as buses in Manila) and many more. Providing on average for 20–50% of all public transport demand and 10–20% of total employment in many developing cities (UNESCAP 1987), these unsanctioned services constitute the backbone of transport provision and a crucial pillar of a much larger informal economy. Without these mobility operators and their ramshackle vehicles, most of these cities would simply grind to a halt (Cervero 2000; Cervero and Golub 2007). For researchers concerned with change and obduracy in mobility systems, the proliferation of informal transport offers fertile new ground and it calls to the fore a new set of questions related to the nature of innovation processes and the prospects for green and socially inclusive development in rapidly growing developing-world cities. How should we conceive of these systems in the wider context of urban transport, sustainability and sustaining urban mobility? Does it make sense to make concerted efforts to introduce new technologies for systems at the margin, which are not on the receiving end of government support or funding, but rather on the receiving end of government scorn and repression? Is the provision of transport by many small – often old and polluting – vehicles a carbon-inefficient way to move millions and a barrier for city governments to implement ‘proper’ CO2-saving large-scale public transport systems? Is there no viable future for these systems in this era of globalization and are they destined to ‘die out’ as developing-world cities modernize, or are these informal systems a form of locally rooted appropriate technology to be encouraged and applauded as possibly giving rise to alternative flourishing pathways to social and environmental sustainability, and will they perhaps even expand to find a place in first-world cities as well? Our aim is not to answer these profound guiding questions (that is beyond the scope of this chapter), but to contribute to the new research agenda that they instigate. A promising field of research to address these questions and to pick-up this emerging research agenda is the field of transition studies. The community of scholars working in this field draws on insights from a broad range of disciplines, such as evolutionary economics, science and technology studies (STS), innovation systems and the history of technology, in order to investigate the dynamics of change and stability in the way societal functions (such as transport provision) are fulfilled (Grin et al. 2010; Smith et al. 2010; Markard et al. 2012). Transitions are conceived as major shifts in socio-technical systems and this implies the re-configuration of system elements including technologies, policies, infrastructures, industry structures, markets, user practices, cultural meanings and various forms of knowledge (Geels 2005; Smith 2007). One of the field's key frameworks is the ‘Multi-level Perspective’ (Rip and Kemp 1998; Geels 2002).

Employing a multi-level perspective means analyzing shifts in socio-technical systems as being brought about by interactions between three levels: regime (‘rules’ and ‘grammar’ embedded in institutions and infrastructures of incumbent socio-technical systems that fulfill a societal function such as mobility); landscape (the exogenous structural backdrop constituted by longterm trends, sometimes disrupted by major events); and niche (protective spaces for innovative configurations of an alternative way of fulfilling a societal function). Previous comprehensive accounts of mobility transitions (Kemp et al. 1998; Hoogma et al. 2002; Geels 2005; Van der Laak et al 2007; Van den Bergh et al. 2007; Geels et al. 2012), dealt with these multi-level dynamics in situations where regimes of automobility and sanctioned public transport constitute the dominant order, but not in situations where systems of informal transport thrive. In order to begin to address this gap, we follow these previous accounts in exploring what kinds of innovative experiments are being conducted as crucial stepping stones in the development and implementation of an emerging socio-technical niche-configuration. Our aim is to develop new interpretations of these experimental efforts and to engage with what these represent in the wider context of evolving urban transport systems. To start doing this we follow the evolution and the emergence of novel practices in one specific tangible system: Bangkok's motorcycle taxis. The experiment we focus on is the introduction of a new information and communications technology (ICT) platform that allows for the metering of motorcycle taxi trips. As a specific research question, we ask: How did the introduction of the motorcycle taxi meter evolve in the context of the Bangkok motorcycle taxi regime and what implications can be drawn for the study of mobility transitions? The remainder of this chapter is structured as follows. Section 2 elaborates on informal transport regimes. Section 3 discusses the methodology. Sections 4 and 5 constitute the case about Bangkok's motorcycle taxis and the experiment. Section 6 concludes.

Table 1. Contrasting regimes of urban passenger transport in developing cities Socio-technical dimension

Regime of individual/private transport

Regime of informal transport

Regime of sanctioned communal/public transport

1. Guiding principles

Centrally planned infrastructure provision based on the ‘predict and provide’ principle. Desires and whims of the owner/operator/ passenger are paramount

Self-organizing systems for which no dedicated infrastructure is provided. Vehicles leave when full and operate onto existing infra-structure as a form of ‘paratransit’. Bottomup distributed operational coordination for flexible use

Centrally planned infrastructure provision sometimes in the form of dedicated rail tracks or bus lanes. Centralized top-down operational coordination based on fixed routes and time schedules

2. Technologies

Small hom*ogenized vehicles (sometimes assisted by ICTs such as navigation devices based on distributed intelligence)

Wide array of divergent small- or medium sized vehicles, which are often old-fashioned but rugged and locally adapted/reworked (often not assisted by powerful ICTs, but by ‘human infrastructure’ to be viewed as part of a large socio-spatial system)

Large cumbersome hom*ogenized highcapacity vehicles for rigid use on rail and road (sometimes assisted by powerful centrally controlled ICTs to be viewed as part of a large technological system)

3. Industrial structure

Vehicles produced by large multinational companies and sold in the global marketplace as a commodity

Services provided by the informal sector. Ultraresponsive operators work in a competitive setting that is marked by free enterprise/laissez faire/‘war over the penny’

Services provided by the sanctioned public sector or by registered private companies

Socio-technical dimension

Regime of individual/private transport

Regime of informal transport

Regime of sanctioned communal/public transport

4. User relations and markets

Private property for individual use

Flexible systems for communal use as taxi-like or bus-like modes where customers sometimes have to ‘haggle’ for a fare

Rigid systems for communal use, which ply fixed routes according to strict time schedules

5. Policy and regulations

General rules of the road, ‘predict and provide’ principle and powerful lobbying coalitions to retain unrestrained motorization

Unlicensed and unregulated (or selfregulated and semiformal) services (because the rule of law is not paramount, these systems are often marked by defacto control and rent seeking behavior of corrupt officials and local strongmen)

Licensed and regulated services, which are often subsidized and provided by the state or by the private sector through concessioning

6. Knowledge

Globalized expert knowledge associated with the predict and provide principle and the modernist ideal of planning for the car

Indigenous locally adaptive knowledge (‘jugaad’, ‘mētis’, ‘frugal innovation’)

Globalized expert knowledge based on infrastructural planning and capacity calculations

7. Culture

Modern individualized society

Traditional society (associated with marginalization and not with modernity)

Modern planned society

3.2

Experimentation in informal transport regimes

Most authorities in cities throughout the developing world can scarcely grapple with the rapid urban growth driven by the massive influx of new urban dwellers and are barely able to maintain existing transport services, let alone plan for expansion in order to come to terms with the fastincreasing demand for transit (Kumar and Barrett 2008). As a result, diverse arrays of unregulated (shared) taxi-like transport systems have organically sprung up without any centrally coordinated planning. Informal transport thus refers to transport services available for communal- or public use, but which are not sanctioned by the public sector. The term ‘informal’ 32 best reflects this situation: casually disguised by lack of supervision and hidden in the background of both the officially sanctioned public sector and the registered/formal market economy. Previous transition analyses of land-based passenger transport in Europe or North-America revealed two prevalent, but highly distinct, regimes: individual private transport (mostly based on the steel- and petroleum-based private car) and public/collective transport (Hoogma et al. 2002). Table 1 characterizes informal transport as a third pervasive regime based on a distinctively different set of guiding principles, technologies, industrial structure, user relations and markets, policy and regulations, knowledge and culture. As the locus of radical change, experimentation with alternatives has been demonstrated to play a key role in the early stages of transitions (Raven and Geels 2010; Berkhout et al. 2010). Experiments such as trials and demonstration projects are initiatives from which people can learn about a particular kind of novel, allegedly more sustainable, socio-technical configuration in reallife use. 33 When sufficient momentum builds up, experiments can become part of broader,

32. The term ‘informal’ refers to a form of practice with regards to urban service provision and not merely or necessarily to activities that are unlicensed or illegal (McFarlane 2012). The act of licensing operators or providing a system with legal status will thus not result in a formal system overnight. Formal/informal is by no means a dichotomy, but a spectrum constituted by many elements and with many shades of semi-legality. We use the term ‘illicit’ interchangeably with the term ‘informal’ to characterize the transport systems we study, because they ‘… fill a vacuum, providing vital public services to poor and marginalized populations whose needs go unmet by local governments. It is on these grounds that Hernando de Soto finds strong social justice arguments in favor of their existence. De Soto points out that while the means of informal workers are “illicit”, their ends are “licit” ….’ (Cervero 2000 – also see De Soto1989) 33. The notion of ‘experimentation’ is central in the literature on strategic niche management (SNM) and related approaches (see Chapter 2). These literatures argue that trials such as demonstration projects are not the end of an innovation process, but part and parcel of the innovation journey. Out of the laboratory, a novel technological artifact is exposed to a range of new social, economic and institutional challenges, often requiring a new round of innovative social changes in and technological adaptions to the context within which the innovation is applied SNM is concerned with ‘niche experiments’ as part of an emerging novel socio-technical configuration (Hoogmaet al. 2002) and varieties on this perspective include notions such as ‘bounded socio-technical experiments’ (emphasizing the process of social learning – Brown et al. 2003), ‘transition experiments’ (starting from a societal objective as opposed to a technological innovation – Van den Bosch 2010), ‘grassroots experiments’ (emphasizing civil society activities as opposed to SNM's initial business focus –

ongoing transformation processes at the regime level (Smith and Raven 2012). Three processes are considered to be key for the potential of experiments to contribute to broader transformations: (1) articulating promising expectations to attract resources; (2) building resourceful networks and constituencies around the innovation; and (3) reflexive learning on multiple dimensions. Mobility experiments have been core objects of enquiry in the transition studies field from the outset. Key examples include Dutch pilot projects with a range of new vehicle technologies such as electric bicycles (Brown et al. 2003), automatic guided vehicles (Van den Bosch 2010) and biofuels (Van der Laak et al. 2007; Ulmanen et al. 2009) and trials with electric cars in Germany, France, Norway and Switzerland (Hoogma et al. 2002). The governing principles conducive for setting up this kind of planned socio-technical experimentation, and the institutional capacities necessary to create and maintain protective spaces to shield these innovations from mainstream market selection, might have been present in these European cases, but one might think that this would be lacking in the informal settings of cities in the developing world. Much evidence, however, points to the contrary. In fact, there are many ongoing experiments to facilitate the introduction of highly novel technologies and practices geared towards reconfiguring existing informal mobility systems. At present, these kinds of mobility experiments have not yet been documented in detail or scrutinized in the academic literature. Recently documented examples from Asia on websites and blogs include: the introduction of electric tricycle taxis as part of an effort to improve the air quality in Manila (Environment News Service 2011); a pilot project to demonstrate the advantages of an intelligent transport system based on auto-rickshaws to boost transit efficiency during the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi (Stadium 2012); a new business model by a startup company which acts as a middle-man between motorcycle taxi drivers and customers by providing services to professionalize this industry and to maintain mobility and avoid being stuck in the traffic jams of Jakarta (Time Magazine 2012). The context of Asian megacities, in which these informal transport experiments are situated, differs substantially from Western Europe, and in response to the question of ‘how best to go about enhancing mobility and sustainability in today's urban Asia’ the first necessary ingredient is

Seyfang and Smith 2007) and ‘sustainability experiments’ (emphasizing the need to focus on the innovative capabilities within developing countries as a way to avoid environmental convergence with Western pathways – Berkhout et al. 2010). Because SNM-related concepts and processes have been used to convincingly describe and analyze such a wide range of different technological and institutional settings, we believe that SNM also offers a promising starting point to investigate potential experimental efforts in the domain of informal transport

‘a very good understanding of the dynamics and power of the context in which current Asian developments are taking place’ (Dimitriou 2006). In their struggle to move millions of residents the rapidly growing densely populated megacities in Asia give rise to differently composed landuse and mobility systems. Compared with Western cities, Asian megacities face different sustainability-related challenges with less funding and capabilities at their disposal to address these issues. Just maintaining the capacity for the daily movement of the increasing numbers of urban dwellers is a daunting task. Moreover, informal transport provision can be viewed as part of a subversive domain, deeply linked to the presence of historically disadvantaged groups of people and the influx of poor rural dwellers. Other case studies show, for example, how rickshaw pullers challenge hegemonic ideas and practices in order to negotiate a ‘place’ in the city (Hyrapiet and Greiner 2012) or how the use of minibuses gained popularity as a community resistance response to state power (Venter 2013). The persistence and proliferation of these kinds of systems might frustrate well-orchestrated efforts to achieve a ‘clean green’ city from a planner's perspective, but they do provide job opportunities and livelihoods for marginalized urban dwellers, which should also be a key priority for those who claim to promote ‘sustainable’ development. Much like in European mobility experiments, the above-mentioned examples of informal transport experiments are specifically framed under the banners of green- and social entrepreneurship and as an integral part of an agenda for economic growth (e.g. Go-Jek 2013; World Moto 2013). These experiments aim to introduce monitoring, mapping, quantification, professionalization, efficiency improvement and other modernist elements to ‘repair’ or ‘upgrade’ incumbent informal transport systems, which are generally perceived as traditional/nonmodern 34. Such strategic interventions to propel informal transport systems into the twenty-first century can be viewed as being geared towards opening up alternative pathways to modernize urban transport systems that have mostly ceased to exist in Europe and the Western world in general. These alternative pathways for modernizing Asia's cities, in other words, entails the continued presence of informal transport as an integral part of these future cityscapes.

34. While informal transport systems are often be perceived as ‘backward’, they embody a different type of modernity and are an integral part of workings of the modern metropolis in most parts of the world

3.3

Methodological approach

We explore the forces of stability and the prospects for change in informal transport regimes through an in-depth analysis of one experiment in one particular regime: an experiment with a new metering device for the motorcycle taxi industry in Bangkok. Inspired by qualitative methodological approaches for geographers (Limb and Dwyer 2001; Crang and Cook 2007), we employ process theory (Van de Ven and Poole 1995; Pettigrew 1997) as an explanatory narrative style for the analysis of this longitudinal embedded single case study (Eisenhardt 1989; Yin 2003). The analysis is based on site visits and stakeholder interviews conducted as part of ethnographic fieldwork about a broader range of topics related to the prospects for sustainable change for urban transport systems in Bangkok and other Thai cities. The empirical material for this analysis was collected during a two-week field visit and a subsequent two-and-a-half-month field visit conducted between February and June 2012, complemented with additional desk research. A key source of data are 45 semi-structured in-depth interviews with a diverse array of knowledgeable stakeholders including policy officers, transport studies scholars, transport consultants, transport safety experts, entrepreneurs and taxi drivers (a quote from ‘interview n’ will be referred to as ‘Int. n’). In several cases initial interviews turned into more lengthy engagements through half-day or full-day site visits. This allowed direct observation and engagement with motorcyclists and other actors by travelling as an investigating participant through the socio-technical system under study (an ethnographic engagement or ‘observation n’ – e.g. a casual conversation with a driver, taking pictures at a street rally, a stakeholder presenting an unpublished report – will be referred to as ‘Obs. n’). The interviews and observations were complemented with content analysis of documents that reported specifically about the motorcycle taxis in Bangkok or voiced expectations about the plans for the metering experiment at various points in time. These documents were drawn from a wide range of sources: expert media, such as journal articles (e.g. Cervero and Golub 2007; Oshima et al. 2007), reports (e.g. Poapongsakorn 1994; Cervero 2000; DLT 2006; Kanjanapanyakom 2010) and general audience media, such as newspaper articles (e.g. Bangkok Post, The Nation, phu*ket Gazette), press releases (e.g. AFP, Business Press 24, Marketwire) and blogs (e.g. New Mandala, The Economist, Wired, Times, All About Bikes Magazine, Fast Company, The City Fix, Guerilla Stock Trading). The data were coded in key conceptual categories (niche, regime, landscape, expectations, networks, learning). The coded material was then used for drafting histories of the Bangkok's

motorcycle taxi regime and the inception and execution of the niche experiment with the motorcycle taxi-meter. The long-term site-visit allowed for continuous feedback loops between collecting evidence, coding, interpretation, drafting histories and new engagements with stakeholders and interviewees.

3.4

A multi-level analysis of Bangkok's motorcycle taxis

Every day, around 200,000 motorcycle taxi drivers operate on Bangkok's vast network of broad arterial roads and labyrinthine alleyways. This number for Bangkok alone is approaching the total annual number of taxi rides in the whole of the USA (239,000 in 2012). The motorcycle taxi occupies a crucial position within the city's ‘transport ecosystem’ as a feeder mode that processes passengers in fruitful exchange with the other transport modes. They play an important role in tying together the city's widely diverse transport forms. In recent years the soaring motor taxi ranks grew faster than any other transport mode in Bangkok.

Landscape trends A number of long-term landscape trends related to economic growth, regional inequality and the lack of urban planning underlie the spectacular growth of this mundane yet remarkable phenomenon. Decades of economic growth and planning for the car have rendered densely populated Bangkok one of the most grid-locked megacities in the world. So-called superblocks and a general fishbone shaped road layout constitute the urban landscape (Sintusingha 2006). Most locations can only be accessed via long narrow side roads (soi), which emerged without any central planning. It is virtually impossible to serve this network of thin winding alleyways by means of any public transport mode except with small vehicles. The motorcycle taxi can adequately navigate traffic jams and narrow alleys in order to meet the increased demand for movement better than any other mode (Obs. 2; Obs. 63). During these times of economic growth and rapid modernization in Thailand, the disparity of wealth between urban areas and rural areas – particularly between the disproportionally large megacity of Bangkok and the rest of Thailand – increased markedly (Warr 2011; Kuhonta 2011). Consequently, rural migrants from the Thai countryside, especially from the poor north-eastern provinces (Isan), flock to Bangkok for work and opportunity (Pholphirul 2011). The motorcycle

taxi profession provides such opportunity for young uneducated males; it is one of the few relatively well-paying jobs open to these marginalized migrants (Obs. 73, Int. 16). Another set of landscape trends includes the shift in Thailand's political and economic landscape in the wake of the devastating shock engendered by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. After the devaluation of the Thai Baht, the country became much more integrated in the global economy: as Thai Banks went bust the role of domestic capital declined and foreign capital poured in (Phongpaichitand Baker 2008). Accompanied with the influx of foreign capital came but limited transfer of technological capabilities through big multinational firms (Intarakumnerd 2006), but, arguably, the increased global integration also opened up new spaces for innovation which depend on alternative transnational flows of expertise and knowledge. The Asian crisis also gave rise to a more populist turn in government personified by the rise of Thaksin Shinawatra to the office to prime minister in 2001. He practiced a popular authoritariannationalist style of governance (e.g. a violent ‘war on drugs’ and consecutive ‘battle against dark influences’) backed by an unprecedented range of laudable social/welfare policies and marked by the production of power through networks of influence and the cementing of political allegiances with voters at the margins of Thai society (Funston 2009; Walker 2012). His reign, downfall by military coup in 2006 and political legacy serve as the backdrop for the evolution of Bangkok's motorcycle taxi industry in (post) Thaksin's Thailand (Obs. 73).

Regime dynamics Bangkok's motorcycle taxi regime emerged casually from humble beginnings. As people needed to move up and down between residential area and the main street, families and community members picked up one another by motorcycle (regular taxi use was too expensive). The first dedicated motorcycle taxi services popped up in the early 1980s in the Sathorn disctrict on a sideroad called Soi Ngam Duphli. The deep end of this long alley featured a high-density residential area and some low-ranking naval officers in this community developed a service group of motorcycle drivers solely for the purpose of shuttling residents up and down the alley. Other neighborhoods in Bangkok followed suit in the districts of Don Muang and Bang Kapi. From the 1990s on, the motorcycle taxi phenomenon grew rapidly and a system of territorial organization emerged as service groups were established in more and more parts of Bangkok. At this time a Thai word for such a service group bound to a fixed location (‘queue’ or ‘rank’ in English) entered the everyday vocabulary. The term ‘win’ has been in use as early as 1982 and it is

still in use today (Poapongsakorn 1994). There are now around 6000 of these nodes in the Bangkok's motorcycle taxi network, but the key organizing principle based on each individual win has remained the same: a group of motorcycle taxis are tied to a fixed spot (usually a street corner) and wait in a queue to take fair turns in servicing passengers who appear at the spot. Instead of ‘roaming’ around the city looking for other customers, the motorcyclists immediately return to their fixed spot after dropping off the passenger and wait in line for the next passenger. The head of the territorial group, the win-boss (usually the one who initially claimed the spot and established the service group) manages the queue and can appoint new drivers. The turn-based system ensures a fair deal (and for some prime locations a relatively decent middle class income) for each driver. Infractions are dealt with internally and the drivers need to pay the win-boss for their locationspecific orange vest and for the privilege of operating. Also a bribe (a form of informal site rent) needs to be paid in order to keep the law at bay. So, establishing a win at a certain spot will tie both the win-boss and the drivers to the turf of a ‘protector’ and to a succession of other local powerful people (police, ex-army officers, up to higher placed officials or politicians). These powerful people reap this system's informal benefits as drivers are shaken down and money and privilege trickle up the ladder (Obs. 64). In Bangkok's institutional environment of bureaucratic inertia the drivers did not have any firm legal standing. Initially, none attempted (or dared) to clean up the sector in order to limit the excesses of this kind of informality (Cervero and Golub 2007). In recent years, however, a number of efforts to ‘formalize the informal’ have been undertaken. The most notable and politically high profile act came from the Thaksin government in 2003. Under the veil of a ‘war on dark influences’ prime-minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Bangkok governor Samak Sundaravej cracked down on the local powerful people (soi mafias) who were squeezing the drivers (Bangkok Post 2003a). To keep mafia control from creeping back, Bangkok's municipal government fitted the drivers with personally registered hom*ogenized orange vests. The House of Representatives passed a bill that officially changed the organization of the sector and its legal standing. Thailand became the first country in the world to legalize such a large motorcycle taxi force and the drivers hailed Thaksin as their savior (Int. 38). The legacy of these measures is that the regime now ‘looks’ more formal, but in reality only about half of the drivers are actually officially registered and ‘while lauding state attempts to wipe out dark influence and regulate the motorcycle taxi business, taxi motorcyclists say authorities are always one step behind racketeers’ (Bangkok Post 2003b).

In the last few years, a move to formalize also came from within the motorcycle taxi regime itself. A group of politically involved drivers established a union-like association (New Mandala2010). Members (recruited on a voluntary basis, about 2% of the drivers) wear their distinctive orange vests, embroidered with green lining and a large patch featuring two Thai flags and a Harley Davidson, with pride (Obs. 73). This organization seeks social justice and political bargaining power in their battle against the extortion of motorcycle taxi drivers. In sum, the motorcycle taxi in Bangkok emerged as a casual neighborhood service and evolved into a booming illicit semi-informal industry of enormous proportions. The use of motorcycles as taxi carriers for mostly short trips has proliferated during the last three decades so that it is now an extremely widely established practice and their fixed boarding spots are a ubiquitous feature of the urban fabric in Thailand's capital city today.

Niche experiments In recent years, further ways to formalize the motorcycle taxi regime have been envisioned and enacted in the form of niche experiments. In 2010 a government-initiated experiment was started to set up registered stations – covered bus-stop-like metal structures – at truly fixed spots. The idea was conceived as a way to prevent certain stretches of road and sidewalk to be claimed illegally and to boost the motorcycle taxi image and facilitate trust between driver and passenger (Obs. 21; Obs. 32). Later that year Bangkok's municipal government, in collaboration with an EV manufacturer and academic institutes in Japan, explored the possibilities of electric motorbikes (Obs. 21). Finally, in November 2011 an experiment was implemented to introduce a digitized ICT-platform to be used as a taxi-meter. The following section discusses this experiment in more detail.

3.5

Metering motorbike mobility

Two entrepreneurs saw a business opportunity and took action when they noticed that motorcycle taxis in Bangkok and, for that matter, in many other cities in the world did not have a meter. In a situation where fares are negotiated on the spot through haggling, the development of a robust and tamper-free portable taximeter is incompatible with many current practices. In case of a large-scale acceptance of metered mobility, this technology could become part of a major boosting force for the entire motorcycle taxi regime or, conversely, this mismatch between

present-day modus operandi and the alternative prescribed by a meter might also result in the failed diffusion of metered informal transport. The digital device that the entrepreneurs eventually designed is potentially much more than just a meter; it is a ‘platform’. It could potentially be used as a black box, as a tracking unit and as a smart card scanner to integrate payment with other public transport services. A typical taxi-meter feature like charging the passenger for waiting time encourages safe driving and the mere fact of having a meter on a motorbike conveys the message of a ‘bonafide’ operator, which could be instrumental in legitimizing the motorcycle taxi profession. Indirectly, if motorcycle taxi drivers perceive this as a way to empower themselves and their profession, it could possibly even help to undermine the reproduction of certain informal institutions such as paying informal site-rent and the associated chain of privileges and corruption (Int. 14, 32).

Expectations A broad set of expectations surround the device. The entrepreneurs mobilize discourses on environmental sustainability and position the experiment in this informal transport regime strategically against a regime of individual private transport dominated by the private car:

“Climate change is going to have serious consequences and most people have not considered how deeply our infrastructure is going to be affected as we move forward … The current economic crisis is an opportunity to change a lot of the habits we've gotten into … Look at other [allegedly sustainable transport] options, like electric private cars: that may be good for a few people, but that's not going to scale, it's not going to make it to the masses. The ideal solution is never going to come, at least not for the majority of the world's people. Let's take a step back and realize just how useful motorcycle taxis are in solving a lot of issues. They're neither beautiful nor sexy and they don't have the appeal of an electric Tesla Roadster, but motorcycles are here today and they're a workable solution” (Int. 14)

They argue that the emergence of a meter constitutes an upgrade that will increase safety, fairness and social justice within the industry: ‘I really believe that the product we've got is a technology that can contribute meaningfully to sustainability in the longer term’ (Int. 32). ‘I've seen it in the eyes and tone of voice of the guys I've spoken with. It's just a feeling of “I've been marginalized for such a long time. Here's a device I can feel proud of myself with”’ (Fast Company 2011). The entrepreneurs expect large markets for their device all over the world, not just in fastexpanding Third World cities, but as an integral part of a more fully developed motorcycle taxi industry all over the world, aligning regimes of informal transport with regimes of sanctioned public transport (Obs. 81):

“Motorcycle taxis are already large in numbers, but it's going to grow. In the next 10–15 years I expect the motorcycle taxi industry to come into its own, also in the West. Look at cities in the US: the way they're built is very spread out and it's very difficult to put a mass transit system in. Where a bus line would initially not have worked, motorcycle taxis can act as the perfect feeders for that – they're cheap, small and they can operate anywhere – so they can expand viable transit coverage in many areas which had no public transport solution before” (Int. 14)

Along a similar vein, online tech blogs fascinated with novelty stated that ‘…the motorcycle taxis that dart through the streets of Thailand will be getting a new feature for the first time in history: a meter’ (Wired 2011) and portrayed the device as ‘…one of the most significant innovations of this decade’ (The Concept Times 2011) that ‘…might just be a 3 billion dollar idea’ (FastCompany 2011) which could be adopted throughout the world ‘…there is huge potential to replicate this technology in all cities with motorcycle taxis’ (The City Fix 2011). Another blog stated: ‘the traditional thought process is that Western companies look to the developing world to find virgin markets for maximum growth; however in this case it's actually Europe that is filling the role of an emerging market’ (Marketwire 2013). Diffusion may even not only be limited to motorcycle taxis, but also to other vehicles and transport modes: ‘they thought they had made a meter for motorcycle taxis. Really, they made a meter for anyone looking for a fare’ (MIT Technology Review 2011). 97

Networking In their attempts to implement the experiment, the entrepreneurs identified two possible strategies. First, bottom-up networking (or what the entrepreneurs refer to as ‘seeding the market’ or ‘injecting a virus into the system’). To test the device this way they could ‘buy out a queue’ – try to assume control over one win-location and its drivers. Second, top-down networking (or what the entrepreneurs refer to as ‘going to government’). This would mean approaching key government stakeholders and to wait and see how cooperative they would be to facilitate testing the device in real-life conditions. They opted for the top-down approach. When the entrepreneurs went to government in late 2010, a public meeting was hosted where different elements of Bangkok's bureaucracy were all brought together: representatives of the governor, ministry of transport, treasury, district chiefs of police, etc. They all pledged their support for the experiment (Obs. 80). One of the entrepreneurs mentioned: ‘of course you never know what's really going on in the inside, but at least those people in power didn't look at it as a threat. The point is that they saw the value in the idea and recognized that there was something to it’ (Int. 32). Different stakeholders attributed this ‘value’ in very different ways. Police chiefs wanted to test it in their district and speculated on what would happen when a device like this would be made mandatory. The metropolitan division of the Land Transport Department (a national-level authority), in opposition to the current governing body within Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (a city-level authority), was interested in becoming the designated entity to set the fare rate in case a motorcycle taxi meter would ever be mandatory in the future. A crucial step towards the public meeting was a talk with the deputy governor of Bangkok, who labelled the experiment as ‘an exciting project that will be an innovative step for Bangkok’ (Obs. 81). With her backing, things started to move quickly. Some government stakeholders thought it would be a good idea to host a big public event at the crucial transit hub of Victory Monument with 200 devices and politicians and press on spot in full force. The entrepreneurs, however, would rather conduct a small low profile experiment to see how drivers and passenger would respond and what kind of unexpected issues might pop up. Eventually a win was chosen at a relatively high-profile spot in the trendy Thong Lo area – this location was seen as fitting for a gadget embodying technological innovation and, on a more symbolic note, it is part of the district of Watthana, which translates as ‘development’.

Learning The actual experiment took place during the last few months of 2011 with 30 devices (Obs. 82). The entrepreneurs framed their lessons and acclaimed successes of their experimental efforts as a major victory:

“The successful completion of these trials is a particularly important milestone in the development of [our company] and marks the beginning of the era of metered motorcycle transport … Once [our device] is in widespread use, Bangkok will be referenced as a flagship city as the sales and marketing efforts are ramped up to enter other cities and areas across Thailand in conjunction with other major markets around the world” (Business Press 24 2012)

Important lessons were learned about the (sometimes surprising) roles played by a number of actors over the course of the experiment. Most passengers, by default, trusted a digitized meter, even if they do not know how the fare is calculated exactly (Obs. 82). For the most part they played a rather passive role and just paid up at the end without asking any questions. The entrepreneurs and drivers had calibrated the fee in such a way that the calculated fee would be more or less similar to the ‘informally standardized’ previous amount, but the passengers did not know this. Even when passengers had to pay a little more than usual they did not complain and hardly seemed to notice. The drivers had some initial concern about using the device; what if this reduced their fee for a trip? Would they have to compensate the device if it would be stolen from the bike? After they were assured that they would not have to pay up in case of theft and that they would be compensated for potentially lower fees, they were willing to participate. Shortly after some devices were taken out of service briefly for maintenance, the entrepreneurs started receiving phone calls from drivers asking when they could get their device back and if they could keep it after the experiment was over. Motorcycle taxi drivers, who were not implicated in the experiment, also showed their interest for the device when they had seen it briefly on a bike at a

traffic light stop or when they would visit the designated win to take a look at the device for themselves. The newly established politicized association of motorcycle taxi drivers was not directly involved in the experiment, but played an interesting role nonetheless. The decision not to approach this actor from the beginning was deliberate – it might have spelled trouble in dealing with some of the bureaucrats, government officials and local police chiefs who do not view the association as a legitimate stakeholder to deal with (Obs. 67). However, one week into the experiment, the entrepreneurs decided to send a charismatic Thai friend and colleague to the association headquarters armed with three things: a device (to demonstrate how the taximeter worked), an iPad (to show a movie clip of the experiment) and a bouquet of red roses (Obs. 81). The color red was not a coincidence since the entrepreneurs viewed the association as linked to controversial ex-prime minister Thaksin and the Red-shirt movement established in his tracks. The leader of the association received the envoy. The association had long since heard of the device being tested; not only through word of mouth, but it had also featured as a topic in the motorcyclists’ radio channel broadcasts. The association implicitly backed the experiment and as a token, they handed the entrepreneurs their association flag (Obs. 81).

3.6

Conclusion

This chapter aims to contribute to the burgeoning field of transition studies by extending current ideas and perspectives on transitions and mobility experiments to the unchartered territory of informal transport. We asked how the introduction of the motorcycle taxi meter evolved in the context of the Bangkok motorcycle taxi regime and what implications could be drawn for the study of mobility transitions. We answered the first part of this question by following the career of Bangkok's motorcycle taxi industry from its emergence until recent experimentation efforts with this new technology. As for the second part of the question, we now draw the following implications. First, informal transport regimes are not only omnipresent and highly significant, but they might persist, change and proliferate in surprising ways. Efforts to build on and innovate in these systems constitute an alternative pathway to modernize urban transport compared with more conventional efforts to upgrade the private car modus (e.g. electric vehicles) or sanctioned public transport systems (e.g. light-rail systems). These alternative pathways may not be confined to the cities or countries of the developing world. If stakeholders in the motorcycle taxi meter project

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are to be believed, the impact and ‘spatial reach’ of ‘formalized informal transport systems’ may even help to reconfigure urban (auto)mobility regimes in the West (in which several ‘cracks’ are appearing, thus offering a window of opportunity for alternatives – Geels 2012) as feeders or otherwise in novel combinations with new mass transit systems. Even though the motorcycle taxi meter has not (yet) spread ‘from the barrios of Buenos Aires to the boulevards of Beverly Hills’ (Int. 32), we have observed a similar transnational dynamic in the case of Bus Rapid Transit systems where urban mobility innovations travelled from Latin America to the West (see chapter 4). An interesting next step would be to investigate how the West could learn from cities in the developing world in order to incorporate some of the advantages of these highly responsive, selforganizing, flexible, resilient and robust systems – elements which are also present in the envisioned smart and sustainable systems that mobility transition scholars argue for (Geels et al. 2012). Second, studying the intricacies of socio-technical experiments in informal transport can help to sensitize us to ways in which alternative politics and geographies of innovation and mobility are being shaped. In the field of transition studies, matters of ‘power’ and ‘space’ are underrepresented (Smith et al. 2010), but in the motorcycle taxi case rampant socio-spatial inequalities and political tensions were glaringly obvious. In our view, this implied the need to bring to the fore the livelihoods for those at the margins of society in the context of (sustainable) development; the informal hierarchies stabilizing day-to-day practice in informal economies; and the strategic work performed as part and parcel of (entrepreneurial) interventions. In addition to power, geography also matters and we tried to show in particular how the spatial scales of the street, the city, the nation-state and the international community interacted to produce the particular location, form and outcome of the experiment. In the motorcycle taxi case multiple aspects of movement and communication played a central role, including the physical movement of motorcycle taxis through the streets of Bangkok, the drivers’ migratory life paths between Thailand's massive capital city and their rural birth grounds, the innovation journey of a mobile meter, online tech blogs heralding the device as a world-wide game changer and, consequently, the expat–entrepreneurs’ communication with stakeholders within motorcycle taxi industries throughout the world. Both issues – the politics and geographies of transitions – are key elements of the transitions research agenda (Coenen et al. 2012; Markard et al. 2012; Raven et al. 2012; Smith and Raven 2012; Lawhon and Murphy 2012) and places such as Bangkok and other cities in the developing world could prove to be relevant and perhaps refreshing sites for the further study of these topics (Bulkeley et al. 2010).

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Finally, we note that claims about the sustainability and possible futures for informal transport systems are inherently political and rife with conflicting considerations. On the one hand they contribute to congestion, air- and noise pollution, traffic accidents and sometimes they undermine the viability of other (more environmentally sustainable) ‘proper’ public transport systems. On the other hand, there is more to the concept of sustainability than only an environmental component: mobility is a basic human right and informal transport systems do provide access for the urban masses and job opportunities for the poor. In some cities, informal operations are the only transit options available and in other cities they patch together a broader collection of public transport systems and contribute to the package of multi-modality geared to stymie the relentless rise of the private motorcar. In short, the jury is still out on whether and how the persistence, proliferation and formalization of informal transport systems constitute an (un)sustainable mobility pathway. Regardless of this, far from declining, informal transport systems are thriving and in many cities their growth outpaces that of their formal counterparts. As transport scholar Geetam Tiwari (2005, 1) put it: ‘the actors in this complex street environment cannot be wished away … they are here to stay’. This makes informal transport systems and alternative mobility pathways a key area for future transitions research.

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Chapter 4 Toward a spatial perspective on niche development: the case of Bus Rapid Transit

Chapter 4 Toward a spatial perspective on niche development: the case of Bus Rapid Transit 35

Abstract: This chapter responds to recent criticism from geographers that the ‘local–global’ niche model in transition studies is spatially naïve. A number of relevant geography literatures (buzz-pipelines, global production networks, policy mobilities) are mobilized to develop a more geographically nuanced understanding of niche development. The result complements the original model by providing center stage to (1) the spatialities of the production and transfer of knowledge, (2) the geographies of the actor networks involved and (3) the dynamics of embeddedness by which these global networks and knowledge discourses become entangled with place-specific power relationships, institutions and infrastructures. To illustrate this empirically, we trace the tortuous innovation journey of Bus Rapid Transit – a promising new mode of urban transportation that is spreading rapidly across the globe.

4.1

Introduction

In recent years Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) – an innovative type of ‘metronized’ bus system – has burst onto the scene as a promising green mode of urban transport. The first large-scale BRT systems originated in Latin America and they have become widely lauded success stories as novel, comprehensive and cost-effective ways to ‘do’ mass transit in an alternative way. Especially within the last 10 years, this has sparked an unprecedented surge of imitators and an explosion in the size and spatial reach of the BRT niche. Many cities, especially in the developing world, have

35 This chapter was published as Sengers, F., Raven, R., 2015. Toward a spatial perspective on niche development: the case of Bus Rapid Transit. Environmental Innovation and Sustainability Transitions 17: 166–182

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already implemented these systems. And, like mushrooms, more and more BRTs continue to pop up in every part of the globe (Wright and Hook 2007; Hidago and Gutiérrez 2013). This spatial–temporal diffusion of an emerging sociotechnical configuration like BRT raises theoretical questions about the geography of sustainability transitions. Whereas previous contributions to this emerging research agenda inquired about ‘the spatial’ (Coenen et al. 2012), ‘the national’ (Raven et al. 2012), ‘the transnational’ (Shove et al. 2013) and ‘the urban’ (Hodson and Marvin 2010) shaping transitions, our enquiry into the promises of a geography informed perspective takes the niche concept as its starting point. Attempts in the sustainability transitions literature to conceptualize how niches travel and how experimental initiatives become connected have used the notion of ‘local–global’ niche dimensions (Geels and Raven 2006). The local dimension refers to projects in specific locales, whilst global refers to a socio-cognitive perspective that understands connectedness among experiments as actor-networks negotiating and translating locally specific lessons and expectations into generic, mobile concepts. This perspective has recently been criticized for lacking a more nuanced geographical understanding (Coenen et al. 2012 and Hansen and Coenen 2014). This chapter aims to respond to this criticism by developing a more spatially nuanced model of niches, unpacking the geographies of the global BRT actor-networks and their discourses and the ways in which these become entangled in a specific local project in Bangkok. To do so, we start by discussing the local–global niche model and enrich it by drawing in the complementary strengths of a number of geography literatures (Section 2). After a brief explication of methods (Section 3), we apply these insights to map the tortuous innovation journey of BRT (Section 4). This reveals how spatially distributed BRT systems are positioned discursively, who the involved actors are and their scalar connectedness. It also reveals how projects actually tap into world-wide networks of knowledge circulation and, vice versa, how these world-wide networks enable the diffusion of BRT systems in practice in specific places. By highlighting how places are ‘mobilized’ and reshaped as knowledge travels and ‘lands’, we reveal the multi-scalar niche dynamics at play. Finally, we discuss our findings and draw conclusions on how this explicitly spatial perspective on local–global niche development contributes to the geography of sustainability transitions research agenda (Section 5).

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4.2

Spatializing the local–global niche model

Early pioneering work in the field of transition studies provided center stage to sustainable transport by focusing on the promising potential of new kinds of mobility systems. It recognized that there is underutilization of sustainable transport technologies and posed the question “why such technologies are not introduced into the market-place when their benefits to society are so evident” (Kemp et al. 1998: 175). The essential part of the answer proposes that technological change is locked into dominant socio-technical regimes. Incumbent actor-networks, material infrastructures, routines and institutional frameworks have historically evolved around the production, distribution and use of privately owned steel-and-petroleum cars, thereby providing disincentives for radical socio-technical alternatives (Hoogma et al. 2002 and Geels et al. 2012; also see Dennis and Urry 2009). Alternatives in early stages of development, the argument goes, cannot compete on the basis of regime-derived selection criteria. Historical analysis shows that these alternatives develop initially in protective niches, where (some of those) selection criteria are less pressing. Niches nurture radical innovation through (I) stimulating social learning, (II) the shaping of new social networks and (III) articulating shared expectations (Schot and Geels 2008), which eventually enables the innovation to compete in mainstream markets or empowers it to change regime selection environments in ways beneficial to the alternative (Smith and Raven 2012). All this occurs in the broader context of wider ‘landscape’ pressures and opportunities (Geels 2002). Early niche-based approaches over-estimated the positive role of individual experiments in shaping protective niches (Hoogma et al. 2002). In response Geels and Raven (2006) developed a socio-cognitive local–global model of niches. Their work built upon actor-network theory and the sociology of knowledge to argue that place-specific actor-networks in experimentation generate place-specific, hands-on knowledge. Sharing this knowledge within a community aggregates it into more generic problem-solving agendas, theories, models and so on. This aggregated generic knowledge is fostered by global actor-networks “who have some distance to the project, but are related through providing resources, such as finance, political support, technical specifications, that generate a space in which local actors can work” (Geels and Raven 2006: 378). The global network and knowledge field provides coordination and guiding frames for local experiments, but leaves room for local interpretations and variations. The local–global model has received criticism from geographers. Key concerns are that despite the geographical connotation of the local–global concepts, the model cannot fully address

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questions about where niches emerge and why there, how niche innovations travel through territorial space and across boundaries, and the ways in which ‘global’ knowledge succeeds (or fails) to become embedded in specific locations. For example, Coenen et al. (2012: 972) argue that “from this perspective, a transition is comprised of a shift in participants’ socio-cognitive orientation from activities to remotely coordinating communities: but these shifts in sociocognitive perspectives have real consequences and lead to shifts in the nature of social and economic processes, something which a focus on scale as a geographical phenomenon conceptualizes.” Hansen and Coenen (2014) refer to the local–global model and argue that “though initially introduced in the transitions literature without an explicit spatial connotation, these concepts are easily mistaken for having a quite specific meaning within geography”. Raven et al. (2012) argue that taking geography more seriously can help to address the question why niches are more likely to emerge in settings where the relational assets needed for radical innovations already exist. Niches, after all, do not emerge out of nowhere. A most explicit attempt to constructively criticize the local–global model comes from Coenen et al. (2010) who discuss how the geographical concept of ‘proximity’ (Boschma 2005) can enrich the local–global niche model in particular in relation to questions on upscaling niche innovations. Niche-based approaches do have some geographical underpinning and some relevant insights have been published so far. For example, in their review of niches in evolutionary theories of technical change, Schot and Geels (2007: 613) argue that isolation from regime environments “can stem from cognitive, social and/or spatial distance… spatial isolation stems from application in a geographical area where specific conditions apply.” Likewise, Kemp et al. (1998: 187) argue that “the space may be a certain application (for example, the use of solar cells for pleasure boats), a geographical area (a region or a city) or a jurisdictional unit.” Verbong et al. (2010: 280) hypothesize that a niche-development pathway that is geographically distinct from the spatial reach of an incumbent regime is most promising in the case of biomass gasification in India: “Indeed, there are major geographical areas in India not yet served (well) by the current, environmentally unfriendly, power regime, which could be ‘filled in’ with alternative power regimes… the topic of different niche development strategies in varying context deserves more attention in future research.” Finally, Raven et al. (2011) show how ‘global’ attempts to embed an innovation in Dutch river management in different locations in the Netherlands become locally entangled with place-specific politics and controversies. Yet arguably the local–global niche model has remained mostly a model for understanding shifts in the socio-cognitive orientation of niche actors rather than truly engaging with the ‘where’ of

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transition processes. In particular we see two relevant problem areas for which we can find intellectual inspiration from geography literatures. A first question relates to a key shortcoming that stands out in the SNM literature, which is that niches are often seen as national-level entities. The national, it would seem, is viewed as the right geographical delineation for understanding sustainability transitions at large and niche development in particular (Raven et al. 2012; but also see Geels 2011). We agree with Berkhout et al. (2010) that deepening our limited understanding of how niches and experiments link up across the globe is crucially important to help free us from an overly nationally based analysis and that much more should be learned about the mechanisms at play here. A more nuanced, multi-scalar understanding of the spatial underpinnings and reach of its constituting actor-networks is necessary for this. The second question relates to the ways in which such globally connected and distributed processes ‘deliver’ niche innovations to specific places and become entangled with place-specific networks, institutions and infrastructures. This process is not to be understood as a straightforward ‘global diffusion of innovation’, but as one of translation and mediation which can deeply change both the ‘content’ of what is diffused as well as the local structures in which that content is supposed to become ‘embedded’. In what follows, we turn to three geography literatures on the spatialities of knowledge transfer which can be productively mobilized to help address the shortcomings of an a-spatial niche perspective. 36 A brief description of each is followed by an illustration of how it can enrich our understanding of one of the core SNM processes of (I) learning, (II) network building and (III) articulating expectations.

Buzz-pipelines The ‘local’ buzz and ‘global’ pipelines argument is concerned with the spatial clustering of economic activity and the dynamics of knowledge transfer among firms. It undermines engrained beliefs that “tacit knowledge transfer is confined to local milieus whereas codified knowledge may roam the globe almost frictionlessly” (Bathelt et al. 2004: 31). Instead, elements of tacit- and codified knowledge can be exchanged locally and globally when the ‘buzz’ of vibrant information exchange and interactive learning within one spatial cluster links up to the wider world outside of the local milieu. To do so, the actors with shared values and interpretative schemes that are embedded in their local community of practice engage in the building of ‘pipelines’ to

36. We are grateful to Jim Murphy for suggesting these literatures to us

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communicate and harness extra-local knowledge flows (Bathelt et al. 2004; Owen-Smith and Powell 2004). This buzz-pipeline conceptualization is not limited to ‘permanent’ clusters, but its line of argument can be extended to include temporary hotspots of intense knowledge exchange (e.g. trade fairs, congresses, etc.) which are, like most niche experiments, short-lived phenomena (Maskell et al. 2006). An important insight for the spatialities of niche development – in terms of learning processes – is that the flow and transfer of knowledge from the local to the global (and to local again) should not be assumed a priori, even when there are networks of willing actors. Instead, the exchange of codified knowledge, lessons and hands-on expertise requires that the actors put in dedicated efforts to build and maintain communicative channels in order to receive new knowledge and transmit to the wider world the vibrancy of a particular place and the niche experiments that shape and are shaped by it. Even when communicative channels are in place, it might be difficult to transfer knowledge between nation-states or different institutional contexts with limited overlap in interpretative cognitive schemes. In other words, when there is a lack of cognitive-, organizational-, social-, institutional- and geographical ‘proximity’ between the actors (Boschma 2005). On a more positive note, there might be mutually reinforcing effects if communicative channels are utilized well by like-minded actors so that being open to new knowledge may boost both the vibrancy of an experiment in one place (or collections of experiments in close geographical proximity) as well as the capacity to transmit knowledge by building more pipelines to experiments outside of the local environment.

Global production networks The global production networks (GPN) perspective provides a conceptual framework to engage with economic globalization and its developmental consequences by mapping and analyzing systems of production and consumption (Henderson et al. 2002). In analyzing the global economy and its impact on territorial development it highlights “the nexus of interconnected functions, operations and transactions through which a specific product or service is produced, distributed and consumed” (Coe et al. 2008). The GPN perspective builds on earlier formulations of global value chains (Porter 1986) and global commodity chains (Gereffi and Korzeniewicz 1994), but replaces the linear and sequential ‘chain’ metaphor with the notion of networks as a way to address multi-directional complexities of the global economy. The other two terms – ‘global’ and ‘production’ – point to the network's purpose of creating value through the process

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of production by which inputs are transformed into outputs (goods and services) and to the nature of the production network as global (or, more accurately, as transnational) as linkages stretch across national boundaries, integrating parts of national and sub-national territories (Coe et al. 2008). An additional concept – the notion of ‘strategic couplings’ (Coe et al. 2004) – links the global forces of the GPN perspective more directly to the region-specific assets central for facilitating regional development. It should be noted that GPNs are neither a-political nor merely embedded territorially. They are deeply political phenomena, laden with power asymmetries and rife with struggles between actors over the construction of economic relationships, governance structures, institutional rules and norms, and discursive frames within a ‘transnational space’ constituted and structured by transnational elites, institutions, and ideologies (Levy 2008). Like niche configurations, global production networks are also embedded in field-level structures and routines. This is compatible with Hess’ (2004: 174) call to fruitfully bring together the “over-territorialized concept of embeddedness” where localized social relationships constitute the spatial logic, with literatures that emphasize “the importance of non-local forms of embeddedness”. These two, Hess argued, should be brought together in such a way that the role of both structural- and territorial embeddedness are not neglected. An important insight for the spatialities of niche development – in terms of network building – is that the actors are not just a ‘distributed bunch’, but that they are ‘anchored’ in particular places and operate in different institutional and geographical environments. These networks of actors and places around the world explicate particular power-geometries that shape and structure processes of niche building by facilitating certain connections, knowledge flows, voices and experiments and not others. Additionally, nation-states retain a key role in GPNs despite the fact the GPN perspective was framed as an explicit attempt to break with state-centric conceptualizations. A spatially nuanced perspective on niche development means moving away from ‘the national’ as the default level of analysis without dismissing the importance of national governments and other actors operating at the national level, but critically interrogate their potential key roles (see also Wieczorek et al. 2014). Coe et al. (2004) illustrate the transnational dynamics of strategic coupling between GPNs and regional assets by providing an example of BMW's automotive assembly cluster in Thailand's Eastern Seaboard. They show how local development in this Thai region is linked to institutions and actors at various scales in Europe. As we will show (in Section 4.3), the material manifestation of the BRT niche in Thailand's capital

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city, Bangkok, was also facilitated by a motley crew of actors operating across scales on the world stage.

Policy mobilities The urban policy mobilities perspective conceives of cities as important socio-spatial nodes in the global circuitry of policy related knowledge exchange and highlights the ‘local globalness’ of policy transfer (McCann 2008; McCann 2011; McCann and Ward 2010). This perspective on knowledge transfer differs from buzz-pipelines and GPN in the sense that it does not provide center stage to the production side of networked firms and the economic development of regions. Instead, the focus is on the transfer of policy measures between world cities through the mobile lives and mundane practices of a particular set of individuals. These ‘transfer agents’ (Stone 2004) include urban planners, architects, mid-level ‘traveling technocrats’ (Larner and Laurie 2010), members of ‘the global consultocracy’ (Saint-Martin 2000) and other mobile knowledge workers. Building on relational ideas about a global sense of place (Massey 1991) and space as spanned up by flows (Castells 1996), the mobilities literature explores the social implications of the movement of people, ideas, information and objects by emphasizing the productive tension between mobility and immobility (Hannam et al. 2006; Cresswell 2006; Urry 2007). A sociotechnical system like BRT, for instance, enables massive mobility for some (BRT users), but at the same time it requires massive immobilities in the form of fixed material infrastructures (stations and dedicated bus lanes) and, in order to function, it necessarily restricts the movement for others (car drivers whose road space is taken away by dedicated bus lanes). The mobilities literature points to the need to look not only at the ‘neutral’ movement from a niche innovation from A to B, but to include changes in the meanings, experiences and power relations tied up with this movement, and the ways these entangle with local contexts (Cresswell 2006). An important insight for the spatialities of niche development – in terms of articulating expectations – is that visions of a desirable future for one city are often inspired by what has already been done elsewhere. This suggests that we should follow niche actors in their travels and assess the role of ‘place’ in their discourse. Places, such as the city of Bogotá – and its representations for the case of BRT – feature as success stories, which are carefully crafted and persuasively told, strategically packaged in codified form and moved around as embodied practitioner knowledge, unpacked and reshaped in the re-telling. The city of Bogotá, in other

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words, can be ‘mobilized’ by niche actors. The multitude of mobilities tied up with BRT thus extends beyond the buses driving around in a set of cities across world, and includes the global flow of these success stories and the travels of experts as a way to discursively link up these cities in relation to local efforts of ‘placemaking’. We believe that many of the insights from the three geography literatures discussed above are complementary. In their own way, they are all concerned with understanding the local–global interplay and with making sense of how networked actors, who are territorially embedded, enable the circulation of knowledge between places. But each of the three literatures has a different starting point and focus relevant for explicating our spatialized niche perspective. In our view, the buzz-pipelines literature takes ‘place’ as its point of departure (the vibrant hum in one place and the connections between distributed places of clustered niche building activity); the global production networks perspective provides center stage to the ‘network’ (how niche builders and implicated places are connected across space and become entangled) and the policy mobilities literature highlights individual ‘agency’ (niche actors who move around and ‘mobilize’ places). We believe therefore that these literatures sit well with our ambition to spatialize the local–global niche model. Table 1 provides a summary of this and highlights the key promises of a spatialized perspective on niche development.

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Table 1. Conceptualizations in conventional vs. spatialized niche model

Knowledge

Conventional local–global niche model

Spatialized niche model

Local knowledge as contextualized and practical (‘hands-on’). Global knowledge as de-contextualized and abstract.

Knowledge – such as narratives of ‘successful’ places and ‘embodied’ expertise – is made mobile to travel through pipelines and along with the actors, who operate across the globe to connect localities (Bathelt et al. 2004; McCann 2011)

Networks

Local networks as confined to a single project in specified locality. Global networks as ‘a-spatial’ intermediaries aggregating and coordinating multiple projects.

Networks as multi-scalar arenas where international, national and regional interests are negotiated to facilitate the development of projects. Actors are simultaneously mobile and anchored in specific places (Henderson et al. 2002; Coe et al. 2004)

Embeddedness Local experimental projects are embedded in a-spatial, field-level structures.

Local experimental projects are embedded in both field-level structures and territorial structures. The local and global are entangled: the local is global when place-specific projects are connected through transnational linkages (Henderson et al. 2002; Hess 2004)

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In sum, notions of ‘global’ and ‘local’ conjure up a rather dissimilar set of meanings within transitions thinking as compared to the three lines of geographical thought. Transition scholars highlight the role of niches, which are often implicitly conceived of as national-level entities. Niches, they argue, are constituted by tangible (‘local’) hands-on projects and backed up by the support structures at a higher (‘global’) level of aggregation. For geographers, on the other hand, the local–global distinction is first and foremost spatial in nature and geared to the task of unraveling the complex circuitry of exchange in the globalized economy and its impacts on territorial development. This implies an enquiry into how (‘global’) flows of materials, people and knowledge across national borders interact with (‘local’) territorially embedded place-specific dynamics. Instead of highlighting the dissimilarities, we want to draw out the complementary strengths of both of these lines of thought.

4.3

Methods

To explore the merits of a spatially nuanced local–global niche model through the empirical case study of BRT systems, we employ a ‘mixed method’ research design (Teddlie and Tashakkori 2009; Creswell and Plano Clark 2011) based on web data, interviews and ethnographic work. First – to address the knowledge mobilities and learn about the spatialities of knowledge production and exchange – we interrogated codified expert knowledge on BRT in a systematic way. The language used in a carefully selected sample of key knowledge documents (157 journal articles, planning guides, consultant reports and policy documents that represent BRT's knowledge base 37) was initially explored with text analysis software (T-lab), which gave rise to a set of themes and categories central to professional discourse. Subsequently, to disclose spatial relations between various places in the discourse (e.g. as stories of ‘successful’ cities), the cities referred to in these publications were visualized with the help of social network analysis software (Gephi). And the meta-data of the publications (e.g. institution X, located in city Y, published document Z) was used to map the cities where this knowledge is produced and brought into circulation. 37. The 157 documents were selected searching the Science Direct database (http://www.sciencedirect.com/, accessed 01-102013) with the following Boolean search command: TITLE-ABSTR-KEY (brt OR bus)) AND FULL-TEXT (“bus rapid transit”). The reference sections of each of the resulting 116 articles were investigated for other sources of expert BRT knowledge. This yielded another 41 documents (mostly planning guides, consult reports and policy documents). This entire set of 157 sources of codified expert knowledge was classified by a range of variables (type of publication, author, author's institution, city in which an author's institution is based, institutions mentioned in the acknowledgements, city in which an acknowledged institution is based, etc.)

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As a second step – to learn about the multi-scalar social networks and the actors involved – we conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with key-practitioners in Latin America, Europe and Asia using Skype software. The analysis of codified expert knowledge in step one revealed which academics, consultants and planners authored the most widely cited documents on BRT. Interviews were conducted with seven of these practitioners, whose knowledge production and dissemination efforts reside at the heart of the global BRT niche. The goal was to gauge their views on what BRT represents to them, how BRT knowledge travels, which actors matter for worldwide BRT proliferation and what they learned from their involvement in the implementation of actual projects. Finally – to learn about the dynamics of local embeddedness – we engaged with material systems and planners on the ground to investigate how this global knowledge and network ‘lands’ in specific places. We were particularly interested how ideas about BRT in one city are connected to a plethora of other places (within the same nation-state and through transnational linkages spanning across the border). We investigated a number of ongoing efforts of planning and implementation for BRT systems in Thailand, but for the focus of this chapter we limit ourselves to the case of Bangkok. 38 We met with dozens of stakeholders – policymakers, planners, engineers, consultants, bus operators, journalists, members of civil society – who are in various ways, implicated in these projects. Often, initial interviews resulted in more lengthy engagements with practitioners reflecting on how these impending projects should be viewed in broader local, national and global contexts and on the technical, financial, institutional and political challenges faced during the attempts of implementation. Ethnographic field notes containing thick descriptions of these encounters serve as an invaluable source for this final step of the analysis.

4.4

The global mushrooming of Bus Rapid Transit

In recent years Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has burst onto the scene as a promising new mode of urban transportation. Defined as “a flexible, rubber-tired form of rapid transit that combines stations, vehicles, services, running ways and information technologies into an integrated system with a strong identity” (Levinson et al. 2003: 12) these ‘metronized bus-’ or ‘surface metro’ 38. Four months of fieldwork in cities in Thailand (Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Korat and Khon Kaen) was conducted in the summers of 2012 and 2013. We choose to only highlight the implementation of BRT in Bangkok, because it is the only Thai city where BRT is operational at the time of writing. In the other cities, BRT plans have been forged and some actors are pushing for the implementation of these plans. It is topic of ongoing debate whereby coalitions of consultants, planners and politicians are pitted against coalitions pick-up truck taxis, the car-owning middle class and other politicians

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systems combine elements of both traditional bus modes (flexible, inexpensive, quick to implement) as well as urban rail (high-capacity, fast, modern image). The first large-scale BRTs originated in Latin America and they have become widely lauded success stories as novel, comprehensive and cost-effective ways to ‘do’ mass transit in cities (Wright and Hook 2007). Especially within the last 10 years, this has sparked an unprecedented surge of imitators. At the time of writing, 169 cities have already implemented BRTs (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2) 39 and, like mushrooms, more and more systems continue to pop up in every corner of the world, reshaping the urban fabric of every additional city where they materialize.

Figure 1: 169 cities in the world with BRT systems (node size proportional to number of passengers served per day by each system)

39. To create the graphs in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, three transit databases – BRTdata (http://brtdata.org, accessed 01-10-2013), ChinaBRT (http://www.chinabrt.org/, accessed 01-10-2013) and Global Mass Transit Report (www.globalmasstransit.net, accessed 01-10-2013) – were combined

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Figure 2: Cities in the world with BRT systems (1972–2013)

The innovation journey began in the early 1970s in Brazil. The city of Curitiba, where the first fully fledged bus based mass transit system was established, is often viewed as the cradle of BRT (Lindau et al. 2010). From the late 1970s onwards, the number of systems grew slowly and the systems spread beyond the confines of ‘developing’ Latin America to the ‘developed’ West (Weinstock et al. 2011; Finn et al. 2011) 40. Around the turn of the century these developments culminated in the construction of the TransMilenio, the biggest and most advanced BRT system to date in Bogotá, Columbia (Gutiérrez 2010 and Mejía-Dugand et al. 2013). After Bogotá, from 40. For BRT in Europe the story is more complex, because European cities started to develop BRT-like systems with different design characteristics than their overseas counterparts. For Europe, where cities had a less automobile dependent urban form and where heavy rail-based heavy transit systems (metros and trams) had often already been developed, we can interpret the emergence of more comprehensive bus-based systems as a way to fill the gap between the regular bus and the tramway (sometimes quite literally as ‘guided busways’, converted from a former tram route, like the system pioneered in the German city of Essen in 1980). What emerged in the broader sense were so-called ‘Buses with High Level of Service’ (Finn et al. 2010). These BHLS systems are much smaller in terms of passenger capacity and represent a trajectory of incremental ‘indigenous’ European bus-based innovation, developed independently from of the Latin American BRT revolution. Nevertheless, they are generally included when experts talk about BRT.

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2000 onwards, BRTs became highly popular among urban planners in Asia too, and the number of operational systems grew explosively. Asia's brush with BRT started in 2004 with the implementation of systems in Beijing, Seoul and Jakarta (Matsumoto 2006). The last few years, from around 2011 to 2013, can be characterized as a period of consolidation. BRT systems are still spreading, but the growth rate of bus systems being implemented has subsided somewhat. At a more aggregate level, however, activities, such as the creation of standards, are now pursued more vigorously (Hidago and Gutiérrez 2013 and ITDP 2013).

Knowledge mobilities and BRT initiatives To unravel the complexities of how BRT spreads across the globe, we have to look how the BRT concept is represented, how the debates surrounding it are structured and how these ideas are made mobile. This means examining the language-in-use, investigating not just words and their associations, but also what underlies these debates in terms of structure and content (Wetherell et al. 2001; Hajer 2005) and how these meanings travel (McCann 2011). Most of the interviewed BRT experts are at the same time staunch advocates. They feel a clear need to point out the benefits of BRT in comparison with more mainstreamed urban transport modes, such as rail-based mass transit (Hensher 1999) and the private car (Peñalosa 2013). To many of them, the private car has become ‘the enemy on the other side of the counter’, as one interviewed Colombian transport planner framed it, because, in order to qualify as a BRT, a system needs dedicated lanes, which usually means taking road space away from car traffic. This battle for road space positions BRT in direct opposition to the incumbent automobility regime. The line of argument employed by the expert-cum-advocates is that the rise of the car should be halted because it is uneconomical in terms of its use of both fuel and urban space and that it fosters environmental degradation, social exclusion and the destruction of the urban fabric. BRT, on the other hand, is represented as part of the paradigms of Sustainable Transport, Transit Oriented Development and The Livable City. This pro-bus/anti-car/livable-city nexus is perhaps at its clearest and most vividly told by Jaime Lerner – the former mayor of the city of Curitiba and one of ‘the fathers’ of the BRT concept – most notably in a children's book (Lerner 2005)41. 41. Lerner attributes human qualities to the bus (Accordion, the friendly elongated bus who carries several hundred people as a testament to solidarity in the city), the car (Otto the automobile who comes to the party and never wants to leave, demands a lot and drinks too much) and the urban environment (Vita the turtle who symbolizes the strength and vulnerability of the livable city). For a more comprehensive overview of expert discourse surrounding BRT, see our original analysis with text analysis software (http://www.dropbox.com/s/0atai602kyikysm/doc.docx?dl=0)

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Other documents by expert-cum-advocates mark out BRT as a transformative force that represents ‘a key piece of the global urban renaissance’ (ITDP 2013) when it is planned in a comprehensive way along with efforts of ‘placemaking’ to turn BRT station areas into vibrant city places as opposed to mere transit hubs (Suzuki et al. 2013). BRT is discursively tied to a set of places across the globe. These places are not just points on the world map or cities with BRT systems, but articulations that feature in the set of stories that surround the BRT concept. Fig. 3 shows that the cities of Curitiba (Brazil) and Bogotá (Colombia) are at the heart of professional discourse. Curitiba is often viewed as the city with the first fully fledged BRT system and Bogotá as the city with the most comprehensive high quality BRT. These two cities, especially Bogotá, are now considered to be key inspiring sites of best practice sites from which other cities are learning. As a transport planner from Colombia explained: “briefly after implementation [of Bogotá’s BRT system], satisfaction levels were extremely high, so we created expectations in the region regarding implementation of the system. We went to workshops of the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank and we presented what was being done in Bogotá… [Initially] it was not an outreaching strategy; it just happened”. Mobilizing these successes is one of the most effective tools for advocates trying to convince cities about the value of BRT: “together, the stories of Curitiba and Bogotá are now the basis for more and more cities engaged in urban transformation led by BRT and a package of other sustainable transport measures” (Wright and Hook 2007: 5). The international recognition for these two systems, and above all the success stories attached to them, gave momentum to the replication of BRT (Mejía-Dugand et al. 2013).

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Figure 3: A social network analysis based on city name occurrences (node size proportional to word occurrence scores) and cooccurrences (tie strength and centrality based on word co-occurrence scores) for the sample of documents representing BRT professional discourse

Whereas some look at key cities, others couple the birth of BRT to the identity of an entire region. “BRT was an invention from Latin America” stressed an experienced transport policy officer from Peru, “it was a sort of revolution in the transit industry and we had the opportunity to define the standard and to go to the rest of the world with this… Latin American agencies are very proud that they have something to contribute to the world and this mobilizes a ‘willingness’ in the people who work with the systems every day and in the politicians”. Following the buzzpipelines literature (Bathelt et al. 2004), it could be argued that there might be mutually

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reinforcing effects if communicative channels are utilized well by like-minded actors so that being open to new knowledge may boost both the vibrant buzz of ongoing experimentation with a BRT system in one place (or collections experiments in close geographical proximity) as well as the capacity to transmit knowledge by building more pipelines to experiments outside of the region. In this way, the ‘willingness’ to share knowledge beyond the confines of this Latin American community of practice also serves to strengthen the dynamics within this community and mobilizes additional commitment in everyday dealings with the systems. To bring the knowhow of Latin American practitioners and the success stories of Curitiba and Bogotá into global circulation, actors located in New York, Washington, DC and Santiago de Chile were crucially important as sites of production and dissemination of codified knowledge about BRT (this follows from the addresses listed to the authors of the most widely read BRT planning guides and publications). The difference between ‘places of practice’ and ‘places of knowledge exchange’ stands out here. In sum, BRT manifested itself materially all over the world (with most actual systems located in Latin America and, increasingly, in Asia), which was facilitated by many of these new BRT cities learning from the best practice examples of a few cities elsewhere (particularly Curitiba and Bogotá), while a number of actors based in a very different set of cities (particularly New York, Washington and Santiago) were central to the production and dissemination of success stories and other codified knowledge that underpinned the diffusion of material systems. Whereas some experts-cum-advocates position BRT as “one of the most notable examples of technology transfer from the developing south to the developed north” (Wright 2005: 14), our findings point to a more complex geography of knowledge circulation instead of a straightforward south-north knowledge transfer pattern.

Multi-scalar networks and the BRT niche A geography informed perspective on niche development requires an understanding of the scales and spatialities of the actor network shaping the protective space facilitating the spread of the emerging sociotechnical configuration at large and supporting the implementation of specific projects in particular. Arguably, the group of actors most central to the global spread of BRT is comprised of a few expert-driven transnational NGOs. Their strategic work includes giving advice on funding, disseminating lessons from previous projects and bringing actors together to develop new ideas, and offering a platform to advocates who want to show to the world what BRT can do for cities. Organizations such as ITDP and EMBARQ are amongst the biggest

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instigators, aiding with the implementation of local best practice projects (sometimes even as the lead technical advisor for key projects) and providing support at the global niche level. One interviewed key practitioner went so far as to estimate that, in one way or another, around 75% of the projects out there owe their existence of those two NGOs. Besides international non-state actors facilitating niche building, national governments are crucial actors too, especially when it comes to mobilizing the necessary funding for BRT projects. They hold the purse strings and are more eligible for international funding. As one interviewed BRT funding expert put it: “the choice for BRT tends to be a national decision… cities, especially in the developing world, have very little resources… and are completely dependent on national financing; if a national government has a policy that prefers BRT to other options, then it will happen” and even for international funding “whether it will be from the likes of the World Bank or from commercial loans, by and large the lenders of the money will only accept a sovereign guarantee. So, one way or another, it will go through national governments to make such projects happen”. Moreover, national governments can also be active strategic players at the world stage in different ways. A telling example of the importance of national governments acting within a broader transnational arena is how the BRT system in Johannesburg was funded as a deal between the city of Johannesburg, HSBC bank and the Brazilian government. In this case, the Brazilian government – through its national development bank, keen to support the country's exports – provided a loan for purchasing Brazilian-made buses. 42 This highlights how nationstates do not operate as the mere sovereigns of a piece of territory, but as one of the many proactive active players in the global BRT arena. This is not to say that the territorial boundaries of nation-states do not matter for a sociotechnical configuration on-the-move. In fact, BRT often travels easier between cities within the same country and part of the diffusion dynamic initially remains confined within national borders. There is evidence of a “ripple effect’ at the national level – whereby one system sparks the creation of more systems within the confines of a nation-state – as another diffusionboosting mechanism. For example, after the Metrobús system in Mexico City was opened to the public, “another twenty [Mexican] cities are either planning or already building BRT corridors” stated one interviewed Latin American bus expert “it had a ripple effect within Mexico”. After one city in a country opens a system “projects and technologies just get a life of their own”

42. There are many instances of this type of transnational funding for BRT projects, not only by Brazil but also by the Swedish government's export credit agencies (many BRT buses are made by Volvo and Scania, which are Swedish companies)

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another interviewee confirmed “then other cities [in the same country] come along simply because their mayors do not want to be left behind”. The opening of the Jakarta system, for instance, drew its inspiration from Bogotá and sparked the opening of a number of small lowquality copycat systems in other Indonesian cities, such as Jogjakarta (Weinstock et al. 2011). But the journey from the big gold-standard TransMilenio system to the tiny sub-standard TransJogja system also exemplifies how ‘translations’ (Raven et al. 2011) occur in the process. Some elements are retained (including part of the name) whereas other comprehensive elements that make up a fully-fledged BRT system are watered-down. Other kinds of actors also played important roles in building a global network. At the local level, the implementary agencies and local operators facilitate the connection of cities through study tours, which are organized so that the transport authorities from a city considering BRT can learn from their counterparts in a city with such a system already in place. Or, in a more spontaneous manner, through officials and practitioners who feel a sense of shared responsibility and commitment and link up to exchange information in informal ways. Another example of local actors facilitating global exchange is university-based organizations and researchers, who sometimes become fully fledged implementation partners as “the conduit for international knowledge into the city agency that is implementing” – as one interviewed consultant put it. This particular consultant himself, who would fly around the world to offer hands-on assistance for the implementation BRT projects, is an actor here as well as other mid-level ‘traveling technocrats’ (Larner and Laurie 2010), who transfer knowledge by being mobile in specific ways. Other high-level key-individuals, such as Jaime Lerner (former mayor of Curitiba) and Enrique Peñalosa (former mayor of Bogotá) were referred to as ‘preachers’ who tell BRT success stories to inspire other cities to follow in their footsteps. 43 “They are the ones who go out there and really spread the message, who have been there from the beginning” argued one interviewee “they are the pioneers”. The traveling preacher or pioneer constitute a vivid spatial metaphor for a particular type of a ‘mobile subject’ (Cresswell and Merriman 2011). Besides this technocratic coalition of actors bent on spreading BRT, there are also voices speaking against the unrestricted worldwide diffusion. Besides coalitions of incumbent local bus/taxi operators and increasingly vocal members of a car-owning middle class, these voices can 43. As one practitioner committed to the spread of BRT argued: “you cannot overestimate the impact Peñalosa has had, on a personal level, in ten or twelve countries. He takes these ideas, which can be rather dry, and speaks emotionally about the ways they affect people's lives. He has the ability to change how people think about cities. He's a revolution that way” (quoted in Walljasper, 2012)

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even be heard within the organizations considered part of BRT's ‘global production network’ (Henderson et al. 2002). In India, for instance, the success story of choice is a BRT system called the Janmarg (‘the people's way’) in the city of Ahmedabad, which is mobilized by a number of Indian institutes to spread BRT within the country. A transport planner in one of these institutes complained about the irrespective “touting of BRT as a solution for everything 44” instead of more tailor-made solutions for places with particular socio-spatial characteristics. In his city of Ahmedabad, he argued, the BRT system does not cater well to needs of the poor and other marginal road users. This portrait of BRT – as ‘splintering’ the city (Graham and Marvin 2001), as fostering social and spatial inequality and as a mass transit mode that is not really transit for the masses – does not sit well with the view put forward by those promoting BRT, who are armed with the rhetoric of cost-effective mass transit, social inclusion and success-story cases. In sum, the strategic work of a relatively small- but varied group of experts-cum-advocates connects transnational, national and urban scales and shapes the protective space of BRT. Without their ability to forge transnational linkages for fostering the transfer of both codified knowledge (the success stories, articles, reports and planning guides they publish) and hands-on experience (the experience they bring to the table from their involvement in previous projects in various countries), only a fraction of the 169 tangible ‘local’ BRT projects would have materialized. For these reasons BRT constitutes a truly multi-scalar niche, rather than the sum total of a collection of national-level niches.

Local embedding processes: the case of Bangkok's BRT To illustrate the dynamics and challenges of ‘embedding’ (Hess 2004) niche experiments in placespecific socio-spatial structures, we turn to the city of Bangkok and its brush with BRT. Bangkok has a long history of bus-based planning deeply shaped by foreign ideas and by experts from international agencies (GTZ, 1971; World Bank, 1977; Halcrow Fox 1985). Some of the ideas of these consecutive cohorts of German, American and British transport engineers had taken root in the minds of local planners and in the early 1990s the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority opened the new Narathiwat road with center lanes exclusively for buses. Perhaps because Bangkok's public bus system is controlled by a different, national authority, re-routing took a long time and 44. To make his point, this planner compared the views of some experts about BRT to the views of the Indian public about Sachin Tendulkar, the country's most legendary cricket player. “Whether we are playing Pakistan or the West Indies, on any pitch, he is the one and only solution for everything”

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buses were slow to respond to the new corridor opened to them. Because the lanes were hardly used by buses, they were given over to general traffic by the late 1990s. Despite this failed attempt, the seeds had been sown and planners from the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority would eventually push for a far more sophisticated and revamped busway on the same road under the label of BRT. 45 There is evidence of Bogotá-style BRT ideas traveling across the pacific and circulating throughout Thailand from 2003 on. These ideas were picked up by one politician, who used them as part of his electoral platform to successfully run for governor of Bangkok. One year later, in 2004, Enrique Peñalosa, the former mayor of Bogotá who is widely credited for that city's successful BRT system, made headlines in the Bangkok newspapers when he visited the city to urge the authorities to go ahead with the BRT plan. He stated that Bangkok BRT was the most interesting project he had come across in his travels through Asia, which could grow out to become even bigger and more successful than the Bogotá project (Bangkok Post 2004a). Along with former mayor Peñalosa came other Colombian experts. One of these experts, who had experience from his involvement in setting up Bogotá’s BRT system, emphasized that there were many structural similarities between the two cities (size, income, etc.), but that Bangkok had even more conducive local political conditions and institutional environments than Bogotá at the time: “Bangkok already has public bus agencies while Bogotá didn’t have those in the beginning, and money is not a problem here” (Bangkok Post 2004b). The same Bogotán ‘transfer agent’ (Stone 2004) was appointed as consultant for bus sector reform and the planning of Bangkok's first BRT system. An important issue in Bangkok's fragmented bus/rail transit sector is the vast amount of agencies at different levels of government with different mandates. Because the BRT concept was new to Bangkok, it was not clear which agency should perform which task. Some policymakers viewed a BRT system as an extension of the public bus system (controlled by a national-level authority) while others interpreted it as an addition to the elevated rail rapid transit system (controlled by a city-level authority). Consequently, two completely different BRT plans were made. Eventually 45. This also shows that for Bangkok, as presumably for many other cities, BRT is not a completely new configuration, but rather the continuation of an older bus-based configuration that predates Bogotá’s TransMilenio. Besides Narathiwat Road – where the current BRT system runs – a network of bus lanes had been introduced in Bangkok in 1980 as the result of a World Bank-funded project. These were allegedly highly successful in their early years of operation (Marler, 1982), but deteriorated and eventually disappeared over the course of the 1980s and 1990s in the absence of policies restraining the rate of growth of private vehicles (Barter, 1999). We concur with Shove (2012: 363) that, in transition studies, an understanding is needed of “disappearance, partial continuity and resurrection... how dormant remains of past regimes come back to life, and how innovation journeys start over again”

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the city-level authority came out on top in this controversial “turf issue” – as one interviewee put it – and the first routes they set out to implement, turned BRT into a subservient feeder to the city's rail system. This is a very different from the situation in Bogotá, where buses are a complete substitute for rail. If we look at the planning of Bangkok BRT at various stages we can see the multitude of ways in which the system is embedded in a web of transnational linkages. All stakeholders involved are clear on the fact that it was Bogotá’s BRT that served as their inspiration. Besides Bogotá’s former mayor and bus experts, various international NGOs and organizations linked to foreign governments (such as the technology transfer agency of the German government) performed technical advisory roles at various points in time. At a later stage there was a more concerted effort to impart the experience of Bogotá by means of a set of workshops. To learn more from worldwide best practice, the deputy governor and the planning team went on a study tour to three Australian cities with BRT systems (Brisbane, Adelaide and Sydney). The consultancy company spearheading the final Bangkok design was Japanese and the main consultant responsible had learned from previous experience having been involved in the Jakarta BRT project a few years earlier. For the eventual design of the buses, Zurich and Las Vegas BRTs served as inspiration. Through this array of transnational linkages, the planned BRT system in Bangkok was connected to systems, actors and institutions across the globe. After a long and protracted process plagued by stifling disagreements between the two main political parties, the lack of coordination between city-level and national-level governmental agencies and allegations of blatant corruption, Bangkok's first pilot route eventually materialized in 2010. When the new system was opened to the public, it turned out to be very difficult to lay claim to the allocated road space in practice. Some motorists and motorcyclists, impatient with the heavy traffic, would cut in the BRT-only lane and the police would often turn a blind eye to this kind of behavior. The city's heavy traffic burden and constant gridlock has created a situation whereby police officers spend much of their time trying to solve jams; they view it as their mandate to ‘make the traffic flow’ and in their view the idle BRT lane offers additional valuable road space. Due to objections by car drivers and police, certain stretches of BRT-only lane are no longer formally off-limits to general traffic during rush hour. The unpopular BRT system suffers from partial implementation and it therefore now functions, as one consultant put it, “like a cripple” – a ‘mobile subject’ (Cresswell and Merriman 2011) whose movement is severely impaired.

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The aftermath of the experiences with Thailand's first BRT in Bangkok have a bearing on other BRT initiatives in Thailand. 46 Whereas the opening of BRT systems in Mexico City and Jakarta sparked a surge of imitators within these countries, the opening of Bangkok produced the opposite effect. “Bangkok BRT failed and it became a burden” argued one transport expert from Bangkok “when the first effort fails it prevents the second one”. Most of the interviewed stakeholders involved agree that the perceptions and storylines of the Bangkok BRT system limit the prospects for other Thai cities to get their BRT. In this case, the innovation journey of BRT – from the shining example in Bogotá to initial planning and eventual implementation in Bangkok – might be characterized as a translation process of ‘diffusion’, then ‘dilution’ and finally ‘disillusion’. To ‘territorially embed’ (Hess 2004) the full strength of Bogotá-style BRT into the socio-spatial fabric of Thailand's capital city thus remains elusive. In this way the events in Bangkok highlight not only the global mushrooming of BRT from the eye-point-of-view of a place where the innovation ‘lands’, 47 they also illustrate the struggles and frictions tied up with niche development when local places become part of global networks.

4.5

Conclusion

This chapter sets out to provide a more spatially nuanced understanding of the local–global niche model in transition studies. This model – developed to better understand how niches develop and stabilize across multiple socio-technical experiments – takes a socio-cognitive perspective emphasizing a-spatial structures such as shared routines, visions, theories and perspectives. These ideas have received criticism from geographers for lacking a more precise understanding of the geographies of niche development despite the obvious spatial connotations of ‘local’ and ‘global’. In response, we have re-conceptualized the socio-cognitive local–global niche in a spatial way by drawing in the complementary strengths of a number of geography literatures: buzz-pipelines, global production networks and policy mobilities. The promises of this geography informed perspective reside in sensitizing us to (1) the spatialities of the production- and transfer of knowledge, (2) the geographies of the actor networks involved and (3) the dynamics of embeddedness.

46. See Appendix V for BRT experiences in other Thai cities 47. As opposed to the eye-point-of-view of the global BRT niche and its proponents itself, as portrayed in Section 3

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In terms of knowledge, the spatial perspective highlights how – and from where – particular ‘mobilities’, such as the travel of hands-on expertise ‘embodied’ in transfer agents and the exchange of codified knowledge, are brought in global circulation. Inspired by the ‘buzzpipelines’ and ‘policy mobilities’ literatures we argued that particular sites of knowledge generation and ‘places of best practice’ can play important roles in the narratives of actors as stories of success (or failure) and in enabling (or frustrating) niche building by linking geographically to distant projects/experiments. This resonates with earlier observations that the influence of experiments is more indirect and only becomes visible in ‘take-off’ and ‘acceleration’ phases of transitions (Hoogma et al. 2002: 196). We illustrated this empirically by showing that the travels of the success stories about the cities of Curitiba and Bogotá underpin the diffusion process of the BRT niche, whilst stories of failure of the Bangkok BRT system frustrates further developments in Thailand. In terms of networks, it highlights the multi-scalar character of the arenas in which the actors operate. For the BRT case, we showed that this arena is populated by international NGOs and other highly mobile experts-cum-advocates whose frantic activity results in the connections between cities across national borders. This is in line with the “local node, global network” perspective argued for in the Global Production Network literature and echoed by Coenen et al. (2012: 977) as a way to provide “a useful heuristic for delineating systems, by following the network to wherever it leads, instead of setting system boundaries in an arbitrary and closed-off way”. The BRT case also showed that, in addition to international- and urban actors, national actors continued to be critically important, particularly in relation to fund raising and providing legitimacy to the projects. Instead of assuming that niches are national-level entities, the spatially informed niche model suggests empirically identifying which spatial scales become connected or stay disconnected and how this influences the ability of certain actors to exercise power over others. Finally, in terms embeddedness, the spatialized niche model highlights how the global is locally embedded and, vice versa, how the local constitutes the global. Whereas the traditional sociocognitive perspective features ‘structural embeddedness’ of local projects as ‘nested’ in higher aggregated levels of niche structuration, the spatial perspective adds a type of ‘territorial embeddedness’ of niches as ‘anchored’ in particular local places (also see Hess 2004). Placespecific dynamics and territorial settings shape the meandering paths along which niches travel and the way the eventual innovation journey takes shape, both in temporal and spatial terms. We investigated this in one such place when the BRT concept ‘came to town’ in Bangkok as a way to

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highlight the linkages and the frictions that come along with embedding niche innovations in the institutional- and infrastructural environment of, in this case, the urban fabric of Thailand's capital city. Future research should demonstrate whether such a spatialized model will hold for other cases as well. Arguably, due to this specific socio-technical configuration of an infrastructural, high-tech, configurational technology that is tied to global production networks of transport technologies, BRT is a case in point for demonstrating multi-scalar dynamics of niche development. Future research could put this perspective more at risk by selecting cases that seem, at first glance, less connected across the globe. Another avenue for future research would be to investigate the processes of disconnection between localities and regimes. Incumbent sociotechnical systems – such as the global automobility regime – shape consumption- and production practices around the world, spinning vast webs of transnational linkages, privileging some places over others. Whilst our case has demonstrated how the global niche ‘arrives’ and becomes entangled with localities, alternatively one could investigate how places break away from spatially and temporally stabilized (regime) structures to embark on their own novel transition pathways.

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Appendix V: BRT systems versus informal transport The aftermath of these efforts in Bangkok have a bearing on the other BRT plans that are being forged in Thailand. The three cities with such plans – Korat, Khon Kaen and Chiang Mai – are all in the Northeast or upper North of the country. These are places where the large majority of people vote for opposing political party from the one that put its stamp on Bangkok BRT. Expert notions of the possibility of systems ‘tarnishing the BRT brand’ get a very different meaning here; it might not be the lack of technical sophistication doing the damage, but the discursive association of the concept with a group of political actors. In Korat (Northeast), for example, planners have chosen to get away from these Bangkok BRT associations altogether; they are no longer labeling their planned busway system as BRT. Instead, their logo says KRT (Korat Rapid Transit) and they refer to it as the Sky Bus in order to capture the imagination. In order to avoid the difficult battle with the small but politically powerful carowning middle class altogether, they have chosen to design a completely elevated bus system, drawing on inspiration from the Japanese city of Nagoya. Khon Kaen (Northeast) has retained the name BRT for its plan and draws on a different set of transnational linkages. The city is considered a regional best practice case with regards to public participation in urban planning and smart mobility and there is clear focus by the municipality on new ways of dealing with transport and planning. A creative example of how to pave the way for their BRT project is the ‘spatial awareness’ exercise staged on the street (fig.8). This exercise features a number of pedestrians dressed in a contraption called a ‘walkmobile’ as a statement against the primacy of the motorist implying that the private car is a waste of space. The civil engineers involved in the BRT planning have links with Vienna’s Technical University and point to a professor / urban activist at that university as the source of this idea. The way the exercise was photographed and used in a livable city promotion campaign also links Khon Kaean to the German city of Münster, where poster size photographs of such an exercise were first used as a way to show how much road space can be saved by using bicycles and busses instead of cars. Both Korat and Khon Kaen have conducted feasibility studies and detailed design for their projects and they are awaiting funding from the national government (Thailand is a highly centrally organized country). According to the actors involved there is a reasonable chance that their plans will be implemented so these BRT might materialize within the next few years.

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Figure 4: Thai cities with either an operational BRT system (Bangkok) or a BRT plan (Korat, Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai). The pictures show: Bangkok’s BRT-only lane and yellow-green busses in operation, Korat’s Sky bus plan, Khon Kaen’s efforts to foster ‘spatial awarness’ to back BRT, and Chiang Mai’s incumbent transit operators blocking the streets in protest against a new bus system.

The case of Chiang Mai illustrates how efforts of planners can be thwarted from below at the early stages in the planning process. In Chiang Mai city there is no subsidized public transport system to begin with and private operators of songtaew – converted pick-up trucks – dominate the urban transit arena. These ‘red trucks’ (rot daeng), as they are locally known, operate as shared taxis. They do not adhere to formally assigned fixed routes and are organized into one single powerful cooperative. As a precursor to the eventual introduction of a BRT system for the city, local authorities decided to introduce a small fleet of fixed-route public busses first. Many of the experts involved were in favor of this kind of formally controlled large-scale modern bus operation. Many of these experts would prefer to substantially reform (or altogether be rid of) the red truck operation and the cooperative because they see this as an archaic, mafia-controlled taxi system. The cooperative quickly mobilized in opposition to new big busses encroaching on their turf. By blocking the main roads with their trucks they paralyzed the traffic and effectively immobilized the city (what 132

providers of mobility can give, they can also take away). Concessions were made, the big buses were re-routed unfavorably and this effectively sealed the fate of the new bus system (it was never very popular to begin with and many stakeholders believe that it will soon disappear altogether). Faced with this degree of determined resistance, it was now clear to the planners and politicians that no new BRT or comprehensive bus system stood any chance of being successfully implemented in the near future. They complained about the red truck monopoly and the cooperative’s unwillingness to share the city with bigger busses as part of an integrated bus transit system, because in their view the red trucks could survive (possibly flourish) as a subservient feeder system to the new big buses. The red truck drivers and their representatives have an opposing story to tell and can provide us with a different view of the situation. One of the engineers involved eloquently formulated the harsh lesson that would-be-planners learned in the attempted bus reform process: “We have to be aware how benefits are exchanged – both formally and informally – and of the political ambient of our city. Before we implement [another] project, we have to understand this first: Who are the sheep? Who is the shepherd? And who is the fox?”. The apparently sly and cunning fox to whom the engineer alluded is the leader of the red truck cooperative. This leader voiced a different set of concerns. “Politicians” he pointed out “are like mafias … [they] think only of their benefits and don’t help any group from which they can’t get benefits. Our cooperative focuses on protecting the benefits and job security of its members. To negotiate these benefits and to survive, our cooperative has to fight and be strong”. Rather than putting the fate of the red truck system in the hands of politicians and planners to ensure its continued existence, he would choose to protect the status quo. In defense of the incumbent red truck system vis-à-vis a BRT, the cooperative leader mobilized a similar set of discourses to the ones propagated by BRT‟s advocates, but with the arguments turned upside down. Whereas BRT advocates talk about their system as inherently democratic, he pointed to the “participatory way” by which the cooperative and the city’s growing car-owning middle class would make their voice heard during public hearings in order to block buses from taking away road space from general traffic. Whereas BRT advocates talk about efficient use of scarce road space and increasing access and service, he stressed that “the red truck can go to everyplace in the city and therefore it is better than any [fixed-route] bus. Chiang Mai is an ancient city where big busses can’t drive fluently and they can’t reach into narrow alleyways. [We] offer a better service and Chiang Mai’s people like this door-to-door access”. And whereas advocates generally define BRT as new bus system with a strong identity, he argued for the

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strong identity of his incumbent system. “The red truck is the symbol of Chiang Mai city” he insisted, “whatever happens, it will always be here”. Because no new BRT-like system stood any chance of being successfully implemented in the near future, the only way forward for reform-minded engineers was to work with the red truck system. Under a project organized by the technology transfer agency of the German government (pointing the importance of transnational linkages, but also stressing the importance of the activities of national governments) the university campus became a test site for engineers and a group of red truck drivers to experiment. In this niche experiment a small number of fixed-routes would now be plied according to fixed schedules and a set of innovations was introduced for the red trucks marking the start of further experimentation development of the incumbent system, such as ICTs to allow waiting passengers at stops to monitor the location of the trucks to find out how long they would have to wait. These kinds of efforts give rise to new alternative pathways to modernize bus transit; a different future than the one argued for by BRT advocates.

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Chapter 5 Re-imagining the city: the case of cycling

Chapter 5 Re-imagining the city: the case of cycling 48

Abstract: Urban sustainability transitions are journeys of transformative socio-technical change to set course for an envisioned future city. These journeys start out in the minds of change agents as vague conceptual images, which are then further articulated as ‘urban imaginaries’ – ideas and ideals about what constitutes ‘the good city’ – that are able to attract a wider following. By following a number of prolific cycling campaigners through the streets of Bangkok and other Thai cities, this paper shows how urban sustainability transitions are envisioned from the bike saddle, how imaginaries are mobilized to empower cycling and how a seemingly disparate set of urban development pathways converge around technological artifacts and material infrastructure.

5.1

Introduction

Cities are critical sites for ‘the making’ of a sustainable future society. As great concentrations of incumbent socio-technical systems imbricated in the daily lives of millions of urbanites, they are obdurate structures that stubbornly resist changes toward sustainability (Hommels 2005). But as cauldrons of creative imagination, they are also seedbeds for opening up new spaces for sustainable alternatives (Bulkeley et al. 2015). It is on this interface between the struggling forces of obdurate stability and transformative change that the research agenda of ‘urban sustainability transitions’ is situated (Bulkeley et al. 2011; Nevens et al. 2013; Rutherford and Coutard 2014; Loorbach et al. forthcoming). As a contribution to this emerging research agenda, this chapter argues that the road to urban sustainability is paved by imagination. Transition pathways start out in the minds of change 48. This chapter is based on Sengers, F., Cycling the City, Re-imagining the City: Envisioning Urban Sustainability Transitions in Thailand (2nd round of review for Urban Studies Journal)

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agents as vague conceptual images, which are then further articulated as envisioned urban futures that are able to attract a wider following (Hodson and Marvin 2009, 2010; Späth and Rohracher 2010). I believe that the notion of ‘urban imaginaries’ – broadly defined here as ideas and ideals about what constitutes ‘the good city’ – can be productively mobilized as a particularly powerful concept to address how these envisioned futures are put to work to reshape the present and exert their influence on ongoing transition processes. In this chapter, these dynamics are explored through an analysis of cycling as a re-emerging ‘socio-technical system’ (Geels 2004; Shove 2012). The empirical object of study are cities in Thailand. While decades of unrestrained motorization and car-oriented development have made sure that the Thai city is a challenging habitat for the bicycle to flourish, the numbers of cyclists have nonetheless increased in the last few years. A new vibrant subculture of cycling enthusiasm and advocacy has emerged to re-establish the bicycle as an integral part of an envisioned future cityscape. We will follow a number of prolific cycling campaigners – May (an environmental activist from Bangkok), Tum (a bicycle club president from Chiang Mai) and Yut (an architect from in Korat) – who mobilize these imaginaries to sketch out the contours of desirable urban futures. ‘Transitioning’ to an urban transport system based on the bicycle, they are saying, is a sure way to bring the city that is imagined into actuality. The analysis that follows is based on six months of ethnographic fieldwork spread across the period 2012–2014 in a number of bigger and smaller Thai cities (Bangkok, Korat, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen and Nan). Inspired by what Büscher and Urry (2009) have called ‘mobile methods’, one part of the fieldwork was conducted ‘on the move’ cycling along with the campainers, while another part consisted of conducting in-depth interviews in order to map discursive space and cognitive territory where the battle for the future city is being waged. The results are presented here in the form of a condensed narrative, crystallized in a few ethnographic moments. Three urban imaginaries articulated by the campaigners will take center stage: ‘the sufficient city’ (the virtues of a romanticized version of Thai village life in the past appropriated to the present-day metropolis), ‘the living city’ (the ecological principles of a pristine natural world extended to the seemingly artificial urban world), and ‘the creative city’ (fierce competition amongst globallyconnected cities to attract creative professionals as boosters of economic growth, which animates technological projects of urban renewal) In what follows, I will first elaborate on the process of envisioning in the context of urban sustainability transitions and explain why the urban imaginaries concept is so valuable here

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(Section 2). In order to set the scene for the empirical analysis, I will proceed by sketching out a portrait of the bicycle and its guardians in Thai cities (Section 3). After introducing a few of prolific cycling campaigners, I will elaborate on the seemingly disparate urban imaginaries they articulate as part of their activism geared toward reshaping the city (Section 4). I will end with a brief conclusion (Section 5).

5.2

Envisioning urban sustainability transitions

The process of envisioning plays a key role in bringing about urban sustainability transitions (Hodson and Marvin 2009, 2010; Späth and Rohracher 2010, 2015; Loorbach et al. forthcoming). As coherent images of desired future socio-technical system states, visions foster collectively endorsed ambitions and a sense of shared direction amongst different kinds of change agents, which should ultimately lead to convergence in terms of action. Visions should be seen as not merely descriptions of distant future realities, but that they are ‘performative’ as ‘actants’ in the here and now that shape the infrastructural and technological trajectories (Van Lente 2012). While the ‘Transition Managament’ school of thought views the articulation of ‘transition visions’ as a deliberative and formally organized activity meant to create consensus on long-term orientation (Loorbach 2007), the ‘Strategic Niche Management’ school thought stresses the immediate implementation and specification of ‘expectations and visions’ in real-world experimental projects (Schot and Geels 2008). According to the latter, the articulation of visions substantiates the promises attached to ‘radical novelties’ – new green technologies or otherwise novel socio-technical configurations – and in doing so it brings change agents together and provides them with legitimacy and a sense of shared direction in pursuit of new technological pathways (Schot and Geels 2008). My perspective on the role envisioning in transitions departs from these ideas in two major ways. First, contrary to the Transition Management school of thought, productive envisioning is not necessarily a deliberative- and formally organized process to build consensus but it can also be a distributed process amongst change agents who articulate pathways to very different futures. Visions of the future are ubiquitous, individual and specific and a shared understanding is not a prerequisite for the (re)emergence of low-carbon practices (Berkhout 2006). Like discourse coalitions of ‘bootleggers and Baptists’ – who were united in their support for an official ban on selling liquor in the US during the era of prohibition, but for obviously very different reasons – so too can advocates of alternative socio-technical configurations (like cycling) strive for very 139

different urban futures while strategically mobilizing each other’s visions and arguments (Yandle 2000). Second, contrary to the Strategic Niche Management school of thought, visions center not only on ‘new’ technologies or otherwise novel practices but also on ‘old’ technologies and mundane practices (like cycling). Interesting questions can be found in the ‘shadows of innovation studies’ with regards to how dormant remains of past socio-technical regimes come back to life and how innovation journeys start over again as foreshadowed by ways of the past (Shove 2012: 363). 49 I use the term ‘urban imaginaries’ 50 in order to engage with the process of envisioning in urban contexts and to highlight a few element that are not well represented in earlier contributions. I will broadly define urban imaginaries as ideas and ideals about what constitutes ‘the good city’. Here I draw inspiration from the early stages of my fieldwork in Thailand. I asked one bicycle riding activist why he got involved in a Facebook campaign to promote cycling in Bangkok. After pondering for brief moment he replied: ‘I just want to live in a good city’. This brilliantly simple answer puts the city and its socio-spatial arrangement firmly at the center of analysis and it captures the essence of stories, tactics and strategies employed by all cycling campaigners I had come to know by that time (that is, they all emphasized their identity as urban citizens firmly rooted in their respective home towns and they invariably stressed that if establishing cycling as an everyday mobility practice would improve the conditions in these places). From that moment on, the city itself as opposed to the practice of cycling became my primary object of enquiry. Building on insights from the fields of Science and Technology Studies (STS), Social Movement Theory (SMT), Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and the Geography of Sustainability Transitions (GoST), I want to further unpack to notion of the urban imaginary by highlighting three things.

49. The innovation journey of urban cycling is a case in point: the bicycle is a 19th century technology that witnessed boom and bust in the 20th century and revitalization in the early 21st century. In the process, the bicycle has become ‘new, old and new again’ – first as vehicle of modern mass mobility, then as nostalgic vehicle that ran against the ‘inevitable’ currents of modernity and finally as today’s much-touted progressive vehicle of sustainability (Oldenziel and De la Bruhèze 2012: 22) 50. In a later version of the paper upon which this chapter is based, I conceptualize the notion of urban imaginaries more thoroughly. I start with the work of Edward Soja, who broadly defined imaginaries as “interpretive grids through which we think about, experience, evaluate, and decide to act in the places, spaces and communities in which we live” (Soja 2000: 324). Later work that on ‘social imaginaries’ specified that such ‘interpretative grids’ find expression in images and stories, which are geared to foster a shared understanding of the social environment and provide a sense of legitimacy to certain practices (Taylor 2002). Another valuable addition is provided by the recent work on ‘socio-technical imaginaries’, which adds that imaginaries are futureoriented and reflected in the propagation of specific technological projects (Jasanoff and Kim 2009). An urban imaginary, then, can be conceptualized as a form of social/socio-technical imaginary articulated to bring about certain desirable future city.

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First, there is a definite spatial component to urban imaginaries. As obvious as this may sound, notions of place and space are conspicuously absent in earlier sustainability transitions research (this gap is addressed in the emerging research agenda the Geography of Sustainability Transitions – see Coenen et al. 2012; Truffer et al. 2015). We should keep in mind that transitions are geared to reshape incumbent socio-technical relations, which are ‘embedded’ both structurally and territorially (Sengers and Raven 2015). While sustainability transitions are usually conceptualized in an a-spatial way as transforming only structures at the level of socio-technical regimes (i.e. the societal function of mobility based on privately owned steel-and-petroleum cars and the way the automobility regime is engrained in user routines and the societal fabric at large), they also transform spatial structures (i.e. the urban form, the power relationships between territorially-defined entities such as nation-states and cities and the ways people experience local places). Therefore, empowering urban sustainability transitions is not only matter of re-thinking societal functions, but also a matter of ‘re-envisioning places’ (Hodson and Marvin 2009: 520). As such, my perspective puts places (real and imagined cities) firmly at the center of analysis. This is in line with Fairclough’s (2010) Critical Discourse Analysis perspective, whereby imaginaries are broadly defined as ‘representations of how things might or could or should be’ (Fairclough 2010: 266), with the added notion that imaginaries are not only future oriented but also spatially bounded and geographically specific – they are centered on specific geographical spaces or territories and geared toward understanding place-based dynamics (Ponte and Birch 2014). Following Faircloth, we can say that urban imaginaries evoke particular kinds of desirable urban futures and should be seen as an integral part of and the spatial- and discursive strategies of change agents. When these agents are successful and their discourses are institutionalized and routinized, the associated urban imaginaries can become ‘operationalized, transformed into practice, made real’ and contribute to the transformation of a city (Fairclough 2010: 480). Second, urban imaginaries have a politics of materiality to them. Instead of being ‘merely’ ideas, they are inscribed onto the material world of technological artifacts. A long tradition in the field of Science and Technology Studies emphasizes that infrastructural/technological trajectories and future social order ‘co-produce’ one-another (Jasanoff 2004). More recent work within STS on so-called ‘socio-technical imaginaries’ 51 (defined as ‘imagined forms of social life and social order 51. Most of the literature on socio-technical imaginaries showcases the power of large, state-sponsored techno-scientific projects, such as nuclear power in the US and South Korea (Jasanoff and Kim 2009) or the knowledge-based bio-economy in the EU (Levidow et al. 2013). Although bicycles are not the stuff of high-tech, state-sponsored R&D, (re)introducing the bicycle into

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reflected in technological projects’ - Jasanoff and Kim 2009:120) suggests that imaginaries are highly political in the sense that they not only describe attainable urban futures, but they prescribe what kind of urban futures ought to be attained. Imagination, then, features as a type of cultural resource for change agents to project onto a technology “visions of what is good, desirable and worth attaining for a political community” (Jasanoff and Kim 2009: 122–123). The imaginaries that surround the practice of cycling are thus tied up with the politics of envisioning desirable urban futures, of how the city ought to be ordered with the help of a mundane technology like the bicycle. Third, what should be at the forefront of the analysis of urban imaginaries is ‘agency’. Purposive transitions toward sustainability are paved by imagination and the crucial first step toward breaking with the structures of incumbent socio-technical systems lies in mobilizing the creative capacity of change agents to imagine an alternative future. Therefore, I want to provide center stage not to incumbent or emerging structures, but to the agency of individuals and social groups who are articulating and co-opting alternative ideals in order to tell persuasive stories of how (according to which image) their city ought to be reshaped. Within social movement theory, these such activist individuals are called ‘movement intellectuals’ (Eyerman and Jamison 1991) and they can be considered as especially effective creators and mobilizers of imaginaries (Program on Science, Technology and Society 2012). 52 Social movements emerge on the basis of intellectual activity and through the agency and activism of movement intellectuals whose role “is that of providing a larger framework of meaning in which individual and collective actions can be understood” (Eyerman and Jamison 1991: 115). Social movements and their intellectuals are important actors in supporting (or frustrating) certain technological innovation journeys and socio-technical transition pathways (Elzen et al. 2011; Geels and Verhees 2011). They are actively involved in the reshaping of the ‘cognitive territory’ or ‘conceptual space’ that surrounds social issues and technological artifacts (Eyerman and Jamison 1991:55). The cycling campaigners whose voices echo throughout this paper are movement intellectuals who are in the business of reshaping the cognitive space – as well as the physical space on the streets – where the struggle for sustainabile urban mobility is being waged (Aldred 2013).

cities where cycling is not mainstreamed certainly qualifies as an ‘innovative technological project’ and visions of cycling are also tied up with visions of desirable futures, of how the world ought to be ordered with the help of a technology like the bicycle. 52. While individuals may conceive and communicate persuasive visions of desirable futures tied up with a particular technology, these visions can only be appropriately called imaginaries when they become embedded in the minds of others and are put to work in order to convert what is imagined into actuality (Program on Science, Technology and Society 2012).

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5.3

Cycling the Thai city

It’s six o’clock on a Sunday morning and Chiang Mai city is quietly waking up. My neighbor, Mr. Kung, is already up and about and he greets me with a smile as I step outside. After sharing some breakfast on his porch, I ask Kung if I can borrow his bicycle today. He nods and after searching in his shed, Kung returns with an old two-wheeler. By the look of it, the bicycle hasn’t been used for some time. “There’s no air in the tires” says Kung as he hands me a pump. The state of Kung’s bike nicely captures the state of the practice of cycling in Thailand’s cities: taken to road once more after years of neglect and decline. “Twenty years ago, there were many people who used bicycles” explained the president of a bicycle club in Nan “but when the motorcycles were brought in, the bicycles were all gone.” Although the non-motorized two-wheelers had largely disappeared from the streetscape, they were not ‘gone’ to the point of no return. Like Kung’s bicycle, they were gathering dust in the corners people’s houses and sheds. With minor effort, like pumping the tires, they could enter the cityscape once more and reclaim part of the lost road space. And this is what happened the last few years: old bicycles as well as new ones have taken to road and most cities in Thailand are witnessing the precarious re-emergence of cycling. Despite the fact that bicycles are conspicuously absent in current transport statistics, there is plenty of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ evidence to suggest that cycling is gaining in popularity. In terms of ‘hard’ numbers, the Thai bicycle market has witnessed record growth rates (from 2 billion Baht in 2009 to 6 billion Baht in 2014) 53, the amount of cyclists participating in annual car-free days has grown exponentially every year (from 150 in 2005 to 20,000 in 2013 in Bangkok) 54 and the number of cycling articles and editorials in widely read newspapers popular magazines has increased dramatically (from 1 in 2005 to 33 in 2013 in the Bangkok Post newspaper as well as dedicated special issues on cycling by A Day magazine and Sarakadee magazine since 2013)55. In terms of ‘soft’ anecdotal evidence I encountered in the city of Nan representatives of local bicycle clubs who had kept track of the amount of people joining in for their weekly rides and of the sales of local bicycle shops. They concluded that cycling in Nan has taken a nosedive in the last decades but that the decline has been halted and converted into a steady increase from 2007 53. Bangkok Post, 2014. Thais keen to turn to pedal power. Bangkok Post 3 October 2014 54. Bangkok Post, 2013. Cycling & The City. Bangkok Post 20 October 2013 55. These numbers are based on the archive of Bangkok Post newspaper (keyword search on ‘cycling’) and on interviews with journalists and editors of these newspapers and magazines

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onwards. Upon returning to Bangkok, the ‘Shut Down Bangkok’ campaign was underway and major roads were blocked as a way to force the elected government to resign. Cyclists soon started to fill the empty streets and political crisis was thus turned into opportunity for the bicycle. After the flow of car traffic was restored and unrestrained motorization had re-asserted itself on the streets, some cyclists told me that they were still commuting by bicycle whereas they had hardly ever cycled to work before this anti-government campaign. My in-depth interviews with diverse stakeholders from across the urban transport arena suggest that while cycling is a marginal but rapidly growing mobility option. A transport expert from a big consultancy firm in Bangkok summarized it as follows: “in recent years more and more people have come to accept that the bicycle will become an important mode of transport”, while an engaged environmental activist argued that “in the last three years cycling became an agenda with the public really quickly and politicians have picked it up too … it’s now more established and it’s expanding”. While it is certainly premature to claim that a full-fledged transition towards an established cycling system is underway, at least cycling as a mobility niche seems to be gaining momentum rapidly in the last few years. 56 After pumping the tires of Kung’s bike, I hop on the saddle and say my goodbyes. There are no bicycle lanes and to get to the other side of the main road I lift the bike over the high concrete slabs that separate the one-way traffic lanes, dodging the honking cars that zoom by. Upon reaching the moat that separates the ancient city core from the peri-urban realm beyond, the car traffic in front of me moves slower and slower until it finally grinds to a complete halt. My bicycle and the motorbikes around me are initially able to squeeze through the small gaps between the cars, occasionally bumping up and down the pavement past the vendor stalls. Eventually there is absolutely no way through and, frustratingly, I’m forced to dismount. Chiang Mai and other Thai cities present a challenging habitat for the bicycle to flourish. Decades of ‘unrestrained motorization’ (i.e. automobile-oriented development with ineffective land-use planning and control) and newfound comfort in the motorbike and the motorcar were

56. The campaigners stress that cycling is a highly diverse practice featuring an array of ‘mobile subjects’. They have devised various stylized categories of bike users, such as the designer (who is interested in vintage bicycles and attracted the new hip-andprogressive image associated with cycling), the hardcore cyclist (who sports an expensive racing bike for leisure purposes, riding fast and covering large distances, perhaps as part of cycling club) and the mae baan or housekeeper (who rides an old bike, slowly covering short distances to buy groceries at the nearby market). Since the recent buzz around cycling implicates especially the designer and the hardcore cyclist, it might – in absence of reliable modal share numbers – still be the case that mundane everyday cycling by housekeepers and other social groups is not rising but declining, thus frustrating a broad societal transition toward sustainability

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accompanied by changes in travel patterns and urban form as the mixed-use streets and a densely woven urban fabric gave way to congested inner-city highways and urban sprawl. To reclaim the streets, cyclists are fighting an uphill battle for new rule sets (e.g. bending the traffic laws to allow bicycles to ride contra-flow on one-way streets) and dedicated bicycle-friendly infrastructure (e.g. bicycle lanes and bike-sharing systems). Upon arrival at Tha Phae Gate square, the former main entrance into the walled city, I spot a group of cyclists perched atop their bike saddles. As members of a local bicycle club that has branched into cycling advocacy, they gather here every Sunday morning before venturing out together in their brightly colored lycra outfits. ‘Long live the King’ is printed on a blue-andyellow jersey; ‘stop global warming’ (leik lok ron) can be read on a steering wheel-mounted basket; and a metal bike frame is creatively decorated with bamboo strips so that it looks like a wooden bicycle. The bicycle club president, a kind middle-aged man called Tum, rides up to the front of the group and picks up a megaphone. The ancient city wall looms behind him as he gazes across the crowd. After a brief speech, he mounts the megaphone on a bicycle and signals that it is time to go. Instead of his voice, the club’s song now echoes through the megaphone speaker: “get on the bike saddle and ride, ride, ride! With harmony, brothers and sisters, all for the campaign!” The cyclists ring their bells and roll out of the old gate and into the city. Before leaving the square, one of the cyclists removes his helmet to wipe the sweat off his brow. Tied around his head is a red bandana with the words ‘two wheels looking at the city’ (song lor phor muang). The claim on the bandana implies that the bicycle is more than a vehicle to move around town, more than a mere means of urban transport. Cycling can be viewed as socially produced motion that extends beyond ‘the brute fact’ of physical movement and includes the experiences and representations tied with up riding a bike (Cresswell 2006; Aldred 2010). For those involved in cycling advocacy, the bike represents a way forward – not merely from A to B but in the direction of an imagined urban future (Furness 2010). By explicitly linking cycling to a way of seeing the city, the bicycle on the bandana becomes a lens through which to look at urban development with new eyes. It becomes a tool for re-imagining the city. While riding through Chiang Mai city, surrounded by the other cyclists, Tum pulls up beside me. He tells me about his time as an exchange student in Germany when he first experienced the mundane joys of everyday cycling in bicycle-oriented cities like Göttingen, Freiburg and Münster. “It was there that I saw for the first time the campaigns for cycling” he adds. Upon his return to Chiang Mai, Tum continued to ride his bicycle as an everyday means of transport and he

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wondered: “What could I do to apply the principles they use in Europe in a suitable way in Chiang Mai?” To convince the authorities of the need for good cycling infrastructure in Chiang Mai, Tum showed them pictures of the bicycle lanes and Fahrradstrassen (bicycle priority streets) in German cities and, together with other members of the bicycle club, he demonstrated how contra-flow bicycle lanes might be a safe option. But his efforts to convince the planners, politicians and policemen of such plans fall on deaf ears. “It’s like playing music to the buffalo” (sii sor hai kwai fang) he sighs, uttering an old Thai proverb. We arrive at a small restaurant and park our bicycles. When we sit down for a morning snack, Tum pulls out a city map and unfolds it on the table. He explains which areas are important to tie together a network of unconnected cycling lanes and why riding contra-flow is safer on certain streets. Folding up the map, he tells me that there is more to a cycling campaign than infrastructural technicalities but that underlying ideals are an important starting point. Part of the ideals that Tum stands for are revealed when a kid on a brightly-colored fixed gear bike rolls by. “These youngsters” he says “they cycle more kilometers in their daily life than we do; they achieve our Sufficiency Economy ideals without trying to do so.”

5.4

Re-imagining the Thai city

The Sufficient City The Sufficiency Economy (settakit pho piang) evoked by Tum alludes to a way of life propagated by Thailand’s king. Mobilizing the Sufficiency Economy in the context of cycling thus creates the association between the bike to the auspicious persona of the monarch. As Tum explains: “the King recommends people to live in the sufficiency way and cycling in everyday life is a good way to respond to our King”. The Sufficiency Economy is essentially a ‘localist’ philosophy that stresses the need for an economic system and way of life based on ‘a firm foundation of self-reliance’ (Hewison 2000; UNDP 2007). Rooted in Buddhist thought and an alternative approach to agriculture, it presents a romanticized picture of village life in the past as the key to Thailand’s future. The basic ideas behind the Sufficiency Economy were presented to the public in the royal birthday speech in December 1997, the year that the Thai economy was struck by a devastating financial crisis. As a way out of the crisis, the king proposed an alternative model for economic development based on the principles of ‘moderation’, ‘self-immunity’ and ‘reasonableness’ (UNDP 2007). Applying

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these virtues to economic development stands in sharp contrast to the principles of consumerism, global interdependence and industrial capitalism that fueled the explosive growth of the Asian Tiger economies in the previous years. As the king suggested:

“Being a tiger is not important. What is important is to have enough to eat and to live; and to have an economy, which provides enough to eat and live … There must be a certain amount of self-sufficiency … We have to live carefully and we have to go back to do things which are not complicated and which do not use elaborate expensive equipment. We need to move backwards in order to move forwards” (King Bhumibol’s 1997 birthday speech, as quoted in Phongpaichit 2005: 161)

According to Glassman (2011:1301) the Sufficiency Economy effectively challenges ‘a longstanding geographical imaginary’ in which cities – as the trailblazers of economic development and modernity – pave the way to the future for lagging rural areas. Instead, it produces ‘a counter geographical imaginary’ in which cities are dangerous sites of social and moral decay whereas small villages are hailed as pristine sites of traditional community, social simplicity and moral strength. In this way, “rural Thailand was pictured, at least in its ideal form, as a repository of positive social values being lost in the scramble towards urban modernity” (Glassman 2011:1302). Especially compelling in this respect is the way in which an illustrated book about the king and his sufficiency ideal depicts the Thai city (presumably Bangkok) as a place of ‘greed’ and ‘extravagance’ (see fig. 1).

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Figure 1: The Thai city as a place of greed and extravagance. “… A demon of the dark called Greed came and visited and asked the people to leave the village. Most of the villagers abandoned the village and went to live in the City of Extravagance ...” (as quoted in Walker 2010)

Yet, despite all this preoccupation with rural virtues and disapproving imagery of cities, the Sufficiency Economy can also be mobilized as a philosophical guide to direct urban development. Let me give an example to illustrate this. In Bangkok – the alleged ‘City of Extravagance’ – I interviewed an official of the city’s Traffic and Transportation department about promising directions for sustainable urban transport. He expressed his concern with the modern development pathway upon which Bangkok had embarked and went through some length to explain the king’s ideal version of a self-sufficient model farm, adding that “normally the King applies this to farmers, but this can also apply to the cities”. While lamenting the loss of a sense of community his words carry us back to the days before neon-lit skyscrapers and chronic traffic jams – a time when Bangkok was not yet the ‘Detroit of East’ but the ‘Venice of the East’ as serene collection of homely neighborhoods with orchards situated along a network of canals. The interviewed official duly concluded that the city’s lay in returning to this imagined past (‘move backwards in order to move forwards’ as the king had said). This implied an urbanism that is “more eh... self-contained ” as he put it, with relatively sheltered neighborhood communities based on the values of what he called ‘conserving the culture’. The corresponding transport system revisions he proposed in order help to realize these ideals, included ramping up water-

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based transport, re-instituting the old network of royally decorated trams 57 and, yes, more cycling to allow for short distance travel. It would seem that the humble bicycle fits the bill as a simpleand inexpensive machine (‘do not use elaborate expensive equipment’ as the king had said) and as a vehicle suitable for traveling within a ‘self-contained’ tight-knit urban village community. It is in such ways that rural sufficiency is drawn into the urban realm. 58

The Living City Although trumped by the staggering amount of motorcycles, university campus grounds in Thailand are hotspots for bicycles and cycling promotion. These ‘protective spaces’ are seedbeds for niche experiments with innovative non-motorized transport infrastructure and with new ways of using old bikes (Smith and Raven 2012). One technical university in Bangkok features a particularly active group of students and lecturers, who set up an on-campus bike sharing system and a range of other measures to increase bicycle use and visibility. It is on the campus grounds of this technical university that I first met May, an environmental activist and cycling campaigner in her forties. Somewhat frustrated, she had just returned from a meeting with a group of university-based engineers to discuss ideas about new cycling infrastructure. May reflects

57. Muang Klang is small town a few hours’ drive from Bangkok, which is used as a ‘best practice’ model to showcase ‘the lowcarbon city’ based on the principles of the Sufficiency Economy. This town – what we could call the ‘sufficient city’ in point – also features a public transport system of buses with a conservative tram-like appearance 58. Although the nostalgic Sufficiency Economy might seem like sensible approach to human development in rural areas and even in cities, it is not without its critics. It has been argued that conservative urban elites, who do not practice the sufficiency lifestyle which they preach, selectively use this as a ‘regulatory vision’ to tame rural desires (Dayley 2011; Sopranzetti 2012). In this way, the Sufficiency Economy is geared toward keeping the aspiring rural population ‘in its place’ – both literally and figuratively. It would seem that their appropriate role lay in modest localized pursuits, excluded from the full participation in the national economy and electoral politics, while their journeys to city are allegedly not honest ways to improve their livelihoods but morally dubious pursuits that breach the vested moral regulations of moderation, self-immunity and reasonableness (Walker 2010). A particularly contentious point is the way the Sufficiency Economy has been mobilized to discredit the highly popular package of rural modernization schemes and wealth redistribution policies of former prime-minister Thaksin, while legitimizing the toppling of his democratically elected government by (royally-endorsed) military coup (Hewison 2008). A city planner from Chiang Mai eloquently voiced this concern: “I have never believed that the serene smile of the Sufficiency Economy will replace the smirk of capitalism, especially not for city dwellers. Such concepts go very well with the ‘Sufficiency Democracy’ in Thailand” (Suffiency Democracy – prachathipatai pho piang –represents an extension of the Sufficiency Economy ideas to the arena of electoral politics; a system of governance where the moral virtue of ‘good men’ – khon dii – appointed by the king overrules the majority of votes cast in the ballot box for ‘corruptible’ politicians). Many other interviewed urban planners, transport experts and cyclist portray their town as ‘a city in the world’ that needs to tap into global and regional networks of knowledge circulation and economic exchange, while the ‘sufficient city’ is steeped in localism as a place where “external economic connections are, at best, peripheral and at worst highly disruptive” (Walker 2008)

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“The engineers have a different way of thinking. They are only thinking about how to design a bike path ... I’m really concerned because they were going to remove the trees to set the bike path on the pavement, which is so narrow. To make it wider you could remove the trees”

This poses a dilemma: bicycle first or trees first? Not an easy choice for an environmental NGO leader, who branched into cycling advocacy. In order to stress the mostly symbiotic relationship between being a spokesperson for both bikes and trees – for both the promotion of city cycling and the conservation of pristine nature beyond the city walls – May lays out her story:

“We have worked from the mountains and rivers to the sea, but now we want to come back into town …We decided to start campaigning for cycling in Bangkok because it would address directly the environmental problems and the bad air quality … and also because we want to stimulate a paradigm shift. We want to change the perception of the road from a space for cars, to a public space and a common resource”

The notion of urban space as ‘a common resource’ resonates with broader ideals of democracy and equality, but it is positioned here as first and foremost an environmentalist ideal. Other life forms besides humans should also be able to tap into the common resource in order to thrive within the city. “We live where the wild things are” May reminds us “the ultimate sustainable development indicator is biodiversity and that includes other life forms.” To present the ideal of ‘the living city’ - a bustling ecosystem habitat for humans and other species - to the public, May other environmentalists have enrolled citizens throughout Bangkok in an air quality mapping exercise based on counting the number of species of ‘lichen’ – micro-organisms highly sensitive to air pollution. Keeping in mind that techno-scientific knowledge and imagined forms of social order are ‘co-produced’ (Jasanoff 2004), this illustrates how an ‘ecotopian’ interpretation of ‘the good city’ is reflected in the way knowledge about the city is produced. May’s articulation of the ‘the living city’ is not conjured up out of thin air, but it has its predecessors. Scholars of the city have long since stressed the parallels between the natural world

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and the modern metropolis – from Ebeneezer Howard’s garden cities to Robert Park’s urban ecology. Even as early as the 18th century, the medical discovery of the blood circulation system convinced city planners that blockages of various sorts of mobilities were bad for the health of the urban body (Sennett 1994). It would seem that the urban body is alive with the flow of traffic and people through its road veins and street arteries while green areas, while parks and green areas function as its oxygen-producing lungs. The metaphor of the lungs is especially compelling from the environmentalist perspective; it suggests that the encroaching of dead concrete and cold steel on urban greenery is tantamount to self-mutilation. This discursive weapon was employed by May and her friends when ‘developers and speculators’ converged on Bang Krachao – a lush green expanse, which has been dubbed ‘the lungs of Bangkok’. Satellite images and aerial photos reveal a green oasis seemingly untouched by modern development around it. This is also what it was in the old city plan: a large green dot on the map that was off limits for the construction high rise condominiums buildings and housing estates. Seemingly unnoticed (or deliberately kept silent) the old plan expired and some members of Bang Krachao’s local community started to sell their lands to well-paying developers. Upon hearing about this, environmentalists and engaged citizens spurred into action to stop the new plan from facilitating the ‘devouring of the city’s lungs’ (see the campaign picture in fig.2).

Figure 2: Devouring the lungs of the city.

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Campaign picture to save Bang Krachao: “new city plan geared to devour the lungs .. Bang Krachao .. past and future”. While the colorful part on the left represents the green city of the past, the grey part on the right represents a dystopian future.

A collective bike ride through pristine Bang Krachao was organized as a way to back up the demand to undo the new plans. This highlights another relationship between spokespersons for the bicycle and environment: the bicycle is not only articulated as the preferred mode of transport for the imagined ‘living city’ but it is also a vehicle that is literally mobilized in the fight to achieve it. An environmental activist, who helped to organize the Bang Krachao bike ride, explained this in the following way:

“The strategy has to be something that people can ‘get’ easily. It’s not the green area, it’s not the sidewalk, but it’s the bike. Because it’s fashion nowadays for people to bike ... and the media love bike tours. In making the green area issue appealing, we use biking instead of the green area directly”

After the bike ride, cyclists, environmentalists, local residents, journalists and politicians gathered under the rooftop canapé at a forest clearing in Bang Krachao. A former prime-minster and a spokesperson for the Bangkok Bicycle Campaign both gave a speech about the need to retain Bang Krachao for sake of all of Bangkok as an essential green area with good cycling paths; a tranquil oasis for wildlife and for city dwellers who want to get away from the city’s hectic buzz. Finally, the microphone was given to a local resident. She humbly presented herself as ‘just a villager’ (chao baan) and she voiced a different set of concerns and reasons for conserving Bang Krachao:

“I have seen a lot of people who sold their lands: at the end they are poor and they do not succeed in life. It’s like the ghosts of their ancestors cursed them because they sold their lands for money ... Let’s launch a campaign not to sell the lands of our parents and grandparents [and] teach the children not to be overambitious or high-flown or fraudulent. Please save

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the land, grow trees, tend gardens and work for a living in accordance with the Sufficiency Economy. Then we can live on this piece of land happily and then it will be sustainable”

The campaign to conserve Bang Krachao thus features an interaction between two distinct urban imaginaries. While some are mobilizing the green image of ‘the living city’ to prevent the grey, lifeless city from closing in (fig.2), others are mobilizing the royal image of ‘the sufficient city’ to prevent being engulfed by ‘the city of extravagance’ and its ‘dark demon of greed’ (fig.1). And while the campaign slogan of the environmentalists is directed outward (citizens, politicians and media throughout the whole city need to be mobilized to stop the lungs of the urban body from getting devoured), the proposed campaign slogan by the villager is directed inward (strengthening the moral fiber of local youngsters, who should be convinced not sell the lands of their parents and grandparents and act in accordance with the will of their ancestors and the king’s Sufficiency Economy principles). Taken together, they seem to be saying that both the majestic forest and the traditional lifestyle of the local community are rooted in soil of Bang Krachao and that both should be conserved. Although there is a degree of complementarily between the ‘conservationist’ ethos preached by the actors who give voice to either of these two urban imaginaries, this might be best characterized as an opportunistic coalition consisting of local residents, traditionalists and environmentalists. While not all local villagers ascribe to the green image and associated environmentalist values, hardly any of the interviewed environmental campaigners ascribes to the royal principles of the Sufficiency Economy. One environmental activist – a self-identified ‘Napoleon’ in the discursive battle for Bang Krachao – explained in a Machiavellian way that ideas like Sufficiency Economy can be used instrumentally for other purposes: “I use it all the time … nobody in this country wants to be up against the King’s project”. I suspect that, in a pragmatic approach to dealing with sources of power and expertise, some of the local residents deliberately position themselves as ‘just simple villagers’ who adhere to the Sufficiency Economy principles as a way to imbue their cause with royal power and as a way to get the bicycle-riding environmentalists to use their knowledge of the law to dispute the new land-use plan in court.

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The Creative City The night sky lights up with bright pink lights bouncing of the Ya Mo statue in the city center of Korat. A few dozen hip youngsters are lounging around on their fixies, BMXs and other types of bikes. Yut arrives on the scene. Seated on his retro-styled racing bike – complete with a flower basket mounted to the steering wheel and a vintage leather bag slung across the luggage carrier on the back carrier – Yut tells me that these Friday night bike rides are part of ‘the raw material’ required to forge Korat into a ‘creative city’. The notion of the creative city is inspired by the work of urbanist Richard Florida. Because cities are cauldrons of innovation and creative capitalism, Florida argues that they should aspire to attract ‘the creative class’ (a highly mobile group of creative professionals, technology workers, artists and bohemians) in order to attain a higher level of economic development (Florida 2002). In order to reshape itself in accordance with the lifestyle desires of the creative class, a creative city should engage in efforts of ‘placemaking’ and urban renewal (some would say gentrification) as a way to outcompete other aspiring cities. The logic of economic competition within and globally connected world is at the heart of these ideas. Take, for instance, the Chiang Mai Creative City initiative – the most comprehensive creative city effort in Thailand – with the ambition to “build a new economic system based on knowledge and creativity [as] the key to create our opportunity and advantage in the international arena” (TCDC 2012). Accordingly, the physical layout of the urban environment ought to be reshaped with this goal in mind (see the creative city map on fig.3).

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Figure 3: Turning Chiang Mai into a Creative City An envisioned map of the old city center of Chiang Mai based on various kinds of creative businesses, institutions for higher education and sites for tourists. The makers of this map present an image of how the city ought to ordered in accordance with their creative city ideal (TCDC 2012)

Back to Korat – a rapidly growing medium-sized city situated on the road between Bangkok and Thailand’s rural North-Eastern provinces (Isan). It is a passage point for the many urban-rural migrants who shuttle up and down between quiet villages and the hectic megacity. While the ‘mundane city’ of Korat is traversed by a multitude of domestic labor mobilities, the ‘creative city’ of Chiang Mai has been able to tap profitably into the transnational flows of capital and tourists. What would it take for the city of Korat to become a similar node within such a global network of circulation? Questions of this sort were posed one hot summer evening, when a motley crew of engaged citizens, architects, academics, city planners, musicians and B-Boy dancers (i.e. the creative class) gathered in café in Korat to discuss the future of their hometown as a creative city. It was here that I first met Yut, a civically engaged architect and cycling campaigner. Though inspired by the work of Richard Florida, his interpretation of the creative city differs in a few

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respects. In Yut’s view, creativity is not the preserve of the creative class, but a distributed resource that resides in every urbanite and villager. The challenge for Korat might lay not so much in attracting creative professionals from far and wide, but rather in preventing outflow of people. Two years after we first met, while watching from his bike saddle at the soldiers marching through the center of Korat a few days after the most recent military coup, Yut formulates the quest for the creative city in another way:

“Turning Korat into a creative city means that local people do not have to go to Bangkok to work as laborers in a factory or on a construction site. They can be proud of their own city and have creative opportunities here … This also means we can solve the problems of the nation”

Building a bustling creative city in Korat, Yut would argue, is a way to keep creativity economic energy within the poor North-East of the country – to stop these energies from draining away toward Bangkok where they could supercharge further feelings of discontent between this peripheral region and all-absorbing capital megacity. Urban imaginaries are thus neither fixed nor limited to reshaping cities; they can be re-worked to fit with other priorities and they can be extended to other spatial scales such as nations and transnational networks of exchange. Architects like Yut realize that the social fabric of cities is made and re-made – and possibly transformed – through transport systems and material infrastructure. He envisions a prominent role for a radically novel bicycle-based mass transit system (a ‘bike rapid transit’ system) in spearheading the transition toward a creative city in Korat. He designed a comprehensive network of bike lanes encased within glass-and-metal tubes towering above the roads on concrete pillars – literally elevating the bicycle above the car. The promotional pictures for this revolutionary transit system, which he presents to the other creative professionals gathered at the Korat creative city meeting, reveal multiple urban imaginaries in action. The first image shows how a number of urban professionals, students, expats and tourists are using a combination of their own bicycles and a bike sharing system (the creative city in action). Another image represents a birds-eye view the system: while cyclists are riding in the elevated tube below, the rooftop is covered with lush green vegetation (the living city in action). Yut has also brought a large poster depicting three farmers wearing straw hats while wading in a paddy field, seemingly

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out-of-place next to the glittering steel-and-concrete structure carrying the elevated bikeway, which has been labeled as ‘sufficiency route’ for the occasion (the sufficient city in action). The Sufficiency Economy is mobilized not only because the everyday practice of cycling fits with sufficiency lifestyles, but in order to emphasize that the city of Korat should be able to construct and maintain such a system by itself without having to rely on outsiders for expertise or technology transfer. Taken together, these images illustrate that seemingly irreconcilable urban imaginaries (especially the outward-oriented creative city and inward-oriented sufficient city) can be mobilized (in partial and re-worked form) alongside one another in the design of infrastructural projects geared transform the city.

5.5

Conclusion

Urban sustainability transitions are journeys of transformative socio-technical change to set course for an envisioned future city. These journeys start out in the minds of change agents as vague conceptual images, which are then further articulated as ‘urban imaginaries’ – ideas and ideals about what constitutes ‘the good city’ – that are able to attract a wider following. The creative capacity of change agents to imagine alternative urban futures – and to project these ideas onto technological artifacts and material infrastructure – is critically important in bringing about transformative socio-technical change. I have argued that this notion of urban imaginaries provides a valuable addition to literature on urban sustainability transitions, because it highlights that visions of the future are ‘anchored’ (i.e. place-based, spatially bounded and geographically specific), have a ‘politics of materiality’ to them (i.e. they are normative and aligned with particular kinds of infrastructural development) and to be realized they require ‘agency’ (i.e. cognitive efforts by intellectuals to persuasively articulate how the spread a particular technological artifact, such as the bicycle, is aligned with the articulation of an urban future worth striving for). The voices of cycling campaigners in Thai cities echoing throughout this chapter illustrate how transitions are envisioned from the bike saddle; how through their imagination bicycles become connected to certain urban futures; and how their discursive repertoire of tactics and strategies is geared toward presenting these imaginaries in a convincing way. Their ideas about what cities in Thailand ought to strive for are informed by a disparate set of urban imaginaries related to the economy (‘the creative city’ as a competitive node in a global economic system); the environment (‘the living city’ as a pristine part of the wider natural world), and rural/urban society (‘the

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sufficient city’ ideologically represented an extended version of a tight-knit village community, reminiscent of a rural utopia). In such ways mundane technologies like the bicycles enable the flows of foreign capital, of untamed nature and of rural virtue to seep through the proverbial city wall, thus nourishing an array of imagined urban futures.

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Chapter 6 ‘Love your home, love your city’: the case of participatory land-use planning 159

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Chapter 6 ‘Love your home, love your city’: the case of participatory land-use planning 59

Abstract: This chapter examines stability and change in land use and urban planning in Chiang Mai city, northern Thailand. Inappropriate land use zoning, lack of enforcement of city planning, lack of public transportation and many unresolved problems (e.g. frequent floods, traffic congestion) are indicative of how current land use / urban planning practices have failed to lead to sustainable and desirable directions for urban development in Chiang Mai. In response, a heterogeneous coalition of actors representing various elements of strong and vibrant civil society groups have rallied around a series of issues and voice their desire for change. This has contributed to the construction of a protected space (niche) for thinking about alternative (more participatory) ways of planning with considerable momentum. This collective action has not been in vain and some of their ideas have been incorporated in the modified land-use plan. In order to analyze these processes and to ‘contextualize’ the situation and ongoing land use issues in Chiang Mai, this chapter uses the Multi-level Perspective (MLP) framework. This perspective is relatively new for the field of urban planning, but it proved to be useful for investigating stability and change in Chiang Mai city and it might be a promising framework for analyzing (sustainable) developments in urban planning and land use for other rapidly developing cities.

6.1

Introduction

This chapter examines stability and change for land use and urban planning in Chiang Mai province (northern Thailand).‘Stability’ can be defined as the ways of thinking, the routines and

59. This chapter was published as Sangawongse, S., Sengers, F., Raven, R., 2012. The Multi-level Perspective and the scope for sustainable land use planning in Chiang Mai city. Environment and Natural Resources 10(2): 21-30. As second author, I wrote most of the text for sections 6.1, 6.3 and 6.4 and I conducted part of the interviews with planners and members of civil society groups.

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the unwritten rules that structure current land use- and urban planning practices in Chiang Mai. ‘Change’ points to land use change and the efforts of specific actors to secure a foothold for (more sustainable) alternative approaches to land use and urban planning. The area of study lies approximately between latitudes 18° 40’ N to 18° 55’ N and between longitudes 98° 50’ E and 99°05’ E in the Ping River basin. It covers the Chiang Mai Comprehensive Plan (CMCP) area, which was designated by the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning (DPWCP), as shown in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Location map of the comprehensive plan area in Chiang Mai Province

The total CMCP area (3rd revision) is about 430 square kilometers, which encompasses 7 districts and 49 sub-districts of Chiang Mai Province. The first plan was initiated in 1965 and projected to 20 years ahead, but it has no legal status (Apavatjrut 2007). The second plan was enforced lawfully and remained valid for 5 years (1984-1989). Between1989 and 2006, DPWCP has revised CMCPs 3 times. The 1strevision of CMCP was enforced law fully and remainedvalid for 5 years from 1989 to 1994 and for the 2nd revision, was extended to 1995.3rd revision started in 2006

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and it is expected to be completed by 2012 (updating this plan is a time consuming process that involves many steps, so approval is still pending).Planning for land use and transport is intimately related. Transport and access are crucial since Chiang Mai was designed as a regional economic center and a transportation hub linking various countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) and to establish links with South Asia (NESB 2012). The CMCP consists of two subplans: land-use plan and transportation plan. The transportation plan proposed to construct two new ring roads (middle and outer ring roads) in order to ease traffic flows between towns, which may direct ongoing urban sprawl into the agricultural land. Many problems related to urban expansion stubbornly persist because of the lack of consideration for three important elements: historical contexts appreciation, geographical comprehension and local participation. Furthermore, the city plan did not designate appropriate land use zoning and this has led to the improper use of land. For example, human settlement in the flood-risk zone is the cause of frequent flooding problems. The continuing expansion of Chiang Mai city is influenced by new spreading centers and road construction (Sangawongse 2006), which has led to urban sprawl at the urban-rural fringe. This kind of growth has accelerated land use conversion, especially from agricultural plots into residential area (previous studies have indeed revealed that agricultural fields around Chiang Mai city were converted into real-estate - Sangawongse et al. 2011). National policy plays an important role in the urbanization of Chiang Mai (for ‘spatial urbanization’ regarding changes in land use towards dense residential and commercial districts, but also for ‘social urbanization’ regarding population growth and increased population density as the result of policies at various levels of government (Prakasvuthisarn 2009). For example, in the 5th National and Social Economic Development Plan, Chiang Mai was promoted as the regional economic center and education hub in northern Thailand. As a result, many business centers and a network of roads were developed and led to extensive urban development. Land-use- and transportation plans directed urban expansion into fertile land areas suitable for rice growing. As a consequence from inappropriate and ineffective land use planning policies and practices, Chiang Mai city has experienced severe floods, traffic congestion, and air and water pollution. This chapter first elaborates on the details and dynamics of land use changes and land use zoning in the CMCP area (section 2). In section 3, we broaden the scope of our analysis and ‘contextualize’ the situation and ongoing land use issues in Chiang Mai by means of the Multilevel Perspective (for the purposes of this case study and the field of urban planning). This perspective essentially comprises a novel way to look at stability and change. The chapter ends with a brief conclusion and points for discussion (section 4).

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6.2

Stability and change in land-use and urban planning in Chiang Mai City

Land Use Change Analysis Two approaches were applied for obtaining land use types and land use change information in the CMCP area. The first approach is to classify the multi-temporal satellite data into major land use types and to conduct the change detection analysis. The second approach is to model urban growth and land use change using the SLEUTH model (Clarke et al. 1997). The LANDSAT-5 Thematic Mapper (TM) data at 30m resolution, acquired in 1989, 2000, 2006, and 2009 were analyzed for obtaining 7 major land use types (urban, paddy field, orchard, forest, water, bare land and other). Then, the change detection analysis was performed for obtaining areas of change from different land use types. It was found that major change in the CMCP area was from paddy field to urban/built-up areas (Sangawongse et al. 2011). The findings correspond well with the land use classification conducted by other agencies such as the Department of Town and Country Planning, Ministry of the Interior,1982).Future land use changes in the CMCP area was forecasted in 5 year intervals spanning between 2010- 2030 (Sangawongse et al. 2011) as shown in Table 1 and Fig. 2. These studies predict that proportion of urbanized areas could increase from 38 % in 2010 to about 80 % in 2030 and a decrease in the proportion of paddy fields proportion from 17 % in 2010 to 6.65 % in 2030.

Table 1. Proportion of future land use changes in the CMCP area Land use

2010

2015

2020

2025

2030

Urban

38.37

48.23

60.03

71.15

79.93

Paddy field

16.96

15.59

12.58

9.41

6.65

Orchard

24.05

20.41

16.44

11.99

8.20

Forest

7.95

6.17

4.32

2.96

2.06

Water

3.81

3.16

2.50

1.92

1.48

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Other

8.67

6.32

4.08

2.55

1.67

Bare land

0.21

0.12

0.06

0.03

0.01

Table 1 shows a significant increase in the proportion of urban area and a significant decrease in the proportion of paddy fields in Chiang Mai. If the proportion of urban area could reach as high as 80 % in 2030, most area could have been filled up with settlements and a mere 20% would be left for other uses. These predicted land use changes are expected to have a tremendous social and ecological impact on Chiang Mai city and its surroundings. Fig. 2 shows the future urban development in Chiang Mai comprehensive plan area in 2009, 2015 and 2030, accordingly.

Figure 2: Prediction map of urban development in CMCP area in 2009, 2015 and 2030

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Land use zoning Land use zoning in Thailand is enforced by the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning through regulations, policies and guidelines for managing land use and transportation systems. According to the 3rd revision of CMCP, land use was classified into 11 types and can be organized into two main zones: (1) development zone and (2) conservation zone (Arkorn Buaklai: DPWCP Chiang Mai Provincial Office, personal communication, May 2012). The development zone consists of 5 land use types, for example, low-density residential area as yellow, medium density residential area as orange, commercial area and high-density residential area as red, and industrial area as purple. The conservation zone consists of 6 land use types, such as rural and agricultural land as green, open land for recreation, environmental protection as light green and religion institution as light grey. It has been acknowledged that land use zoning designated by DPWCP does not fit well with the physical and cultural conditions of Chiang Mai city as indicated by the improper land use zoning (Apavatjrut, 2007). For example, the road expansion project designed only for increasing road surface, without controlling the area alongside of the roads has led to (and will inevitably lead to more) urban sprawl associated with this co-called ‘ribbon development’. During 2008-2009, residents in Wat Ket and Fah Ham areas have protested against land use zoning and road expansion/construction projects. Social surveys in the Wat Ket area, using questionnaires and in-depth interviews, revealed that 80 % of the residents prefer the traditional life style and wish to conserve arts and architecture as part of their community and as a “Historic Site” for cultural tourism (Apavatjrut 2006). This is the main reason why local groups in Chiang Mai (most notably communities in the Wat Ket and Fah Ham areas) have objected to land use zoning and road expansion projects.

6.3

The Multi-level Perspective

The goal of this section is to broaden the scope of our analysis and to ‘contextualize’ the situation and ongoing land use issues in Chiang Mai. A potentially fruitful way to look at current urban planning and land-use practices in Chiang Mai or other cities and the scope for changes in a more sustainable direction is provided by the framework introduced here: the Multi-level Perspective MLP (Geels 2002). This perspective is often employed in the academic field of Transition Studies to investigate socio-technical transitions to sustainability in a variety of domains / societal functions. Using the MLP means that the processes of sociotechnical change are conceptualized in the light of interactions between three levels i.e. regimes, niches and landscape.

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Figure 3: Schematic representation of the Multi-level Perspective (adapted from Geels 2005)

A ‘regime’ refers to the rules and institutions (both formal and informal) that structure the practices in a given domain, such as guiding principles, problem-solving routines, cultural meanings and formal standards and regulations, all of them embedded in networks of actors and in technologies and infrastructures. In short, regimes are the ‘grammar’ of a socio-technical domain such as urban transport. A ‘niche’ can be conceptualized as a protected space where experimentation with novelties / alternative sociotechnical configurations is possible. Given time (perhaps decades) these alternative configurations can eventually transform or even substitute incumbent regimes (different transition pathways are possible (Geels and Schot 2007).

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The ‘landscape’ can be viewed as the backdrop against which niches and regimes battle for dominance. This level constitutes exogenous events and is usually framed in terms of (long term) developments/trends putting ‘pressure’ on a regime, which in turn provide ‘windows of opportunity’ for niches. Now that the basic elements of the MLP have been defined, we can turn to what the interactions between the regime, niche- and landscape levels mean for the conceptualization of transport and urban planning in developing cities in general (next sub-section) and for Chiang Mai city in particular (sub-section after that).

The MLP and urban planning in developing world cities An urban environment is a ‘hub’ in many ways: all kinds of systems and flows converge in the confined geographical space we call the city. In a city, a number of different regimes could be said to fulfill the necessary societal functions (e.g. an electricity regime, a waste-disposal regime, a housing regime, a transport regime etc.). These domains (and consequently, the regimes that dominate them) sustain urban life and keep the city’s material metabolism going. These different urban regimes and their past and present interactions result in the present day urban form. A way to conceive of a land use / urban planning regime is that it is in a sense an ‘overarching’ urban regime spanning across the functional space of a collection of other regimes (like a waste-disposal regime, a housing regime, a transport regime, an agricultural regime at the urban fringe etc.) with the goal to spatially integrate and regulate the interactions (and material flows generated) for these various regimes in order to sustain urban life and to achieve a desirable outcome regarding future urban form. In many developing cities urban planning regimes can be characterized by relying on the ideals of modernist planning (shaped by the global diffusion of 19th century Western-European ‘master planning’). At the very least it is questionable how appropriate / compatible this way of planning still is with fast growing and often sprawling present day developing cities when the reality on the ground bears little resemblance to illusions of top-down control in the plans on paper. When there is a certain degree of (landscape) pressure to deal with current and future urban problems related to climate change, dependence on fossil fuels, food security, degradation, marginalization of some, etc. In the face of these contemporary issues, modernist planning approaches can be seen as ‘solutions for old problems’, and there is a need to fundamentally rethink urban planning regimes in rapidly developing cities. At the niche level (in various places around the world) some

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novel approaches to urban planning have emerged to engage with projected urban form in a different way, both in terms of planning procedures as well as in terms of substance. UNHABITAT (2009) identifies a number of these, for example new forms of procedural planning aimed at producing new urban forms (like compact cities), strategic spatial planning for selected areas, participatory processes and partnerships at the neighborhood level (like community action planning), etc. In terms of substance, cities around the world are experimenting with integrating sustainable technologies in urban planning, such as distributed renewable energies, small-scale, distributed water systems, and new public-private transport combinations and cleaner transport technologies. Despite some similarities between land use /urban planning regimes in different developing cities (like the reliance on the assumptions of partly outdated ideas of modernist planning), developing cities as such do not constitute a single meaningful category. There are indeed many differences between developing contexts in terms of the composition of urban planning / land use regimes. Compared to other Asian cities, Thai cities perform relatively poorly on planning and are essentially self-organizing systems rather than planned ones (partly because of a mismatch between various local, provincial and national governance levels (Vorratnchaiphan and Villeneuve 2006). Substantial existing problems are related to extensive suburbanization, urban sprawls and the lack of decent public transport. For Thailand, one pronounced case of missplanning and the relationship with unsustainable transport is Bangkok city spilling into adjacent provinces (Rujopakarn 2003). This first led to ribbon development and more recently to spread out settlement patterns and suburbanization characterized by the so-called the ‘donut-effect’ (Burapatana and Ross 2011). Historically, Bangkok has never had any real plan to guide its direction and long since there has been a tendency focus only on road building. Plans in the 1970’s prescribed a mixed strategy of investing expressways and mass transit, but only the expressways would then be built and public transport neglected. Some problems in Chiang Mai city are similar, yet the case of Chiang Mai is also different in many respects and should be contextualized (by means of the Multi-level Perspective) in its own right.

The MLP and urban planning in Chiang Mai By applying the MLP framework to the situation in Chiang Mai, each of the three MLP levels can be explained as the following:

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Landscape: Processes of decentralization have taken shape, but the fact remains that governance in Thailand is still highly centrally organized. From the late 1970’s on, plans started to emphasize channeling growth away from Bangkok to regional centers (like Chiang Mai) in order to counter the sharp economic disparity between Bangkok and the rest of Thailand. In many ways this strategy (initially) failed (and the disparity kept growing). Apart from the national push for regional economic centers, there are other profound landscape factors at play. Many of these factors are similar to other medium sized cities in Asia, most notably rapid urbanization and expansion of settlements to the urban fringe at the cost of prime agricultural land. It is against the backdrop of these landscape developments that current dominant ideas behind planning for Chiang Mai should be analyzed. Regime: The guiding principles of the land use / urban planning regime in Chiang Mai are similar to other developing cities (e.g. reliance on outdated inappropriate ideas of modernist planning see section 3.1). Notably, technocrats from DPWCP used urban planning theories from the western countries not well suited to the social, economic, cultural and political reality of Chiang Mai. A number of regime actors have made their mark on the Chiang Mai Comprehensive Plan. The following can be identified: Central government (DPWCP), National Economic and Social Development Board-NESDB, Local government (e.g. Chiang Mai municipality, Tambon Administration Organization- TAO). Some of these actors have different underlying assumptions and interests (a regime is not necessarily a fully harmonious configuration; in many ways influential stakeholders have different - sometimes conflicting - interests and ideas). In Chiang Mai the top-down imposition of the idea for making Chiang Mai a regional economic hub may have amplified many of the shortcomings and pronounced problems associated with inappropriate modernist planning and the current land use / urban planning regime. Niche: In response to the land use zoning and the expansion of roads in CMCP, many social groups in Chiang Mai city have opposed initial plans (shaped by regime actors). These groups have been set up on a voluntarily basis for coordinating with local government, NGOs and other parties on social and environmental issues in Chiang Mai city. One of the active groups called “Rak Baan Rak Muang” (love your home, love your city) was formed by volunteers from the areas of Wat Ket, Nimmanhemin, and Soi Wat Umong. This group consists of volunteers from different occupations/organizations (e.g. technocrats, engaged citizens, foundations, urban development institutes). They have negotiated and taken part with DPWCP regional office in Chiang Mai for solving land use zoning problem using many strategies. By the end of 2006, this group organized two workshops in Wat Ket area to raise public awareness which emphasized on basic human

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rights and responsibilities in order to expand the villager’s vision on community mind an how to legally deal with DPWCP officers. Between December 2008 and March 2009, many formal meetings were organized between the group and the DPWCP committees. Available public medias, including posting of group activities on the internet, posting banners and signs on houses and public premises around Wat Ket area were used as means of collaborating with the central government. According to the DPWCP committee meeting in Pethaburi province in December 2010, land use zoning in Wat Ket – Fah Ham area was corrected and approved. As shown in Figure 4, this area in the north east of the city accounts for about 2.4 square kilometers has been changed from red color into yellow with white diagonal lines, for conservation and residential uses. The height of buildings should not exceed 12 meters. For Nimmanhemin and Wat Umong areas, no change in color has been made, but only some agreements on zoning as a medium density residential area (Surapon Sarttatat: DPWCP Chiang Mai Provincial Office, personal communication, March 2012).

Figure 4: Land use zoning after the modification

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To summarize, a heterogeneous coalition of actors, representing various elements of strong and vibrant civil society groups, have rallied around a series of issues. This has contributed to the construction of protected space for thinking about alternative (more participatory) ways of planning with considerable momentum. This collective action has not been in vain and some of their ideas have been incorporated in the modified land use planning. However, only time can tell to what extent this kind of collective action can bring about more fundamental change in the regimes of land use and urban planning and to what extent participatory planning can become the norm rather than the exception in Chiang Mai.

6.4

Conclusion and Discussion

Inappropriate land use zoning, lack of enforcement of city planning, lack of public transportation and many unresolved problems (e.g. frequent floods, traffic congestion) are indicative of how DPWCP’s efforts failed to lead to sustainable and desirable directions for urban development in Chiang Mai. Collective action by civil society groups to achieve change has not been in vain: land use zoning was adjusted and a new land use category for the Wat Ket area took shape on the map). However, it remains to be seen to what extent these local groups will have a more profound effect on more fundamental changes regarding ‘re-thinking’ of current land use/ urban planning regimes. This re-thinking is necessary, since current urban planning land use regimes (in Chiang Mai and in many other rapidly developing cities) rely on outdated and inappropriate planning ideals and change in sustainable direction will be very difficult or impossible within the bounds of this way of thinking. Satellite data can be best applied for analyzing and mapping land use changes in Chiang Mai, because this kind of data can be obtained on a regular basis at the minimal cost. Historical land use data are useful for explaining previous land use changes. They can be used for making a comparison with the current land use data for a change detection analysis. The prediction result obtaining from the SLEUTH model shows the increase of urban development in the Chiang Mai area over time. Using the MLP proved to be useful to contextualize this case, but it could also be useful for other cases for rapidly developing cities with different challenges concerning urban development and land use planning. A promising strategy for analyzing and improving urban planning in Chiang Mai (or other rapidly developing cities) might be to take a broader outlook to and to participate in transnational city networks to learn for planners in cities facing similar problems.

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Besides, learning from cities abroad, there are other interesting cases of community action and participatory urban planning within Thailand’s borders. Further research could compare urban planning in Chiang Mai and the activities of Rak Ban Rak Muang with previous community action in the Ban Krua community in Bangkok (see Townsend 2003) and, more recently, with best practices in participatory urban planning in Khon Kaen (DELGOSEA 2011). The use of the MLP and other concepts from the field of Transition Studies could be promising for the academic field of urban planning, especially for setting up new research agendas and calling to the fore new research questions. Future use of the MLP for fields of enquiry related to urban planning could also highlight technological developments and other trends in adjacent urban regimes. Developments in transport, housing, waste disposal and other regimes can have profound effects on urban life and on the way planners envision and plan for future cities.

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Chapter 7 Urban mobility experiments in Asia

Chapter 7 Urban mobility experiments in Asia 60

Abstract: Asia’s rapidly growing cities are gearing up to meet increasing mobility needs while simultaneously striving to achieve sustainability goals. A number of new innovations are being introduced in the form of experiments aiming to change the systems and rule-sets that currently dominate the provision of mobility services in Asian cities. This chapter analyses selected cases of mobility experiments in India and Thailand and explores the strategies that the niche actors deploy to navigate through the challenges posed by incumbent socio-technical regimes. The chapter concludes that whilst niche actors tried to stretch-and-transform technological, infrastructural and cultural dimensions of regimes, they opted to fit-and-conform with public policy and political power dimensions.

7.1

Introduction

Many cities in Asia are witnessing an urgency to reorganize, reconstruct and reorient themselves in response to rapid urbanization (United Nations, 2014). Simultaneously, they are striving to conform to the goals of sustainability and liveability (Hildebrand, et al., 2013), as “the battle for sustainability will be won or lost in cities” (Bai, et al., 2010). It is widely recognized that experimentation with new socio-technical configurations – whether in the form of “urban climate change experiments” (Bulkeley et al. 2015), “urban labs” (Karvonen & van Heur, 2014) (Karvonen & van Heur, 2014 )or “niche experiments” (Hoogma, et al., 2002) – is a promising but challenging way to bring about sustainability transitions in cities in a variety of societal domains. As both a driver and an outcome of rapid growth, mobility is an integral part of urban development and one key-area where environmental sustainability is proving to be a major 60. This chapter is published as Ghosh, D., Sengers, F., Wieczorek, A., Ghosh, B., Roy, J., Raven, R., (forthcoming) Urban Mobility Experiments in India and Thailand. In: Evans, J., Karvonen, A., Raven, R., (Eds.), The Experimental City, Routledge: New York. As second author, I brought in the experience about urban mobility experiments in Thailand and wrote the text for sections 7.4 and 7.6 and small parts of other sections.

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challenge (Moriarty and Honnery, 2008; Banister, 2011; GEA, 2012; IPCC, 2014; Geels et al. 2012). Many Asian cities are responding to this challenge by experimenting with new transport technologies and novel mobility practices that embody the promise of sustainability gains. Since these innovative socio-technical configurations seek to undermine some of the established rules of the game, their introduction implies a struggle with incumbent actors and routines. In the context of this struggle, an important research question is: how do the actors involved in these experiments navigate the tensions tied up with the introduction of such innovations? In this chapter we explore four selected cases in the urban spaces in India and Thailand to tease out some of the interesting features of the navigational strategies followed by these actors. The chapter is built around three parts. First, we discuss the theoretical framework and the research methodology. Next, we delve into the empirical cases to demonstrate the dynamics by which the actors negotiate the pressures from the incumbent regime. The conclusion summarizes our main argument and points to patterns that emerge from our cases.

7.2

Research Strategy

The transitions literature argues that achieving sustainability requires a systemic and radical change in the way human needs are being satisfied. Because of their path-dependent character, these systems are often referred to as “socio-technical regimes”, i.e. the “rules of the game” that structure the provision of particular societal needs such as mobility. Path-breaking innovations having potential to offer alternative ways of meeting the needs frequently emerge outside of the regime, i.e. in “niches” that act as protective spaces, where experiments with novel sociotechnical configurations can develop relatively free of the full brunt of mainstream market selection. A system transformation occurs when radical novelties are sufficiently developed and when the “landscape”, defined as a broad exogenous environment, exercises sufficient pressure on the prevailing regimes, alters them and makes them unstable (Geels, 2002). The process of regime change, however, is not easy because regimes are stabilized on a number of dimensions. Smith and Raven (2012), based on Geels (2002), depict six such dimensions. The first one relates to existing industry structures that encompass established network relations, userproducer interactions, shared routines and heuristics, existing capabilities and resource allocation procedures. The second dimension concerns dominant technologies and infrastructures that are supported by articulated technical standards and infrastructural arrangements. Third is the established knowledge base with its guiding principles and socio-cognitive processes . The fourth 178

covers markets and dominant user practices stabilized by market institutions, supply and demand, price mechanisms, user preferences and routines. The fifth includes status quo public policies and political power stabilized by means of the prevailing regulations, policy networks and relations with incumbent industries. Finally, the sixth dimension considers cultural and symbolic meanings of technology and innovation. As such, socio-technical regimes may lead to premature rejection of alternative novelties, because their costs are not represented in end-user prices, because they require inconvenient user practices, because insufficient resources are attributed to new knowledge development, because they do not fit with existing industry structures and so on. In order to deal with the stability of the regimes and to link to the wider processes of social change, niche actors deploy various strategies. Smith and Raven (2012) discuss these strategies under the concept of empowerment. Two different patterns of empowerment are distinguished. The first one concerns processes that make niche innovations competitive within unchanged selection environments. This is referred to as a “fit-and-conform” strategy. In this case niche protection is no longer necessary and can be removed because the innovation is “empowered” and its growing competitiveness enables its widespread diffusion. The niche innovation is developed in a way that it fits into and conforms to a relatively unchanged selection environment. The second empowerment pattern can also occur when the niche innovation contributes to changes in mainstream selection environments in ways favorable to that niche innovation (“stretch-and-transform” strategy). In this case, some of the niche practices and features are institutionalized as new norms and routines in a transformed regime. Because of stretching and transforming regimes, this process and strategy is not only dependent on internal niche dynamics but also on the external processes of regime destabilization and changes in the broader landscape context. In this chapter we take a navigational approach based on following the niche actors. Thereby we break with the traditional approach dominating in the transition studies field, which is based on defining the regime from the outset of the study (see for example Verbong et al., 2008) This enables us to learn about the challenges actors face in the process of system change. To do that we make use of the two empowering strategies: fit-and-conform and stretch-and-transform. In order to understand where exactly the critical tensions and struggles occur, we screen the regime dimensions (industry structure, technology and infrastructure, knowledge base, public policies and political power, users’ relations and markets and cultural significance and associations of the

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regime). For each regime dimension we identify the type of strategy that the niche actors deploy (fit-and-conform or stretch-and-transform) to link to the wider processes of social change. We apply this approach to compare four cases: electric rickshaws in New Delhi, motorcycle taximeters in Bangkok and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems in Ahmedabad and Bangkok. The cases form a part of a larger research carried out in the context of the NWO-WOTRO Integrated Programme on Experimenting for Sustainability in India and Thailand: A transitions perspective on sustainable electricity and mobility initiatives, where both cases have in detailed been described (see Sengers and Raven, 2014; Sengers and Raven, 2015; Ghosh, et al., 2013). In this chapter, due to space limitation we choose to highlight only the dimensions of “technology and infrastructure”, “cultural significance” and “public policy and political power”. The three point to important controversies and navigational issues in our cases and highlight elements that have been mentioned as lacking in other accounts of niche experiments and mobility transitions, namely politics/power (Smith and Raven, 2012; Tyfield, 2014 ) and culture (Sheller, 2012; Valderrama and Vogel, 2014) The primary means of data collection for this research have been semi-structured and exploratory interviews with a range of actors involved with the experiments. The consultations with the technology developers and implementers have revealed the articulations, motivations and goals of the experiments as well as the struggles and tensions they confront. Interactions with policy makers and governments have indicated the dominant paradigms of the existing regimes. Interviews with users and, in some cases, members of civil society have helped discover various socio-cultural perspectives. The secondary data have been collected from grey literature.

7.3

Example 1: Electric Rickshaws in New Delhi

In Indian cities, cycle rickshaws occupy a significant position. As a form of non-motorized intermediate means of transport (IMT) they carry both people and goods across short distances 61. The mode provides employment to millions of poor and unskilled people (Rajvanshi, 2002)62. With little improvement in design, cycle rickshaws have been described as being ergonomically

61. Starkey (2000) defines short distance as: 0.5–5.0 Km. 62. Estimates in 2002 reveal that there were about 2 million cycle rickshaws on Indian roads carrying 6-8 billion passenger kilometers per year (Rajvanshi, 2002). More recent estimates suggest that there are about 10 million cycle rickshaws in India (SMV Wheels Pvt. Limited, 2011)

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inefficient (Rajvanshi, 2002), causing chronic health problems to the drivers 63 (McMichael, 2000). Diseases including tuberculosis, physical weakness, etc. have been commonly found among the drivers (Begum and Sen, 2004; Maji, et al., 2010; Khan, et al., 2012).

Figure 1: E-Rickshaws on the Streets of Delhi

Scientists and planners in India have long been trying to reengineer and redesign cycle rickshaws to improve the drive-train and reduce stress on the drivers (Maji, et al., 2010). The efforts resulted in the development of electric rickshaws (e-rickshaws), driven by a mix of motor and manual power. E-rickshaws were launched in New Delhi in 2008 64. In 2010, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) decided to replace the fleet of cycle rickshaws by e-rickshaws. This decision resulted in a partial replacement of the conventional cycle as well as the auto-rickshaws. In 2013-14, approximately 0.1 million e-rickshaws operated in New Delhi (Chakravarty, 2014). Their introduction started transforming the fleet mix in the IMT space in the city. Because of the 63. Popularly, the drivers of the rickshaws are often referred to as “rickshaw-pullers”. However, in this article we will use the term drivers. 64. Precisely, the launch was on 2nd October – the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The inauguration was done by Minister of Science and Technology, Government of India and the Chief Minister of New Delhi. The launch, therefore, was highly visible marketed affair and shows the political commitment and the involvement of the national institutions.

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incompatibility of the e-rickshaws with the existing regime dimensions, a conflict surfaced. Although there were various techno-economic issues that the actors associated with the experiment had to deal with, cultural and policy dimensions, in our view, merit attention.

Cultural Significance Articulating cycle rickshaws as faster and inhumane and auto rickshaws as polluting was a major strategy to garner public support, the e-rickshaw was proclaimed as a “clean pedicab” –. Simultaneously, as higher speed and passenger kilometers per day are positively correlated, promises of better income opportunities were articulated for the drivers of e-rickshaws (Maji, et al., 2010). This set of “stretch-and-transform” strategies linked e-rickshaws to the sustainability paradigm and articulated them as having potential of considerable sustainability gains (Maji, et al., 2010).–including health and income benefits and reduction of emission and pollution.

Public Policy and Political Power An interesting interplay between the state institutions, political actors and technology developers is evident. E-rickshaw manufacturers designed the technology following the Central Motor Vehicles Rules (CMVR). 65 The rules carry a provision whereby vehicles with motor power of less than 250 Watts are designated as non-motorized vehicles (NMV). Being governed by the rules of the municipal authorities, the NMVs enjoy a special legal space. 66 They are not required to have insurance and/or license for a driver. The technology developers accorded very close attention to this provision of the law and restricted the motor power of the vehicles within this limit. The strategy reduces the net cost of ownership of the vehicle and enables anyone to drive an erickshaw. This strategy helped city authorities to negotiate with the unions controlling cycle rickshaws and substitute cycle-rickshaws with e-rickshaws. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) permitted e-rickshaws to ply anywhere in New Delhi (Chakravarty, 2014) as no new and/or additional road infrastructure was required for these vehicles. The cycle rickshaw drivers saw this as an opportunity for accessing larger service areas. Consequently, increasing number of e-rickshaws rapidly filled the streets of New Delhi. 65. CMVR is the legal and regulatory framework that guides the issues like driving license, registration of moto vehicles, control of traffic, etc. in India. 66. The CMVR, being administered by the national and sub-national governments, is more or less uniform across the country. However, individual municipal authorities have specific regulations that are outside the CMVR.

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However, within a short time, the e-rickshaws attracted controversy by causing a number of road accidents (TOI, 2014). The accidents were attributed to untrained and unlicensed drivers. Further, the absence of insurance deprived the victims of compensatory benefits. Additionally, some studies showed that many of the vehicles exceeded the stipulated motor power (Delhi High Court, 2014). This initiated a debate concerning whether e-rickshaws need to be brought under the purview of the CMVR. In April, 2014, the Central Ministry for Road Transport imposed a temporary ban on the e-rickshaws in New Delhi. Subsequently, the court declared plying of electric rickshaws in the city as ”illegal” citing “prima facie they are a hazard to other traffic as well as citizens” and till appropriate legal provisions are in force (Delhi High Court, 2014). The issue is “sub judice” This case suggests that the actors navigated through the cultural significance of the regime through “stretch-and-transform” strategies. They also adopted “fit-and-conform” strategies to negotiate the legal and policy space of the existing regime. However, the latter strategy backfired as the larger legal and social issues were ignored.

7.4

Example 2: Motorcycle Taxi Meters in Bangkok

In 2010 two entrepreneurs developed a small electronic gadget to be used as a taximeter. As opposed to other taximeters installed in air-conditioned cabs, this portable device was designed specifically to be mounted on the handlebars of motorbikes. Because there are great and growing numbers of motorcycle taxis in cities throughout the developing world (Gwilliam, 2002; Kumar, 2011) – all of which operate without meters 67 – there might be a lucrative market for such a product. But before any promise of a potential multi-million dollar industry for metered motorbike mobility could be realized, the newly designed device would first have to be trailed and tested in “real-life” conditions. Because they were based in Thailand, the two entrepreneurs decided to try and set up a small-scale pilot project in Bangkok As part of feeder system essential to the city’s mobility, a whopping 200.000 motorcycle taxis utilize Bangkok’s roads and alleyways on a daily basis. Although over half of the drivers are formally registered, most are nonetheless forced to pay bribes to locally powerful people (army, police, politicians etc.) who control a particular area. In recent years, however, a number of high-

67. Today, fares are informally standardized or determined through haggling

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level politicians (most notably ex-prime minister Thaksin) as well as a new union-like association of politically active motorcycle taxi drivers mobilized in order to rid the sector of this kind of institutionalized corruption (or “dark influence” as it was called in a government campaign). One of the key challenges for setting up an experiment with the new metering device would revolve around how to operate within this murky socio-political environment. In other words, how would the entrepreneurs navigate the regime dimension of “public policy and political power”?

Public Policy and Political Power To start this process of navigation, the two entrepreneurs devised two opposite strategies for the experimental introduction of their taximeter. The first potential strategy would be to “inject a virus into the system”, which meant the organic bottom-up introduction of their device by approaching a group of drivers directly. They reasoned that “buying out” a queue and mounting the device on a few motorcycles might give these drivers an edge over their “competitors” and that their metering gadget might spread like wildfire. Confronted with this new phenomenon, the authorities would eventually need to come to terms with the changed reality and implement some kind of meaningful regulation in this scenario. The second potential strategy would be to “go to government” and to cooperate with government officials from the start. In this scenario the entrepreneurs would first try to find willing partners inside the transport authorities and negotiate on the possibilities for experimentation, possibly setting up a pilot project in cooperation. The advantage here would be that having “done the dance” government agencies from an early stage would pay off in the long run, when the legal fare rate might be set or when meters might become a legal requirement for every motorcycle taxi. The entrepreneurs opted for the second strategy, aware that the success of possible experiment would hinge on the actions of a bureaucratic system mired in stifling polarization and political crisis. Even if interested officials could be found within the plethora of transport agencies with unclear and overlapping mandates – each with their own interests, affiliations and factions – there would be no guarantee that they would want to work together with the entrepreneurs and, indeed, with each other. In late 2010 the entrepreneurs – aided by a few charismatic friends whom they perceived as skilled in the art of political navigation – approached a number of government officials. After the deputy governor responded favorably, a public meeting hosted representatives of the governor, ministry of transport, treasury and district chiefs of police who all pledged their support in setting

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up an experiment. In the process of negotiating the details of the upcoming trial, some of the authorities suggested that a massive demonstration project be conducted by supplying meters to all the motorcycle taxi queues around Victory Monument, one of the city’s busiest traffic intersections, with the media present in full force at the launch. The entrepreneurs rejected these suggestions, because they feared that some actors might then publicly oppose the device in search for political gain. They would rather conduct a small-scale trial elsewhere with less at stake. In late 2011, a new trial was started in another part of town with only 30 devices and with the support of local police chiefs and two groups of drivers. Up to this point, the union-like motorcycle taxi association had been excluded, because many of the involved officials did not view it as a legitimate stakeholder to deal with. One week into the trial, however, the entrepreneurs sent an envoy to the association headquarters armed with three things: a device (to demonstrate how the taximeter worked), an iPad (to show a movie clip of the experiment) and a bouquet of red roses. The color red was not a coincidence since the entrepreneurs viewed the association as supporters of ex-prime minister Thaksin and the Red-shirt movement established in his tracks. As a gesture of approval, the association presented the entrepreneurs with their association flag. As such, the “going to government” strategy combined with the appeasem*nt of the motorcycle taxi union is not geared to directly challenge power relations. Rather than seeking to “stretch-andtransform” these, it points to a cautious approach geared to “fit-and-conform” to political power as a way of navigating the socio-political context. Reflecting on this process of political navigation in setting up the experiment, one of the entrepreneurs recounted: “of course you never know what’s really going on in the inside … but at least those people in power didn’t look at [the device] as a threat”. In the eyes of the entrepreneurs, however, equipping motorcycle taxis with their device was not so harmless. In their view, the device was more than a meter; it was a platform upon which additional functionalities could be built, such as a black-box recorder to be called on in case of an accident and a GPS tracker to enable localized advertising possibilities. As a technology of surveillance such a device might reshape power relations to the detriment of the drivers, but as a technology of mediation it might work to their benefit. The mere fact of having a motorbike with meter conveys the image of a “bonafide” taxi driver, which could be instrumental in legitimizing the motorcycle taxi profession. Indirectly, we might speculate, if motorcycle taxi drivers perceive this as a way to empower themselves and their profession, it could possibly even help to undermine the reproduction of certain informal institutions such as paying informal siterent and the associated chain of privilege and corruption. Argued along these speculative lines,

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the entrepreneurs represent their device as a “mediating technology” (Furlong, 2010) - a small piece of additive technology, which might be capable of bringing about big changes by shifting long-accepted socio-technical relationships in cities. As such, it represents a potential Trojan horse geared to “fit and – eventually – transform” public policies and political power.

Figure 2: Motorcycle taxi meter trial in Bangkok

7.5

Example 3: Bus Rapid Transit in Ahmedabad

Like most Indian cities, Ahmedabad’s mobility regime is marked with the coexistence of various modes of transport – motorized and non-motorized, public and private. Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Services (AMTS) is a major actor in provision of public buses, the services of which have deteriorated over the years (Mahadevia, et al., 2013). This has made the public transport regime in Ahmedabad unstable. Rapid economic growth of the state had also contributed to a gradual modal shift – skewed in favor of motorized and private modes. The shift resulted in traffic congestion, air and noise pollution, etc. It was against this backdrop that the “JANMARG” BRT project was launched in 2006. The goal was to meet the demand for faster and reliable public transport that provides access to the expanding limits of the city while simultaneously addressing congestion and environmental problems. Operational since 2009, the JANMARG consists of a fleet of sophisticated buses that runs through dedicated corridors and the project was supported by India’s national government through the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) and National Urban 186

transport Policy (NUTP). However, in its attempts to displace private vehicles this experiment has faced challenges in co-existing with and competing against the private transport regime. In discussing some of the strategies through which the actors navigated these challenges, we focus on two regime dimensions: “technology and infrastructure” and “cultural significance”.

Figure 3: BRT in Ahmedabad

Technology and Infrastructure The existing regime infrastructure had already been proven inadequate to handle the traffic of the city. Using the existing infrastructure for the BRT experiment would have meant compromising on the speed and time of transit, together with aggravating problems of congestion. In that event, the BRT’S would become a source of aberration to the citizens of Ahmedabad. To overcome the challenges posed by the incumbent infrastructure, the actors decided to create dedicated corridors for the BRT. This strategy, beside allocating a separate space for the BRT’S, also ensured that the existing traffic remains unaffected. Together, based on the results of user surveys, the actors accorded importance to the provisioning for IMT and NMT that would act as “feeders” to the BRT. Dedicated footpaths and cycle lanes are integrated in the design of infrastructure for the BRT. As such, a potential co-benefit was also highlighted popularizing walking and cycling habits

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even among non BRT-users. The actors articulated that the experiment not only created new infrastructure but fostered a systemic change in the overall infrastructure for mobility in the city. The experiment has been positioned as a constellation of a set of new and novel technologies – markedly different from the technologies existing in the incumbent system. Introduction of buses with improved fuel efficiency (promising reduced emission per unit of distance travelled) and exhaust (promising reduced pollution), intelligent tracking system (promising reliability), etc. have been embarked upon. With the systemic change in the infrastructure and deployment of novel technologies, the actors described the experiment as being “sustainable” and “reliable” solution to the anticipated increase in mobility demand of the future. The actors successfully communicated the promises of sustainability gains accruing from the experiment together with the shortcomings of the regime in harnessing financial resources required for the experiment. Notably, the articulations and communications were based on a high quantum of background research and knowledge support by academic institutions, policy research organizations, etc. yielding credibility to the claims Further, the actors articulated that the experiment does not intend to replace the different existing modes of transport. Rather, the endeavors, through this experiment, were to stretch the limits of the incumbent mobility infrastructure while ensuring that the experiment also fits comfortably into the regime and complements other modes of transport. While in terms of technologies, the strategy was “stretch-and-transform”, in the case of addressing infrastructural challenges, the actors navigated by taking a “fit-to-conform”, route promising a comprehensive and sustainable transport network in the city of Ahmedabad.

Cultural significance In developing economies, vehicle ownership shares a positive relation with rising economic affluence and social status (Gakenheimer, 1999). Against this cultural perspective, the experiment in Ahmedabad needed to increase acceptability of the public BRT and induce car-users to shift away from private cars. Simultaneously, the experiment had to struggle also against the cultural view of buses as poor man’s vehicles. Further, when many other cities in India (e.g. Kolkata, New Delhi, Mumbai) were expanding and/or implementing metro rail, pitching for the BRT was a challenge. Strategies were designed to promote a positive image of buses and make the system acceptable to public. By nature, these strategies were “stretch-to-transform”.

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Naming the system “JANMARG”, meaning “people’s pathway” was an articulation to signify “inclusivity”. Further, at the inception stage, the transit system was framed as connecting to the need for an “international look of Ahmedabad,” 68 (Mahadevia, et al., 2013). The United Nations’ highlighting this project as having shown that addressing climate change is not a burden (Goswami, 2012), has also leveraged upon to negotiate the cultural perspective of this niche experiment vis-à-vis existing regimes. Buses plying in the BRT are designed for better comfort and convenience than the “normal buses”. The use of Intelligent Tracking System (ITS) helped increase their predictability and reliability. These are a few of the strategies to “transform” the negative notion of public transport as existing in the existing regime. Summing up, the BRT experiment in Ahmedabad adopted both “fit-and-conform” as well as “stretch-and-transform” strategies of empowerment. There are BRT initiatives in other cities in India as well, but the one in Ahmedabad has been considered the most successful one, suggesting that the strategies of niche empowerment in Ahmedabad have yielded considerable results.

7.6

Example 4: Bus Rapid Transit in Bangkok

If cities are characterized by the modes of transport that dominate everyday mobility, then Bangkok can be viewed as a traffic-saturated “bus city” (Barter, 1999) where many people depend on inadequate public buses or informal bus services (minivans, converted pick-up trucks, etc.).A privileged middle-class drive their cars and are the root cause of increasing congestion 69. In the 1980s Bangkok had a reasonable network of bus-only lanes, but with rapidly growing car ownership, the network became increasingly ineffective due to lack of enforcement and faded into oblivion (Marler, 1982; Tanaboriboon, 1992). Thirty years later, faced with massive congestion and an increasingly pervasive regime of unrestrained (car-based) motorization , a number of actors set themselves the task of rebuilding a niche for priority bus-based transport. Under the auspicious label of BRT, they have recently created a system based on fancy airconditioned buses, smart card payment, elevated boarding platforms and, of course, dedicated busways. As such, the story of implementing the pilot route of the Bangkok BRT system in 2010,

68. The process involved citing examples of cities like Curitiba, Sao Paulo, Beijing, etc. where the BRTS has been found to be successful. 69. Over the last 15 years, Bangkok also developed two fast and efficient urban rail systems, which cater to a privileged audience and ‘splinter’ the infrastructural city (Graham & Marvin, 2001). In terms of the number of trips, bus-based modes (36%) are far more prevalent then urban rail (4%) in Bangkok (IBP, 2013).

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can be seen as struggle to “stretch-and-transform” the regime dimension of “technology and infrastructure”

Technology and Infrastructure Around the turn of the millennium, inspired by a successful and revolutionary BRT system in the city of Bogota, Colombia, the idea of a new comprehensive bus system with bus-only lanes became again popular among transport specialists and policy makers in Bangkok. Two different coalitions of experts each developed their own BRT plan. One group was mandated by a national-level authority (OTP), the other group by a city-level authority (BMA). Because both authorities controlled different parts of the city’s road infrastructure, it was unclear who would be in charge of designing and implementing the new system. Eventually the city-level authority came out on top in this “turf issue” and their ideas were picked up by a politician, who used the promise of a BRT system as part of his electoral platform to successfully run for governor of Bangkok. When the first pilot route was eventually opened in 2010, it turned out to be very difficult to lay claim to the allocated road space in practice. In Bangkok some motorists, impatient with the heavy traffic, would cut in the BRT-only lane. The police often turn a blind eye to this kind of behavior, much the same as they had done with the busways of the 1980s, but now even more hard pressed in the everyday battle against chronic congestion. The city’s heavy traffic burden and constant gridlock have created a situation whereby police officers spend much of their time trying to solve traffic jams. They view it as their mandate to “make the traffic flow” and to them the idle BRT-only lane offers additional space. Due to objections by car drivers and police, certain stretches of BRT-only were soon no longer formally off-limits to general traffic during rush hour. “Bangkok BRT never reached its full potential … it functions like a cripple” complained one of the consultants responsible for its design and implementation “the problem is that we have compromised too much on dedicated road space”. The BRT-only lane, which should ensures that buses can move quickly and unimpeded by congestion, is thus a defining feature that makes or breaks a BRT system (ITDP, 2013). This type of dedicated infrastructure is incompatible with the paradigm of unrestrained motorization and with the idea a single-occupant car has the same right to the road as a bus filled with passengers. In the struggle to “stretch and transform” technologies and infrastructures, BRT represents an alternative socio-technical configuration that is on collision course with car drivers (whose road

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space is taken away) and the traffic police (whose mind-set is geared to regulate mixed traffic situations). In a situation where old routines of regulating traffic prove obdurate and where the growing numbers of middle-class car drivers wield considerable power, the struggle for road space, and indeed for a transition to infrastructural systems based on a different logic, will be a difficult one.

Figure 4: Bangkok BRT stuck in traffic on its own lane

7.7

Conclusion

This chapter has looked at four distinct mobility experiments in three Asian cities with an aim to unpack the ways in which niche actors try to navigate tensions emerging from a mismatch with regime structures. Experiments compete against complex, multi-dimensional regimes of urban 191

space, suggesting that navigational strategies are also occurring on various dimensions. This chapter has demonstrated that navigational strategies are different across regime dimensions – i.e. whilst experimental actors may follow a fit-and-conform strategy in one regime-dimensions, they may follow a stretch-and-transform dimension in another, depending on the particularities in each case and how these are assessed by the actors involved in experimentation. Nevertheless, a pattern is emerging from the analysis. Stretch-and-transform strategies occurred in the technology and infrastructure dimension (BRT experiments in both cities) and cultural significance dimension (erickshaws and BRT in Ahmedabad). In the case of public policy and political power, the strategies found are fit-and-conform (e-rickshaws and motorcycle taxi-meters) in nature. An explanation could be that niche actors perceive stretching-and-transforming political power to be too risky as suggested by the BRT case in Bangkok. Whether or not a socially just sustainability transition in India and Thailand is possible without rebalancing political power, is a question for future research.

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Chapter 8 Experimenting in the city

Chapter 8 Experimenting in the city 70

Abstract: On the basis of a systematic review of the notion of experimentation in the ‘sustainability transitions’ literature, we derive a common definition of an experiment highlighting a number of key dimensions. We argue that experiments can be analyzed according to the degree to which they are (1) inclusive, (2) systemic, (3) practice-based, (4) challenge-led and (5) adaptive in the face of uncertainty and ambiguity. We point out a number of urban governance challenges related to coordination, commitment and negotiation, and we highlight a number of promising avenues for future research on experimenting in the city.

8.1

Introduction

Experimentation is a central notion in the field of sustainability transitions. This focus on experimentation is novel within the wider literature of social change and policy theory (Meadowcroft 2011; Van den Bergh 2012). Experiments represent important seeds of change that may eventually lead to profound shifts in the way societal functions – such as the provision of energy or mobility – are met. As precious yet-to-germinate microcosms of sustainable systems and practices, the alternative socio-technical configurations embodied in experiments are applied and tested in real-life contexts with the aim of technological, social and institutional learning. The promise is that learning and demonstration effects of experiments add to the momentum of emerging sustainable configurations, which are geared to transform unsustainable socio-technical systems. However, within the sustainability transitions there are several different and productive ways to frame experimentation. For instance, the Strategic Niche Management (SNM) framework (Kemp et al. 1998) stresses that practical, hands-on experiments are the starting point of a transition 70. This chapter published as Sengers, F., Berkhout, F., Wieczorek, A., Raven, R., (forthcoming) Experimenting in the city: Unpacking notions of experimentation for sustainability. In: Evans, J., Karvonen, A., Raven, R., (Eds.), The Experimental City, Routledge: New York

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pathway, while the Transition Management (TM) approach (Rotmans et al. 2001) proposes that actors should engage in efforts of collective envisioning before agreeing on the set-up of the experimental projects. Other work on experimentation highlights the role of civic engagement of local communities (Seyfang and Haxeltine 2012), or sees experiments as a basis for innovation for lower-income economies to embark on green growth trajectories (Berkhout et al. 2010). Experimentation has also been seen as a response to stagnation in conventional policy approaches and as part of the broader trend of the fragmentation of vested authority which creates spaces for new sources of authority, legitimacy and action by new social actors (Hoffman 2011). In short, in the study of experimentation there is great variety in terms of goals and values, the theoretical underpinning and discursive emphasis, actors and places. Interest in the role of cities as arenas for experiments for system innovations linked to sustainability transitions stands in a long tradition of scholarly concern with the economics of agglomeration. Classically, the benefits of agglomeration of business and innovative activity in cities has been associated with physical accessibility, the concentration of physical capital and infrastructures, and availability of professional labor (Marshall 1920). In contemporary economic geography there has been a widely-held view that the local urban ‘milieu’, involving clusters of small firms in flexible alliances benefitting from mutual information exchanges and associated information spillovers, provide the basis for successful innovation. Gordon and McCann argue that the more intense creativity and entrepreneurship seen in cities is held to be due to: “(i) a rich ‘soup’ of skills, ideas, technologies, and cultures within which new compounds and forms of life can emerge; (ii) a permissive environment enabling unconventional initiatives to be brought to the marketplace; and (iii) vigorously competitive and critical arenas operating selection criteria which anticipate (and/or shape) those of wider future markets” (Gordon and McCann 2005: 528). More recently, geographers have brought to the innovation studies-inspired field of sustainability transitions a range of new terms and ways of thinking about urban experiments being conducted in cities today (Evans and Karvonen 2011; Bulkeley et al. 2015). In an earlier contribution (see chapter 2) we presented a review of how transition scholars have made sense of the many urban sustainability initiatives and projects being conducted today. In a systematic literature review, we distinguished different types of experiments and some trends that

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emerge from this research. 71 In this chapter we build on these efforts by deriving a comprehensive definition of experimentation. We mobilize our definition to point out a number of governance challenges for experimenting in the city and, finally, we highlight a number of promising avenues for future research on experimenting in the city.

8.2

Experimenting in the transitions literature

Transition scholars have proposed many terms for describing experimental projects. Taken together, these definitions capture the distinction between the initiatives in the context of transitions as compared with the idea of an experiment in scientific research. Experiments in research, whether in natural or social science, are procedures designed to establish the relationship between phenomena by controlling their interaction. The researcher designs the setup of the experiment and aims to control all relevant aspects of the process, as far as possible separated from the complexity of real-world conditions. In the experiments that transition scholars are interested in, there is still an interest in designed procedures, but the degree of separation from the world and the degree of control over relevant conditions will generally be much lower than in a scientific experiment. Contrary to scientific experiments, the experiments conducted in the context of transitions are not designed to establish facts about a single causal relationship but aim to simulate a complex process of social- and technological co-evolution with emergent properties Experiments in the context of transitions are also distinct from the idea of ‘development’ as captured in the term research-and-development (R&D), although they share the concern with learning-by-doing. Development in the classical sense is usually related to the activities of industrial laboratories (complementing scientific experiments) and relates to the testing and refinement of new technologies and practices, still under controlled conditions. In development, the conditions of working gradually come to resemble the real-world conditions under which the technology will come to operate. Development covers a very broad set of activities (Cohen 2010), often including the cooperation between a technology-holding firm and customer firms and endusers. The primary aim will be to develop proprietary and appropriable knowledge, and knowhow for commercial advantage to the parties involved. The distinction with transition-oriented 71. In Chapter 2 the rationale of a ‘systematic review’ (Petticrew and Roberts 2006) is described as well as the way of collecting this dataset of 170 publications (journal articles, book chapters, etc.) about experimentation from within the field of Sustainability Transitions. This dataset also serves as the basis for section 8.2.

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experiments is primarily related to the greater diversity of social actors involved and the broader ambition for learning of the experiment. Typically, initiatives described as experiments in the context of transitions will involve a broad coalition of parties (firms, users, civil society organizations, research institutes, regulators, government agencies) with the objective of connected social learning in relation to a new socio-technical configuration, and with the aim of generating both proprietary and shared, public knowledge. Much of the work in the conceptual framing of experiments in the context of transitions has gone into clarifying who participates; what is learned; and who appropriates what has been learned. These are important questions because they point to the incentives and risks that social actors face when participating in experiments; to the likely sources of resources that will support these initiatives; and to the distribution of benefits and costs that will be generated. Below an overview is provided of how experiments feature in the transitions literature. The main type of experiment described in the transitions literature – and a root of much of the current research in the field of sustainability transitions – is the Niche Experiment (Kemp et al. 1998). Niche experimentation is a central idea in the Strategic Niche Management (SNM) literature, which developed from the observation that there is an abundance of promising new technologies being developed by firms and in private-public arenas, many of which fail to develop into widely-adopted innovations. The diagnosis of this pattern of innovation was that mature socio-technical regimes

– stable, well-ordered, path-dependent socio-technical

configurations – are geared toward incremental innovation and select against radical novelties (Kemp et al. 1998; Geels 2002). SNM assumes that the creation of new niches through protective policy measures and strategic development of existing market niches is needed to shift from a dominant, but unsustainable, socio-technical regime to alternative, more sustainable regimes and pathways (Schot and Geels 2008). Niches provide protective loci for the development of pathbreaking innovations and empower experimental projects (Smith and Raven 2012) so that they can be ‘up-scaled’ (Jolly et al. 2012), disrupting and transforming dominant regimes. Niches are protected spaces in which experiments can take place away from prevailing selection pressures (whether in a market or not) which would otherwise be damaging to them. ‘Outsiders’ to the incumbent regime are, next to users of innovations, considered critically important actors (Van de Poel 2000). Niche experiments offer protection through three processes: ‘shielding’ to hold off the regime-defined selection pressures; ‘nurturing’ to support technological learning, business development and the emergence of an institutional framework supporting innovation;

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and ‘empowering’ to make niche innovations competitive vis-à-vis regimes (Smith and Raven 2012). Research on Bounded Socio-Technical Experiments followed from earlier work on ‘social experiments’ (Verheul and Vergragt 1995). This concept surfaced as a critique of SNM’s focus on technology. The social experiment highlights social innovation and ‘social niche management’. It emphasizes the role of civil society, citizens and consumers, and the process of building a social network of diverse actors promoting practices, institutions and norms that are at the basis of novel sociotechnical regimes. This core idea was further developed into the ‘bounded socio-technical experiment’ (BSTE). In contrast to the niche experiment, which is the rooted in evolutionary thinking, the BSTE draws on social learning literature (Argyris and Schön 1978; Bandura 1977). To qualify as a BSTE, learning needs to be organized and monitored as a part of action research (Brown and Vergragt 2008). It also needs to attempt to introduce a new product or service on a scale bounded in place and time within a specific community. Contrary to previous work on niche experiments and BSTEs, Transition Experiments do not necessarily feature technological change or environmental sustainability. They are innovation projects that explore radically new ways of meeting societal needs and solving persistent societal problems (Van den Bosch and Rotmans 2008). Transition experiments are framed in the context of complex systems and evolutionary theory-based ‘Transition Management’ (Rotmans et al. 2001; Loorbach 2007). Transition Management aims to influence and modulate (sustainability) transitions. Although it sets out to motivate structural change, the evolving goals of a transition will be the outcome of an inclusive and participative process between diverse participants in a transition experiment. The aim is to build on the existing social and economic changes and interactions to re-orient processes of structural change to goals actively-chosen by a wide range of societal actors. The analytical emphasis in transition management is on three processes: ‘deepening’ to learn within the experiment; ‘broadening’ to learning from related experiments; and ‘scaling-up’ to learn about regime change and broader developments (Van den Bosch 2010). Frontrunners are viewed as critical agents for conducting transition experiments. They gather in a transition arena, the outcome of which includes a portfolio of transition experiments that codify and elaborate the developed societal vision. Motivated by social activism, Grassroots Experiments refer to networks of activists and organizations generating novel bottom–up solutions that respond to local social and cultural contexts, and the interests and values of the communities involved. Grassroots initiatives operate in civil society arenas (e.g. cooperatives, voluntary associations or social enterprises) that

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experiment with social innovations and greener technologies (Seyfang and Smith 2007). Their innovative potential can be evaluated in relation to their intrinsic benefits (when an experiment is valued for its own sake and not geared toward regime change), their diffusion benefits (when the aim is to contribute to wider transformation), and the extent to which they promote measurable changes in the sustainability of consumption (Seyfang 2010). Sustainability Experiments have been defined as ‘planned initiatives that embody a highly novel socio-technical configuration likely to lead to substantial (environmental) sustainability gains’ (Berkhout et al. 2010). The concept emerged in the context of debate about alternative development pathways in developing Asia and sought to draw together insights from growth theory with insights from research about the resource and environmental intensity of economies (Berkhout et al. 2009, 2010, 2011). Conventional economic growth research argues that business firms in latecomer countries need to develop technological capabilities at the global technological frontier, usually by becoming competitive through trade with more demanding markets in advanced economies, before they are able to move from imitation to innovation (Kim 1997). The capacity to innovate is difficult to acquire for firms and will first appear at later stages of economic development, and initially in advanced sectors of the economy. This suggests that innovations underpinning more resource-efficient development pathways are also unlikely to emerge in developing economies, but will continue to be transferred from firms in advanced economies. Recent research in developing Asia has identified a great number of small-scale innovative projects for sustainability – from solar home systems (Wieczorek et al. 2015) to new forms of mass transit (Sengers and Raven 2015) – which appear to confound this picture. One explanation is that they bring together capabilities not just of business firms, but also of civil society, and that they draw heavily on transnational flows of expertise, technology, capital and institutions to innovate socio-technical configurations better fitted to market and cultural contexts in lower-income countries (Wieczorek et al. 2015; Sengers and Raven 2015). These ‘transnational linkages’ articulate, complement and motivate local capability formation and may contribute to alternative development pathways that defy traditional growth theories, offering ‘green growth’ pathways to development. Although this typology of experiments describes an evolution of scholarly thought about experimentation in the transitions literature, it is not an exhaustive list. Other terms include ‘governance experiments’ (Bos and Brown 2012), which highlight the configuration of decision making which emphasizes collaborative planning-, participation- and social learning as a way to look beyond the disproportionate focus on technical experimentation in SNM, and ‘real-world

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experiments’ (Schneidewind 2012), which highlight urban projects that involve the public in ecological restoration. Another important new term is the ‘urban climate change experiment’ (Bulkeley et al. 2015; Castán Broto and Bulkeley 2013), which draws on Foucault’s work on ‘governmentality’, combined with ideas from transition studies, STS, policy studies and urban political ecology. Harriet Bulkeley and colleagues provide a large sample of ‘interventions’ where climate change is ‘put to work’ locally in a variety of urban settings. These become climate change experiments when they are (1) purposive and strategic, (2) geared toward the mitigation of- or adaptation to climate variability and change, and (3) delivered in the name of an urban community (Bulkeley et al. 2015: 19). 72

8.3

Toward a definition of experimentation in sustainability transitions

Tracing the different conceptualizations of experimentation through time, we believe that two main lines of thought have emerged. The first line follows the initial work on niche experimentation, geared toward the creation of markets in which new green technologies are widely-adopted and come to reshape socio-technical regimes. Perhaps because Strategic Niche Management initially drew on Constructive Technology Assessment as way to analyse critically and support the guided experimental introduction of new technologies in society, it is today often perceived as putting too emphasis on technological innovation. A second line, developed in response, has emphasized social innovation by networks of social actors from business, civil society and government. While the first line underpins the notions of niche experiment and sustainability experiment, the second line is apparent in the emergence of terms such as bounded socio-technical experiment and grassroots experiment. 73 While we have presented a stylized typology, the distinctions between types of experiments are actually much subtle and fluid. Indeed, many real-life transition projects described in the literature as one type of experiment could also be described in the terms of other experiment types. 74 We

72. Another important term that has recently entered the transitions field is ‘living laboratory’ (Evans and Karvonen 2011) or ‘urban transition lab’ (Nevens et al. 2013). But because this does not point to a type of experiment per se but rather to experimentation as a mode of urban governance we do not discuss it at length in this chapter 73. The irony is perhaps that the most successful case of experimentation described with the SNM approach - in a way a foundational case study for the approach - was car-sharing in the 1990s (Hoogma et al. 2002). As part of developing the SNM approach, Harms and Truffer (1998) and Truffer (2003) describe how citizen cooperatives in Switzerland were crucial for the development of this type of ‘social innovation’ 74. This is apparent when we look, for example, at the literature on sustainability experiments, some of which are described with the classic SNM approach reserved for niche experiments (Verbong et al. 2010). Other niche/transition experiments are described

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have chosen to highlight the differences in order to reveal the diversity and scope of experimental transition projects undertaken, as well as the multiplicity of ways of making sense of these interventions. Following the evolution of research carried out under the banner of the experiment, we see an expansion in both the scale and scope of the projects studied. While earlier work emphasized technological innovation and state-or-firm-driven experimentation in OECD countries, more recent work has included a larger variety of projects, sometimes in the Global South and often foregrounding social innovation by engaged citizens. It is also clear that more recent work in the field of sustainability transitions has tended to focus on urban experiments, which are then analyzed at the scale of the city or city-neighborhood. Many recent examples attest to this: green urban transport innovations in Göteborg, Hamburg and Curitiba (Carvalho et al. 2012); sustainable housing in Bangalore, Sao Paulo and Philadelphia (Bulkeley et al. 2015); and new types of bus-based mass transit in Bogota, Bangkok and beyond (Sengers and Raven 2015). As opposed to earlier work on transitions, which conceived of experiments and niches as national-level entities, these cases show that cities – often connected to other cities across the globe – are important in their own right as arenas of experimentation and as drivers of sustainable innovation (also see Bulkeley al. 2011). Despite these differences, oppositions and shifting trends, there is much that binds thinking about transition-oriented experimentation and a comprehensive definition can be formulated. Within scientific practice the term experiment is often narrowly interpreted as a planned investigation carried out to test a hypothesis by providing insight into causes and effects by testing outcomes when particular factors are manipulated. But the term also connotes learning through ‘experience’ by trying out something, ‘…a course of action tentatively adopted without being sure of the outcome’ (Oxford Dictionaries 2015). As we have seen, in the literature the experiment has a rather specific set of meanings. But as we have also seen, there is also plenty of conceptual diversity and flexibility. Taking into account differences as well as common ground, we define an experiment in the context of sustainability transitions as:

An inclusive, practice-based and challenge-led initiative designed to promote system innovation through social learning under conditions of deep uncertainty and ambiguity.

by combining the SNM and TM frameworks (Raven et al. 2010), while some of the literature on bounded socio-technical experiments mobilizes the same grassroots framing as grassroots experiments (Vergragt and Brown 2012)

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The notion of system innovation in this definition refers to co-evolutionary processes of farreaching changes in technological, institutional, infrastructural and social dimensions of a system (for instance a city, or an energy system). For example, a famous experiment with an innovative type of bus-based transport system in the Brazilian city of Curitiba was discursively, institutionally and infrastructurally geared to undermine the reproduction of the unsustainable automobility regime in favor of an alternative multi-modal transport system (Sengers and Raven 2015) Given this long-term and largely normative context, the transitions literature generally argues that experiments need to be inclusive of a variety of engaged social actors. Experiments encompass diverse actors – firms, users, civil society organizations, research institutes, regulators, and government agencies. New forms of partnerships may be involved, with hybrid relationships – commercial, public-private and informal – emerging. Inclusion aims to stimulate learning about the range of impacts, benefits, costs and risks for different social actors generated by system innovation. By identifying cultural, ethical and distributional objections early, enabling democratic decision-making through participation, and making refinements in response, there is a greater chance that these innovations are ‘socially-robust’ and fair (Gibbons 1999). The distribution of expected value and risk among participating actors is of key concern here. In principle, the broader the range of participants, and the more open and collaborative the process of learning enabled by the experiment, the more aligned with diverse interests and values will be the innovation and the more socially-distributed will be the benefits. For example, at a time when the plying of rickshaws through India’s cities was being criticized for being a profession that is ‘inhumane’ for the operators, the idea of electrifying the cycle rickshaw emerged as an option that could be supported by a wide range of actors, who consequently collectively facilitated an experiment with these new vehicles on the streets of New Delhi (Ghosh et al., chapter x in this book). Experiments are practice-based interventions because they occur outside a conventional laboratory under real-life conditions. For example, after a new type of portable taxi meter for motorcycle taxis was developed under controlled conditions, but it was exposed to physical and social reality when it was trialed and tested for real-life use on the streets of Bangkok (Sengers and Raven 2014). Such interventions are not just concerned with technological and economic performance, but with broader social performance (however defined) of the chains of connected innovations, adjustments and realignments that unfold through the experiment. Under such real-life conditions, the ability of profit-seeking actors (business) to appropriate knowledge to achieve

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competitive advantage over rivals in the market will be at risk. Hence, the willingness of business to invest in innovation under such conditions may be expected to be low. Given the unconventional appropriability conditions that surround experiments, we may expect an expanded role for public support for longer periods than is usually assumed in conventional innovation theory, where public support is withdrawn as technological innovations come closer to commercialization and firms are able to secure ‘innovation rents’. Calibrating public support under these conditions is likely to prove to be a major governance challenge. Experiments are sites of social learning (Brown et al. 2003) that extend beyond narrow technoeconomic assessments. 75 Technological learning in the conventional sense of refining technical performance and bringing-down costs is one aim of experiments. But beyond this, an experiment also aims to stimulate practical, network and institutional learning, including the development of new business models, producer-user relationships, regulations, user and social practices and so on that may follow from and constitute system innovation. Facilitating this kind of ‘systemic learning-by-doing’ requires a broad-based and iterative approach to learning, with inclusive learning goals, and monitoring and evaluation of progress across a series of steps and phases. For example, while the above-mentioned experiment with the motorcycle taxi meter gave some new information about technical real-life performance of the new device, it also provided the initiators with a rich learning experience in terms of dealing with other stakeholders and navigating the complex institutional environment of a semi-formal taxi industry (Sengers and Raven 2014). Another distinctive characteristic of experiments is the co-design of the problem frame by the diverse network of social actors involved, summarized in the notion of a societal challenge. Conventionally, innovative activities within business firms are organized against the background of a commonly-accepted techno-economic paradigm and with agreement about the specific problems to be addressed (Nelson and Winter 1982; Dosi 1988). With the problem-frame established, the firm decides for itself how to deploy its assets and capabilities to address specific opportunities in the context of market competition and regulation. The firm will test innovations with potential users and customers, but this will generally be under conditions that protect intellectual property and know-how, so enabling Schumpeterian innovation rents to be collected later. Purposive system innovation – and the experiments it builds from – typically starts with a societal challenge for which prevailing techno-economic paradigms and socio-technical regimes 75 The term ‘social learning’ (Bandura 1977; Argyris and Schön 1978) is explicitly used in the literature on bounded sociotechnical experiments in order to highlight shifts in mindset (see Brown et al. 2003); its counterpart in Strategic Niche Management is ‘reflexive learning’ or ‘second-order learning’ (Grin and Van de Graaf 1996; Schot and Geels 2008)

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are widely-believed not to provide satisfactory solutions. For example, the NGO AuroRE sets up an experiments with solar home systems in India as a way to explicitly address multiple societal challenges such as deep reductions in CO2 emission and providing an affordable lighting systems for marginalized populations (Wieczorek et al. 2015). The broader socio-technical problem-frame is itself in question and its renegotiation is part of the work of developing new socio-technical configurations in experiments. The process of experimenting for sustainability transitions can be seen as a collective design process, involving a broad range of social actors in searching for a new problem-frame, performance metrics and a functional configuration of technologies and practices to generate desired goods and services.. But this broadened social basis for innovative activities – beyond businesses, their supply chains and the customers, and concerned with reconfiguring a techno-economic problem-frame and solving the complex problems that emerge from systems innovation – also implies new problems and costs. The inclusion of a greater variety of social actors and interests implies that there will be diverse – and often misaligned and conflicting – values and interests are at play. The negotiation of these values through an experiment is an intrinsic part of the process of innovation and social learning, introducing ambiguity to goal-setting and problem-solving. This also introduces deep uncertainty into the pace, direction and substance of the problems, obstacles, solutions, adjustments and changes that emerge and are tackled through the experiment. We draw a distinction here between the depth and dimensionality of the uncertainties implied by sociotechnical experiments and the degree and nature of uncertainty common to more conventional demonstration projects. The design of experiments therefore needs to be adaptive to ambiguity and deep uncertainty. For example, while the innovative bus-based transport system in the city of Ahmedabad is hailed by some as an experiment that embodies socially inclusive mobility for all which should be up-scaled and replicated in other Indian cities, others are unsure about whether this actually facilitates the promised shift away from the private car. They lament how building the system was predicated on excluding marginalized vendors and now-displaced slum-dwellers (Mahadevia et al. 2013). In sum, we believe that what defines experiments in socio-technical transitions is their design as socially-inclusive, practice-based and challenge-led projects and initiatives that aim at developing systemic innovation through a guided process of social learning that is robust to ambiguity and deep uncertainty. Different aspects of this definition are highlighted across the transitions literature. Transition Management, for instance, explicitly foregrounds the challenge-led character

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of experiments, while Strategic Niche Management highlights ambiguity in values addressed in experimentation though the notion of second-order learning.

8.4

Challenges for urban governance

If cities are becoming a significant new arena for experiments for sustainability (Bai et al. 2010; Bulkeley et al. 2011, 2015; Romero Lankao 2012), then we anticipate a common set of governance challenges (Voss et al. 2006) to emerge as cities develop policies and arrangements to stimulate experiments. On the basis of our review of the literature on experiments we have proposed a common definition of experiments. We believe that, in principle, all experiments can be assessed against this definition. Each of the dimensions we highlight point to a series of practical governance problems: How to ensure a requisite inclusivity of actors to participate in an experiment? How to calibrate the balance between public support and appropriability of knowledge in practice-based, open innovation processes? How to negotiate multiple values and interests in challenge-led projects? And, how to design experiments so that they can be adaptive to uncertainty and unpredictability, while promoting valued and effective learning? In terms of governance challenges, we believe there are three central governance problems, related to coordination, commitment and negotiation. 76 First, in line with our ideas about unpredictability and ambiguity, there is the general problem of the incentives and risks to participate in experiments among the diverse actors present in any given experimental context. We have argued that experiments are open and collaborative settings in which conventional incentives to invest in research, development and innovation through the generation of appropriable knowledge, technology and practice are likely to be weaker. Indeed, conventional models of innovation, focused on technological problem-solving within well-established technoeconomic paradigms by business firms, do not describe the setting for learning and innovation that we observe in experiments. This suggests either that conventional incentives related to competitive advantage in established markets do not hold – although there may be additional incentives that are typical of conventional market settings, such as the generation of public goods, reputational benefits for firms or others, strategic positioning by firms that play a role – or, that alternative ways of providing such incentives need to be built-into the design of the experiment. 76. Bulkeley et al (2015: 9-10) identify three similar factors influencing ‘climate change experiments’ in urban settings: institutional capacity in terms of remit, autonomy and capacity to act by municipal administrations; the availability of resources; and political will and leadership

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Given the high-risk of failure inherent in experiments, risk-sharing through collaboration, jointventures and public-private partnerships will likely be common. One of the reasons why cities have become significant arenas for experimentation may be that that they are appropriate venues to motivate and organise denser networks of collaboration between diverse actors mutuallybenefitting from information and other spillovers. Second, there is the problem of mobilizing the required resources and long-term financial and political commitments needed to address a societal challenge, and to achieve system innovation through experimentation. In conventional innovation models, the development phase of R&D is in many sectors seen as being at least an order of magnitude more costly than research. Experiments intended to generate results and to contribute to regime transformation – and not instruments of symbolic politics (Lezaun 2011) – will require sustained and high levels of financial, social and political support. The problem of resourcing is a serious consideration at the urban level. These requisite resources, and with the stability and continuity needed, may not all be available at the urban scale. Sengers and Raven (2015) reveal that national governments are often crucial funders of urban experiments, while Wieczorek et al (2015) have argued that experiments may be supported by flows of resources across different scales, including transnationally. Nevertheless, the suitability of urban centres for experiments will depend on the availability of a sufficient resources at the city-level leveraged directly or indirectly. The existence of urban cultures fostering more sustainable lifestyles (McCormick et al. 2013), a specifically urban demand for innovative services, coupled with permissive local regulation and planning, also represent resources needed for experimentation to thrive. Third, because there is ambiguity involved in experimenting for radically-different socio-technical configurations, we have identified the problem of the negotiation of interests and values in the initial framing and through the course of experiments. This is as a result of the broad actor base through which the experiment is constituted. Procedures for goal-setting, monitoring and evaluation and dispute-resolution will be required throughout the life of experiments. As with the generation of resources for experiments, cities typically have more limited powers to develop regulatory, distributive and normative policies than nation-states – although there are clearly diverse patterns of power at the city level, with some exercising more authority than others. In the novel, fluid and open process of learning within an experiment, this may not be a disadvantage. Local urban contexts – where specific goals are set, where proximate social actors negotiate emerging obstacles and problems quickly and flexibly, and where procedures of feedback and accountability are developed – can provide advantages to experimentation. Close-

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knit communities of practice provide the potential for higher levels of trust and rapid decisionmaking. The capacity to put in place procedures to negotiate interests and values may be greatest at the urban (or neighborhood) level. More generally, modes and instruments of governance exist to address each of these challenges. Classical science, technology and innovation (STI) policy has been concerned with addressing the incentives/appropriability problem in innovation and there are a wide range of instruments, including tax-incentives, subsidies, intellectual property rights, and standards and regulation which have been used to encourage investments in innovation. In a recent review, the influential economist Dani Rodrik has put forward a series of new arguments for public intervention in (national) industrial and technological development (Rodrik 2008). He argues that there are three features of good institutional design for industrial policy, which are germane to our discussion of governance challenges in a similar context of experiments, prone to similar market and policy failures: embeddedness; ‘carrots and sticks’; and accountability. By embeddedness he alludes to a strategic collaboration and coordination between government and the private-sector, ‘…with the aim of uncovering where the most significant bottlenecks are, designing the most effective interventions, periodically evaluating the outcomes, and learning from the mistakes being made in the process’ (Rodrik 2008: 27). By ‘carrots and sticks’ he refers to the need to combine generous fiscal and other incentives to encourage private sector investment for innovation, while also setting tough performance targets, which are then enforced. Finally, by accountability Rodrik refers to the need for risks and costs taken on by the public sector to incentivize participation to be transparent and for accountability to be clear. These principles are useful to address the incentive-problem in the more open and collaborative settings of the experiment. In short, many of the issues we have identified in relation to governance of urban sustainability experiments are reflected in broader policy debates about the role of Government policy in fostering innovation.

8.5

Conclusion: experimenting in the city

Based on our understanding of the transitions literature we have defined an experiment as “an inclusive, practice-based and challenge-led initiative designed to promote system innovation through social learning under conditions of uncertainty and ambiguity”. We have discussed each of these dimensions to point to a number of urban governance challenges and opportunities related to coordination of actors involved in experiments, sustaining resource commitments to radical innovations, and the negotiation of uncertainties and interests in experiments. It is clear

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that experimentation is a long-standing concept that started with a focus on creating niches for sustainable technologies and that, more recently, has broadened in scope and complexity to emphasize the distance between conventional notions of ‘development’ in science, technology and innovation policy, and the idea of an experiment in the context of sustainability transitions. This signals a bourgeoning field of practice on the ground and of research, which is likely to expand both conceptually and empirically in the future. Our definition of experiments and the discussion is intended to provide added focus to a rapidly-developing debate. To conclude, we would like to point to a few promising avenues for further exploration in studying experiments as city-level entities. First, we recognize that there is a difference between analyzing experimentation as geared toward changing national socio-technical regimes and analyzing experimentation geared to changing citylevel regimes. Urban experiments are embedded in field-level structures (i.e. global niches not directly based on a spatial logic – see Geels and Raven 2006), as well as territorial structures (i.e. neighborhoods, cities, regions or other institutions which are directly based a spatial logic – see Hess 2004). Experiments are, after all, geared to transform regime structures, but the question remains how to best define these structures and on what kind of spatial logic they are based. Geels (2011) argued that urban experiments should be seen in the context of changing national socio-technical regimes, allegedly “…because cultures, infrastructures, regulations and institutions are mostly (but not always) national phenomena” (Geels 2011: 14). Others emphasize that experiments challenge regime stability at the level of the city and focus on the obduracy of sociotechnical systems inscribed onto the urban environment instead (Hommels 2005). Compared to the territories of nations-states, cities are compact environments and infrastructural hubs where multiple socio-technical regimes are integrated within a confined space. Much work on sustainability transitions has gone into analyzing the incumbency of national socio-technical regimes and the ways in which they might be changed through experimentation (Raven et al. 2012). Much less attention has been paid to transforming highly interconnected- and materially obdurate city-level socio-technical systems. Important questions are thus related to how proximities in local and regional networks, infrastructures, resource endowments, political agendas, market structures, cultural settings and so on influence the form and outcome of experimental initiatives. And, vice versa, how these local spatial networks and processes can be reconfigured through experimentation. Such an agenda, when sensitive to the historical, path-dependent conditions in local or regional settings,

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would be able to improve our understanding of why experiments are more successful in some cities than in others (also see Coenen et al. 2010; Sengers and Raven 2015). Finally, a promising avenue for further exploration would be to enquire about the ways in which experiments become connected across different spatial scales, perhaps through the connections facilitated by a set of highly mobile change agents (Larner and Laurie 2010; McCann 2011). Research has demonstrated empirically that whilst local or national actors often initiate experimentation, transnational linkages are omnipresent (Wieczorek et al. 2015; Sengers and Raven 2015). The ways in which these multi-scalar structures influence experimentation positively or negatively, and the kinds of resources that flow through them, deserves further attention, including a better understanding of how experimental activity can diffuse across national borders and geographical scales.

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Chapter 9 Conclusion

This concluding chapter sets out to do three things. First, the main findings are summarized and presented as a way of articulating an answer to the research questions stated in the introduction chapter. Second, a reflection on the case studies and concepts is provided. Finally, a way forward is sketched out in terms of interesting avenues for follow-up research

9.1

Main findings: answering the RQs

In the introduction chapter two broad research questions were formulated. The first one was an empirical question, enquiring about the ways in which Thai cities are experimenting for sustainable urban transport and assessing the extent to which transformative change is currently unfolding. Based on the empirical analysis, the second question asked about conceptual implications for the study of sustainability transitions, more specifically with regards to sketching out the contours of a more spatially-nuanced perspective. The two questions are repeated below and an answer is articulated:

RQ1: How are Thai cities experimenting with alternative mobility systems, and what does this imply for the current state of the transition to sustainable urban transport in Thailand? My answer to this question is twofold. The first part dives into the state of the art of ‘experimentation’ and its contribution to the development of alternative mobility systems, which are geared toward transformative change in the domain of urban transport. The second part deals with the notion of ‘transition’ and takes a step back to reflect how these forces of change (i.e. experimenting to build ‘niches’ so that alternative transport systems may thrive) measure up

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against the forces of stability (i.e. the transport systems that currently dominate the streetscape and the incumbent logic – or ‘regime’ – that guides the dynamics of urban transport development). I started out (in chapter 1) by arguing that the incumbent logic of transport development in Thai cities is currently predicated on the principles of ‘unrestrained motorization’, pointing to a trajectory in which effective land-use planning and control are absent and in which the relentless growth of privately owned motorized vehicles is paramount. While there are obvious differences between transport dynamics in a megacity (Bangkok) and those in various medium-sized cities (Chiang Mai, Korat and other provincial capitals), I argued (in chapter 1) that the same logic underpins the mainstreamed trajectories along which transportation systems in all these cities have evolved in the past few decades. Cities that operate in accordance to the principles of unrestrained motorization become not compact but sprawl out across their agricultural hinterland, while the combined mobility systems of the private motorcycle and car dominate the streetscape and conspire to subordinate and undermine the prospects for the development of other more sustainable mobilities. Establishing radically different mobility systems (niches), which are geared toward breaking with the principles of unrestrained motorization (regime), are a necessary precondition for a sustainability transition. The analysis throughout this dissertation (in chapters 2 to 8) focused on niche-level developments and on the actors who are trying to establish a set of radical alternatives that embody deeper environmental- and social sustainability gains. I argued (in chapter 2) that embarking on such path-breaking trajectories is an ‘experimental’ process. Experiments were defined as ‘inclusive, practice-based and challenge-led initiatives designed to promote system innovation through social learning under conditions of deep uncertainty and ambiguity’ and they play a crucial role in early phases of sustainability transitions (see chapters 8). The investigation focused on a number of individual experiments, but also on the wider setting in which these initiatives are located. To enquire to what extent various alternative experimental socio-technical configurations have been successful in dislodging unrestrained motorization and, in doing so, have become viable alternatives for private motorcycles and cars, I conducted an in-depth investigation (in chapters 3 to 6) of four niches from different corners of the realm of urban transport, each populated by a diverse collection of experiments: The first case (in chapter 3) illustrated the dynamics of socio-technical change through experimentation with new technologies in a class of mobility systems collectively called ‘informal

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transport’. These semi-legal taxi-like systems play a key role in Thai cities – either as crucial feeders that tie together various public bus and rail systems (in Bangkok) or in its own right as the backbone of communal transport provision (in other Thai cities). 77 While most interviewed experts and policymakers viewed the existence of informal transport as a necessary evil (polluting engines, chaos on the road, undermining the rule of law, symbols of backwardness) that would eventually disappear, I argued that these systems also embody certain unique perks (flexibility, resilience, jobs) and that possible sustainable transport futures might be opened-up in which revamped and ‘ICT-efied’ informal transport systems play a key role. The actual case study highlighted socio-technical change in Bangkok’s motorcycle taxi system and the efforts of a coalition of entrepreneurs, government officials and motorcycle taxi drivers to introduce an ICTplatform to be used as a taxi meter. It should be noted that this experiment is not an isolated event: other Thai examples of experiments with informal transport systems include pilot projects with new propulsion technologies (such as electric tuk-tuks and e-bikes for taxi drivers) and with new ICTs (such as GPS trackers and open data platforms for passengers using songtaew pick-up truck taxis 78) as ways to embark on a different type modernization pathway. Yet, while small-scale experimentation with these alternative transport futures has certainly increased in recent years, none of the experiments I have come across have thus far have succeeded in fostering any change in the modus operandi of the broader transport systems that they were geared to transform. The motorcycle taxis, tuk-tuks and songtaew operate in the same way as before, seemingly unaffected by the experiments. The second case (in chapter 4) centered on innovations in the realm of public transport, more specifically on the diffusion and implementation of Bus Rapid Transit – an innovative type of ‘metronized’ bus system that combines the perks of urban rail (fast, high-capacity, modern appeal) with the traditional public bus (flexible, inexpensive, quick to implement). Highlighting the explosive growth and world-wide proliferation of this relatively new mode of transport, I followed the tortuous innovation journey of BRT from its cradle in the Brazilian city of Curitiba in the 1970s up to the eventual implementation of such a system in Bangkok in 2010. While the 77. For these reasons I view informal transport not as part and parcel of unrestrained motorization, but as a radical alternative. It is certainly true that informal transport systems emerge and thrive in situations where governments face rapid urban growth, severe resource constraints and limited capabilities to structure the transport- and land-use system according to any predetermined plan. However, I want to emphasize that the rapid growth in private motorized modes puts far more strain on the available road space and is far more compatible with urban sprawl, while informal transport is more closely related to the provision communal / public transport and more compatible with the twin ideas of the compact city and limited car use and ownership 78. For instance, see Appendix V in chapter 4

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success stories attached to the BRT systems in Latin American cities are powerful tools in the hands of an international coalition of experts bent on spreading BRT across the globe, the process of materially embedding BRT into the socio-spatial fabric of Bangkok proved elusive. A functioning system did materialize, but it became part of a wider political struggle and was eventually only implemented partially and on one pilot route without living up to its full potential. The aftermath of the experiences with Thailand’s first BRT in Bangkok also have a bearing on other BRT initiatives that were being planned throughout the country. 79 Most of the interviewed stakeholders involved agree that the perceptions and storylines of the Bangkok BRT system limit the prospects for other Thai cities to get their BRT. The third case (in chapter 5) focused on cycling as a sustainable alternative in the realm of individual transport. 80 While the bicycle is currently insignificant in Thai cities in terms of modal split and trip shares, it has rapidly increased in popularity in the last 5 years. This newly gained momentum cannot be attributed to the work of transport planners or government officials: these actors have thus far done little to mainstream cycling (though it should be noted that these actors are taking a far more positive stance on cycling as compared to a few years ago). Rather, it was a motley crew of engaged citizens, who empowered the cycling niche. Instead of a tight-knit network of actors with deep access to resources and a shared vision, this fragmented coalition of engaged citizens cannot readily mobilize the required financial and political resources. While it could be argued that the lack of a single coherent vision attached to cycling city futures hampers niche building, I argued that the flexibility of the bicycle in terms of being compatible with a wide array of seemingly disparate urban imaginaries, which are promoted by different coalitions of change agents, also creates prospects for empowering cycling and for propelling the bicycle into the 21st century. Yet, it is very questionable if this potential can be realized any time soon. It might be unrealistic to assume that the bicycle will become a firmly established or mainstreamed

79. During my fieldwork I found that medium-sized cities in the North and Northeast of the country were actively engaged in designing plans for implementing BRT systems. Transport planners in some cities had designed detailed BRT plans that had been thwarted before implementation (Chiang Mai), while their counterparts in other cities were trying to secure funding from the national government to realize their BRT plans (Korat, Khon Kaen). In the cities awaiting such funding, transport engineers and planners had high hopes for the newly planned systems and they were optimistic about the prospects of these systems actually materializing in the coming years 80. While I have come across quite a few pilot projects being conducted with cycling innovations in my fieldwork (especially university campuses are hotbeds for experimenting with bike sharing systems and new kinds of green non-motorized transport infrastructure), the idea of ‘experimenting’ with new ways of cycling did not take center stage in the case of cycling. This is because most of the activities by niche players to empower cycling were not directly geared toward innovating the cycling system but revolved around advocacy for mundane everyday cycling by - quite literally - mobilizing more cyclists for rides and campaigns to bring into existence, however temporarily, a cycling society.

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mode transportation in the short run, because it of it is currently only weakly embedded in the infrastructural-, political- and institutional fabric of Thai cities. The fourth case (in chapter 6) highlighted the potential of participatory land-use planning. This case was selected because, next to a set of alterative transport modes plying the roads, there is also a need for an alternative mode of spatial planning in order to attain sustainable urban transport. Systems of transport and land-use co-shape one another and in many ways they can be conceptualized as a single interrelated mobility system (Wegener and Fürst 1999). The spatial planning of cities in Thailand is a highly centrally organized endeavor, orchestrated in a top-down fashion by the national Department of Public Works and Country Planning based in Bangkok.81 The actual case study focused on Chiang Mai city, where the incumbent land-use regime (marked by the current DPWCP zoning policies and a lack of enforcement of city planning) fails to address persistent problems (increasing congestion, urban sprawl and the splintering of the social fabric). The story centered on the Wat Ket district, where a heterogeneous coalition of actors, representing various elements of strong and vibrant civil society groups, have rallied around a series of issues 82. This has contributed to the construction of protected space for thinking about alternative, more participatory, ways of planning for the residents of this particular area. This collective action has not been in vain and some of the ideas of these civil society groups have been incorporated in the modified land-use plan. While there are other examples this kind of civic engagement geared to change certain elements of a particular land-use plan 83, it would be too soon to conclude that these feats of collective action have brought about more fundamental

81. Municipalities in Thailand do not possess the required necessities (authority, duties, resources) for performing their local planning effectively. Highly centralized state policy, which undermines the local planning system, is the norm throughout the country (Chaowarat 2010). An interviewed planner from Chiang Mai city, for instance, told me that he played the role of a mere ‘postman’ in the process of making land-use plans because he was forced to travel back and forth to Bangkok in order to bring the plans from the capital back to Chiang Mai. It should be added here that, in reality, neither the state nor the local planners are able to firmly control the growth and spatial development of Thai cities: they often react to changed realities as opposed to prescribing new ones. All of this makes the actual practice of planning more messy and complex as portrayed in this case study. 82. The civil society groups in this case mobilized first and foremost to oppose new high-rise buildings that were seen as an infringement on the cultural heritage of their neighborhood. Changing the transport system was not a central part of their concern (though some of these engaged citizens also rallied against the construction of a new ring road). Despite its lack of engagement with transport directly, this case is valuable for the dissertation because it illustrates some of the participatory dynamics that might also come into play when well organized groups of local citizens (bottom-up) mobilize against transport plans imposed by policy makers, planners and other experts (top-down), pointing to a more explicit struggle to resist or bring about changes in transport/land-use system. 83. For instance, see the Bang Krachao example in section 4.2 of chapter 5

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change in spatial planning practices. At present there are no sure signs that participatory planning is becoming the norm rather than the exception in Thai cities. 84 Taken together, these four cases paint a picture of the forces of change – that is, the efforts geared to dislodge unrestrained motorization. The case studies reveal that a wide range of radical alternatives are being experimented with and that change agents are ramping up their experimental efforts. However, most of the investigated experiments were either unsuccessful or unable to attract a wider following as of yet. While the number of experiments and other interventions are growing, the case studies reveal that there are severe barriers impeding further growth. And while it would seem that the investigated alternatives are gaining a degree of momentum, the case studies also reveal that the alternatives propagated by the experiments face heavy socio-cognitive and political resistance. The process of institutionalizing these emerging socio-technical configurations proved to be precarious and fragile. This stands in marked contrast with the successful interventions by the forces of stability – that is, the efforts by incumbents to optimize and upscale the system of private motorized vehicles. A range of technological fixes and end-of-pipe solutions have been tried, tested and institutionalized in Thailand since the early 1990s. Between 1991 and 1994 – as a way to curb the alarming rise in air pollutants and especially particulates and lead – Thai government agencies implemented ambitious and highly effective programs in cooperation with oil companies to phase out leaded gasoline: by 1995 leaded gasoline was effectively eliminated in Thailand and the ambient lead factor reduced by a factor of ten (Sayeg 1998). Around the same time a combination government-business partnerships, new emission standards, stringent inspection programs and public awareness campaigns made sure that dirty two-stroke motorcycles were gradually replaced by cleaner four-stroke ones: by 2003 the shift was virtually complete (IGES 2004). And within

84. Though valuable in its own right, more public participation might affect sustainable transport planning in ambiguous ways. Most people would certainly agree that a livable and equitable city should retain its cultural-historical character; that the principles of social justice are undermined when speculators buy up swaths of land for constructing high-rise condominium buildings for the super-rich in previously serene places; and that opposition is legitimate when technocrats are pushing for the construction of new modern transit systems in the face of popular resistance. However, most people would also agree that the success of the conservative Rak Baan Rak Muang citizen group in changing the land-use plan for the Wat Ket district from the high-density housing to low-density housing goes against the grain developing a compact city upon which sustainable transport is predicated; that the prospects of public hearings before building new BRT systems predicated on taking away road space from the private car as a way to achieve sustainable transport will not sit well with a growing group of politically powerful middle-class citizens, who are overjoyed to hit road with their newly purchased cars’. In reality, however, in the municipal planning process it is not the engaged citizen who decides, but it is the local business elite who dominate. In many Thai cities this elite is heavily involved in construction and real-estate development. Most of these building projects are located on green-field sites outside of the urban core and these business interests thus spur on urban sprawl and car-oriented, which makes them in line with (and not geared against) the principles of unrestrained motorization

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the last ten years a variety of cleaner alternative fuels have been implemented on large scale: ethanol is now a mainstreamed part of the gasoline fuel mix and great numbers of private cars – as well as over 95% of the massive taxi fleet in Bangkok – are powered by natural gas or LPG tanks (Kim Oanh 2012). Yet, these measures are not geared toward transformative change but merely optimize the incumbent system. Effectively, these improvements occur within the paradigm of unrestrained motorization, rather than to challenge it. By not challenging the underlying principles of unrestrained motorization they are complicit in retaining the streetscape status quo and in obstructing the shift to a truly sustainable transport system. In pitting the forces of stability and transformative change against each other, I come to the following tentative conclusion 85 with regard to the state of the ‘transition’ toward sustainable urban transport in Thai cities. A wide range of radical alternatives are being experimented with and the investigated niches seem to be gaining momentum. However, as the empirical chapters of this dissertation clearly show, the process of institutionalizing these alternatives proved to be precarious and fragile. The radical alternatives embodied in these experiments face heavy sociocognitive and political resistance, which frustrates concerted efforts toward major overhaul of urban transport in cities throughout the country. 86 The twin ideas of restraining motorization and prioritizing more sustainable mobilities are far from mainstreamed in transport planning practice and there is limited political support for such measures. My in-depth interviews suggest that more decision makers are beginning to realize that unrestrained motorization comes with severe costs, but also that cars and highways continue to be widely perceived as harbingers of 'development'. Meanwhile, the growth of new cars and motorcycles being added to Thai roads continues unabatedly: statistics and projections reveal that unrestrained motorization was not only pervasive in the last decades, but that it is an ongoing today and likely to continue in the decades to come (see figure 1 in chapter 1). In sum: while the experiments with radically alternative mobility systems do provide a glimmer of hope, the prospects for deviating from the principles of

85. The conclusion on the state of transition are rather tentative because the empirical analysis in the dissertation focuses on experimentation and niche building (the forces of change), whereas regime-level developments that are in line with unrestrained motorization (the forces of stability) were not investigated in detail. 86. Reflections by niche players themselves also attest to this. For instance, to indicate that his efforts to convince planners, politicians and policemen of the need for bicycle lanes had fallen on deaf ears, one cycling campaigner uttered an old Thai proverb: “It’s like playing music to the buffalo” (sii sor hai kwai fang). In a similar vein, a consultant, who was a key player in designing the Bangkok BRT system, pointed to the difficulty to take away road space from the private car: “Bangkok BRT never reached its full potential … it functions like a cripple [because] we have compromised too much on dedicated road space”. A transport engineer, who was passionate about reforming the informal transport sector in Chiang Mai, found out that there is stiff political resistance against such efforts: “it was a failure … before we implement any new project, we have to understand the political ambient of our city”

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unrestrained motorization are limited in the short run. Deep systemic change that could be labeled as a fully-fledged ‘transition’ toward sustainable urban transport is not unfolding at this moment.

RQ2: What implications can be drawn for developing a geography-informed perspective on experimenting for transitions to sustainable urban transport? During the last fifteen years, sustainability transitions have become a topic of burgeoning academic interest (Markard et al. 2012). Until recently, however, the spatial dimensions of transitions have been largely ignored in this literature (Coenen et al. 2012; Smith et al. 2010). Mainstreamed transitions approaches informed by historians of technology tended to privilege temporal dynamics (e.g. Geels 2002; Geels and Schot 2007), while the new ‘spatial turn’ by geographers emphasizes the dynamics of location (e.g. Hodson and Marvin 2010; Coenen et al. 2012). This emerging ‘geography of transitions’ research agenda points to new questions about the ‘where’ of transitions and to new answers in terms of place, space and scale (Hansen and Coenen 2014; Truffer et al.2015). As a contribution to this agenda, two pillars of such a geography-informed understanding are articulated below: The first pillar deals with the local embeddedness and place-specificity of transition processes. It recognizes that experimentation and niche building activities are spatially ‘anchored’ or territorially ‘grounded’ and addresses the ways in which (the interactions between) local contexts shape the trajectories of alternative sociotechnical configurations. While sustainability transitions are usually conceptualized in an a-spatial way as transforming only structures at the level of sociotechnical regimes (i.e. the societal function of mobility based on privately owned steel-andpetroleum cars and the way the automobility regime is engrained in user routines and the societal fabric at large), it should be recognized that they also transform spatial structures (i.e. the urban form, the power relationships between territorially-defined entities such as nation-states and cities and the ways people experience local places). This highlights the contingencies and particularities of the various contexts where transition pathways evolve and take place and sensitizes us to how experimentation and niche building processes unfold differentially across space; to the ways in which transnational flows tied up with these processes are situated locally; and to the ways in which this plays out in complex multi-layered urban settings. The main empirical chapters in this dissertation speak to these ideas of embeddedness and place-specify in various ways:

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Chapter 3 revealed that cities throughout the global south differ markedly from cities in the West in terms the incumbent transport systems and the type of transition pathways that this gives rise to. The case of the motorcycle taxi system illustrated this empirically by showing how the spatial and institutional context of Bangkok was congenial for the emergence, proliferation and persistence of this mundane yet remarkable form of urban transport. The motorcycle taxi system is one iconic example of a type of a class of mobility systems collectively labeled as ‘informal transport’, which has ‘died out’ in the global north while being very significant and omnipresent throughout global south. Nonetheless, the role of these illicit taxi-like systems has received no serious research attention in transitions research so far. The case of the motorcycle taxi industry and the investigated taxi-meter experiment addressed this gap and revealed how alternative – previously hidden – transition pathways toward very different kinds of future transport systems can be opened up. The enquiry into this experiment pointed to a possible divergence between the global north and the global south in terms of transition pathways. The face of ‘modern’ urban transport in the global south might look very different in the future when the deeps scars of unrestrained motorization fade and when new features emerge that do not resemble those of urban transport in the global north. Chapter 4 made a conceptual contribution by operationalizing the notion of local embeddedness for processes of experimentation and niche building. It argued that the term embeddedness has a double meaning. Whereas the traditional socio-cognitive perspective on niche development features ‘structural embeddedness’ of local projects as ‘nested’ in higher aggregated levels of niche structuration, the spatial perspective adds a type of ‘territorial embeddedness’ of experiments and niches as ‘anchored’ in particular local places (also see Hess 2004). Place-specific dynamics and territorial settings shape the meandering paths along which niches travel and the way the eventual innovation journey takes shape, both in temporal and spatial terms. The case of Bangkok BRT highlighted the linkages and the frictions that come along with embedding niches in the institutional- and infrastructural environment of, in this case, the urban fabric of Thailand’s capital city. Chapter 5 illustrated how ‘place’ matters in the articulation of visions that underpin transition processes. Unlike previous a-spatial accounts envisioning transitions, which mobilize the notions of ‘expectations’ (Schot and Geels 2008) or ‘transition vision’ (Loorbach 2007), I mobilize the term ‘urban imaginary’ to highlight the central role of real and imagined places in the process of envisioning to articulate a place-based understanding whereby the process of envisioning is not only future oriented but also spatially bounded and geographically specific. The case of cycling in

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Thailand puts places (both real and ‘imagined’ cities) firmly at the center of analysis. It shows how place-specific visions guide the struggles and strategies of change agents, such as cycling campaigners, are trying to transform their home towns – places with which they clearly identify. The second pillar deals with a multi-scalar understanding of transition processes. It recognizes that relations and interactions which cut across different scales are important for fostering experimentation, for building niches and for enabling sustainability transitions in a globally connected and increasingly urban world. While previous a-spatial accounts featured national-level case studies, a multi-scalar perspective encourages us to reflect on the primacy of the nation-state in the analysis of transitions and might free us from an overly nationally-based analysis (also see Raven et 2012). It might instead sensitize us to the possibly crucial role of city-level authorities and international non-state actors in (experimenting for) sustainability transitions. The main empirical chapters in this dissertation speak to these ideas of multi-scalarity in various ways: Chapters 3 and 4 revealed how the spatial scales of the street, the city, the nation-state and the international community interact to produce the particular location, form and outcome of experimentation and niche building. While Chapter 3 (on informal transport) illustrated this through an in-depth analysis of one single experiment, chapter 4 (on BRT) took an entire niche as its starting point and traced its evolution and proliferation across space. This revealed the heterogeneity of the actors involved as well as multi-scalar character of the arena in which these change agents operate. For the BRT case, it was revealed that this arena is populated by local implementary agencies, municipalities, national governments, transnational corporations, international NGOs and highly mobile experts-cum-advocates whose frantic activity results in the connections between cities across national borders. 87 Instead of assuming that niches are national-level entities, the spatially-nuanced perspective developed in chapter 4 suggests to empirically identify which spatial scales become connected or stay disconnected and how this influences the ability of certain actors to exercise power over others. The BRT case showed that, in addition to international- and urban actors, national actors continued to be critically important, particularly in relation to fund raising and providing legitimacy to the projects. But it also shows that nation-states are not the sole sovereign of a piece of territory, but rather one of the many players that act on a world-wide stage, which is in line with a ‘beyond-the-nation-state’ understanding of transitions. 87. This is in line with the “local node, global network” perspective argued for in the Global Production Network literature and echoed by Coenen et al. (2012: 977) as a way to provide “a useful heuristic for delineating systems, by following the network to wherever it leads, instead of setting system boundaries in an arbitrary and closed-off way”

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More conceptually, chapter 4 also articulated how ‘the local’ and ‘the global’ could be conceptualized for niche development. Attempts in previous a-spatial the sustainability transitions literature to conceptualize how niches travel and how experimental initiatives become connected have used the notion of local- and global niche dimensions (Geels and Raven 2006). The local dimension refers to projects in specific locales, whilst global refers to a socio-cognitive perspective that understands connectedness among experiments as actor-networks negotiating and translating locally specific lessons and expectations into generic, mobile concepts. These ideas have received criticism from geographers for lacking a more precise understanding of the geographies of niche development despite the obvious spatial connotations of ‘local’ and ‘global’. In response, the a-spatial socio-cognitive local–global niche was re-conceptualized in a spatial way by drawing in the complementary strengths of a number of geography literatures (buzz-pipelines, global production networks and policy mobilities). The promises of this geography-informed perspective on niche development reside in sensitizing us to (1) the spatialities of the productionand transfer of knowledge, (2) the geographies of the actor networks involved and (3) the dynamics of embeddedness. Chapters 5 and 6 provided center stage to ‘the urban’ by focusing on the socio-spatial arrangements that shape – and are shaped by – mobility transitions in cities. While a-spatial accounts of urban mobility transitions focus solely on transport systems and neglected the relationship between transport and the city’s urban form (Switzer et al. 2013), chapter 6 (on landuse) highlighted the importance of physical space and illustrated how the struggle between stability and change in the city’s built environment are waged through the power play in the domain of land-use planning. Chapter 5 (on cycling) highlights that cities are critical sites for ‘the making’ of a sustainable future society: as great concentrations of incumbent socio-technical systems imbricated in the daily lives of millions of urbanites, they are obdurate structures that stubbornly resist changes toward sustainability; but as cauldrons of creative imagination and experimentation, they are also seedbeds for opening up new spaces for sustainable alternatives. In these cases, the process of empowering desirable urban futures and by ‘re-imaging the city’ took center stage. And in the process, ‘the city’ and its urban form became not merely the ‘context’ (or

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site) where transitions take place, but the ‘object’ (or main focal unit) of transition in and of itself. 88 In sum: this dissertation contributes to the development of a geography-informed perspective on urban mobility transitions. The empirical chapters bring to the fore a more nuanced understanding of the role of place, space and scale in experimenting for sustainable urban transport. This complements the ‘classic’ transitions perspective, which stresses the ‘timing’ between transition processes, with an emphasis on these processes as (1) locally situated and territorially anchored, and (2) multi-scalar and transnational. A key conceptual contribution is the articulation of an explicitly spatial perspective on niche development, which complements traditional socio-cognitive ‘local–global’ niche model by sensitizing us to the spatialities of knowledge transfer, actor networks and embeddedness. Other relevant insights are derived from explicit engagement with contexts in the global south (transition pathways that diverge from the global north are opened up), with transnational linkages (the important role of change agents who travel across borders to facilitate experimentation and niche building) and with ‘the urban’ (the emergence of a dual understanding of the city as both context and object of transition).

9.2

Reflection: concepts, cases and the novelty bias

This section reflects on (1) the way various core concepts are mobilized throughout this dissertation, (2) how the various cases studies conspire to undermine the ‘novelty bias’ in transitions thinking and (3) other cases that could have been selected.

Core concepts: unrestrained motorization and radical alternative The first core concept mobilized throughout this dissertation is the notion of ‘unrestrained motorization’. While earlier contributions to mobility transitions in the Western world argue that the dominant guiding principles for urban transport development stem the incumbent ‘automobility regime’ (Geels et al. 2012), I have argued that we should instead problematize the logic of unrestrained motorization as the dominant guiding principle for urban transport development in cities throughout the global south. I have done because I want to problematize 88. This is in line with recent contributions to the study of urban sustainability transitions, which highlight the importance of land-use planning in urban mobility transitions as the ‘object’ of transitions (Naess and Vogel 2012; Switzer et al. 2013) and with the distinction of experimenting ‘in’ cities (context) as opposed to experimenting ‘with’ cities (object) (Evans et al. forthcoming)

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not only the car, but also the impacts of rapidly growing private motorcycle use as an instigator of air pollution and urban sprawl. This resonates particularly well with the situation in urban Thailand where the motorcycle is a crucial and element of the urban transport mix. The effects of motorcycles on the urban form of Southeast Asian towns are reflected in the typology of certain transport planners, who argue that Chiang Mai represents the archetype of the ‘motorcycle city’ (Barter 1999). Together with its big motorized brother the car, the private motorcycle too has decisively co-shaped the spatial layout of Thai cities. Furthermore, the notion of automobility regime connotes a technological artifact (i.e. the car) as the starting point of the analysis, whereas the notion of unrestrained motorization emphasizes failure of decision makers to restrain the rapid proliferation of such artifacts as well as their detrimental effects on a densely woven urban fabric as key issues. These two elements – motorized two-wheelers 89 and the socio-spatial organization of the urban fabric – play an especially important role in this dissertation. Another core concept mobilized throughout this dissertation is the notion of ‘radical alternative’. The term ‘alternative’ points to an emerging socio-technical system (a niche-level configuration, for instance BRT, cycling or revamped informal transport) that is in many respects different from – and is forced to somehow contend with – an incumbent socio-technical system (a regime-level configuration, for instance the combined system of private motorcycle and car mobility, which currently dominates the streetscape and is allowed to proliferate further due to the logic of unrestrained motorization). The term ‘radical’ adds that the relationship between this emerging system and the incumbent system is adversarial in character (such alternatives provide a head-on challenge because they and are geared to undermine the logic that fuels the expansion of an incumbent system). As such, the actors that empower the radical alternatives investigated in this dissertation are seeking to dislodge a regime predicated on the growing use of privately owned motorcycles and cars. These actors question dominant meanings of modern urban mobility and open up surprising new kinds of transport futures. Formulated in the language of transitions thinking, radical alternatives do not ‘fit-and-conform’ to the prevailing regime logic, but are instead geared ‘stretch-and-transform’ this logic (Smith and Raven 2012). They do not ‘optimize’ an incumbent regime, but instead harbor the potential for 89. In historical accounts of mobility transitions, the growth of two-wheelers and the later establishment of the automobility regime is seen as symbiotic and sequential: the bicycle is represented as a stepping stone toward the car (Geels 2005). Many would argue that motorized two-wheelers are a stepping stone toward the car in the developing world today. Yet the Thai case studies in this dissertation provide a counter narrative: those who promote the bicycle today view the car as their main adversary and the chronic congestion problems that came along with establishing the automobility the regime in Bangkok have provided a fruitful foundation for the explosive growth of motorcycle taxis because the motorcycle has the ability to zigzag through traffic jams.

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‘regime shift’ by promoting a different logic (Hoogma et al. 2002). In reality, however, the difference between optimize/fit and shift/transform is not so clear cut. As argued in chapter 8, actors who promote radical alternatives seldom challenge an incumbent regime on all relevant fronts: they choose to stretch-and-transform certain elements but fit-and-conform to others. Furthermore, while radical alternatives point to a straightforward way to bring about radical change, it is by no means the only strategy. New technologies developed by incumbents to optimize a regime might also be embraced by niche players to improve their radical alternatives at the same time. And empowerment of incremental change might also accumulate to a transition toward a system that has changed beyond recognition and differs in most – sometimes surprising – ways from its predecessor. But transport futures might not only diverge but also converge, regardless which regime was optimized or shifted away from to begin with. Consider for instance the remarkable similarities in possible high-tech transport futures sketched through optimizing the private car (John Urry’s ‘digital panopticon’ scenario of a connected nexus system of selfdriving personal electric vehicles – see Urry 2007), the public transport system (Bruno Latour’s account of ‘Aramis’, an automated personal rapid transit system based on modular rail carts that operate as a virtual train– see Latour 1996) or a public/private hybrid (Ben Lane’s vision of an on-demand ‘MonoPod’ that operates autonomously but with the help of central co-ordination, embodying the advantages of a private car but in a public transport context – see Hoogma et al. 2002). While much of transitions thinking has its roots in the innovation studies literature, the term radical alternative should not be conflated with notions of ‘radical innovation’. Like the notion of radical innovation, my use of the term radical alternative can be contrasted with end-of-pipe solutions or incremental change in the sense that the dominant mental model or development trajectory is called into question: this emphasizes regime shift over regime optimization (Hoogma et al. 2002). Radical change requires different organizational capabilities and it forces stakeholders to ask a new set of questions, to draw on new skills and to employ new problem-solving approaches (Henderson and Clark 1990). Like radical innovation, radical alternatives can be considered a promising but peripheral/fringe phenomenon, which is initially ignored by incumbents and might (or might not) be successful in reconfiguring a system of production and consumption in the long run (Utterback 1994). And like radical innovation, radical alternatives point to sociotechnical configurations which embody certain performance gains that are of a different order of magnitude (Leifer et al 2000; Tushman and Anderson 1986). But unlike the literature on radical innovation, the notion of radical alternative does not privilege techno-

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economic improvement over other societal goals such as the quest for sustainability; it does not privilege the role of firms over other actors; and it does not privilege innovation in scientific or engineering domains over other kinds of social innovation.

Beyond novelty This last claim – that the notion of radical alternative stretches beyond technological innovation – can be stretched even further. The study of radical alternatives, in fact, does not necessarily privilege ‘novelty’ at all. Sociotechnical systems that are old but sustainable may certainly warrant just as much attention as compared to ‘true novelties’. The radical alternatives that feature in my empirical case studies – cycling, BRT and informal transport – are not true novelties, but they signify re-invention (the process whereby old technologies and practices re-appropriated in slightly new ways) and resurrection (the process of re-establishing socio-technical systems that constituted and established part of mainstream society several decades ago) The innovation journey of urban cycling is a case in point: the bicycle is a 19th century technology that witnessed boom and bust in the 20th century and revitalization in the early 21st century. In the process, the bicycle has become ‘new, old and new again’ – first as vehicle of modern mass mobility, then as nostalgic vehicle that ran against the ‘inevitable’ currents of modernity and finally as today’s much-touted progressive vehicle of sustainability (Oldenziel and De la Bruhèze 2012: 22). The BRT system in Bangkok is also best interpreted as re-emergence of an older sociotechnical configuration. The road where the newly established BRT system operates, used to be part of a larger network of dedicated bus lanes introduced in 1980, which was allegedly highly successful in its early years of operation but deteriorated and eventually disappeared over the course of the 1980s and 1990s in the absence of policies restraining the rate of growth of private vehicles (Marler, 1982; Barter, 1999). All of this is in line with Elizabeth Shove’s call to look beyond the new technologies and otherwise novel practices, but instead investigate how socio-technical systems of the past are granted a new lease on life and how innovation journeys might start over again (Shove 2012). In a similar vein, innovating upon informal transport systems can be seen as a way to retain the old instead of propagating a new system from scratch. Innovation becomes a maintenance strategy to keep afloat systems that are in a constant state repair. While the staggering array of different informal transport systems that have sprouted up throughout cities in the global south in the last decades are often simply portrayed as technologically ‘backward’, they are actually great

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examples of ‘frugal innovation’ (Woolrridge 2010), ‘jugaad innovation’ (Gulati 2010), or ‘below the radar innovation’ (Kaplinsky 2011) and they are a striking testimony to human inventiveness. Their pervasiveness and persistence reflects what David Edgerton has called ‘the shock of the old’ (Edgerton 2006).

Case selection As mentioned, for the empirical case studies I deliberately selected emerging socio-technical configurations, which qualify as radical alternatives in the sense that they geared to undermine the incumbent logic of unrestrained motorization and the corresponding growth of private motorcycle and car use. Of the four cases that were selected (cycling, BRT, informal transport, participatory land-use planning), three cases dealt explicitly with alternative transport systems (cycling, BRT, informal transport) and one case dealt with alternatives in the domain of land-use planning (participatory land-use planning). This last case was included because the transport system and the land-use system together co-constitute the mobility system of city (Wegener and Fürst 1999). While the struggles over highway building were part of the land-use case study in the Wat Ket area of Chiang Mai, questions of cultural heritage and retaining traditional lifestyles took center stage and questions on the future of transport and mobility were backgrounded by the actors in this case. In hindsight, it would have been more relevant to study a controversy with more explicit attention for the interaction between land-use and transport. 90 The reason for selecting the first three cases of alternative transport systems (cycling, BRT and informal transport) is that together they occupy the different domains of the realm of urban transport: individual transport (the case of cycling), collective transport (the case of BRT) and systems that breach the collective/individual divide (the case of informal transport, more specifically Bangkok’s motorcycle taxis). Other interesting cases for each of the three categories 90. Chapter 6 emphasized the importance of spatial planning in mobility transitions. Initial accounts of urban mobility transitions emphasized how the timing between various phenomena shapes transition processes, while neglecting relationship between mobility and the city’s urban form (Naess and Vogel 2012; Switzer et al. 2013). The urban form can be conceptualized as an obdurate spatial structure, which is difficult to dislodge due to the relative permanence of the built environment and the ‘hard’ physical infrastructures that cut through it (Hommels 2005). The dynamics of stability and change in the built environment of cities can be seen a function of the intertwined systems of land-use and transport, that co-shape one another through a continuous ‘feedback cycle’ (Wegener and Fürst 1999). While the other chapters focus only on the transport system, this chapter highlights the struggles over the land-use system as the other side of the urban transport coin. The chapter is based on research in Chiang Mai city and it provides center stage to struggles of society groups against highway construction and high-rise development by private sectors parties and of citizens challenging the prevailing logic of top-down spatial planning. Their efforts were successful and the prospective re-shaping of physical space, translated as an abstract category on a land-use map, will also affect the dynamics of urban transport development

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could have been chosen, but these were not selected for a variety of reasons. A more elaborate reflection of possible alternative cases is provided below. In the domain of individual transport I initially wanted to investigate experiments with electric cars (these could be considered incremental change, but this was before I made the conscious decision to focus only on radical alternatives). Since Thailand’s Eastern Seaboard (‘the Detroit of the East’) is the site of frantic automotive assembly activity, I naively assumed that this would be the place where innovative electric cars would roll out of the factory before their experimental introduction into Thai cities. I was wrong. Most of the potential informants at automobile companies I contacted about their EV production and testing in Thailand were either unresponsive or told me that these activities were being conducted elsewhere in the US, Europe, China or Japan. Later interviews with insiders left me with the impression that automakers consider Thailand a ‘mere’ site of bulk assembly, where large volumes of unimaginative sedans and pick-up trucks are churned out. The Thai government and domestic automotive stakeholders perform a balancing act of sorts between of trying to get foreign automakers to conduct innovative activities in Thailand while not imposing too much in order to remain an attractive node in the global production networks of the automobile industry. Later interviews with entrepreneurs and stakeholders at universities and research institutes revealed that certain smallscale experiments with various types of locally manufactured electric buses were being conducted in technology parks and university campuses, but most of the interviewees involved in these peripheral projects viewed this as a rather insignificant and unpromising endeavor. In the domain of collective transport a source of great hope for greening mobility in Bangkok might be the extension of the urban rail network. Many interviewed experts spoke with great delight about the prospective expansions of existing rail lines and the construction of new lines for the MRT Subway and the BTS Skytrain. Most interviewees indeed consider these rail systems as a sustainable alternative geared to undermine unrestrained motorization. Yet, I would argue that these systems are actually situated to avoid butting heads with unrestrained motorization: they are not geared toward reclaiming the streets since they do not pose ‘on the road’ competition for private cars and motorcycles. Furthermore, especially for the case of Bangkok, it could be argued that these rail systems fall short on the ‘social dimension’ of sustainability since they ‘produce inequality’ and contribute the ‘splintering’ of the urban fabric of Thailand’s capital city (Jenks 2003; Richardson and Jensen 2008). In the domain of systems that breach the collective/individual divide it would have been interesting to more thoroughly investigate the entire set of systems that could characterized as

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‘shared transport’. Shared transport would include organized car-sharing, ridesharing, carpooling and vanpooling. In the initial stages of my research and after several interviews I discovered that there had been a window of opportunity for the expansion of such systems in the recent past, which – unfortunately – appeared to have closed soon after. In the wake of the devastating financial crisis in 1997, government agencies issued an effective and widely-praised campaign, which branded carpooling ‘a new Thai culture’ in order to raise awareness and to save on expensive fuel imports. Yet, as the Thai economy rebounded from the crisis in 2000 policy priorities were reconfigured: the campaigns were phased out and carpooling programs were discontinued. Limited attempts were made to reinstate them in 2008 when fuel prices soared, but without any evidence of success (Rudjanakanoknad 2011). While organized car-sharing initiatives are currently witnessing explosive growth in cities throughout Europe, the US and parts of Asia, the Thai transport experts I interviewed were not aware of such initiatives in their county. Anecdotal evidence suggested that there was no major activity in organized car-sharing in Thailand besides a few small-scale initiatives by residents who live in the same apartment building. While this is an interesting finding in and of itself, I reasoned that it would be more productive at that stage in the research to drop this as a case due to limited availability of information on recent experiments. Shared transport in the broad sense also includes a wide array of informal transport shared-taxi systems, which are conceptually situated in between the regular bus and taxicab. In this respect, especially relevant are the numerous songtaew – converted pick-up trucks that either ply fixed routes or roam around throughout the city like taxicabs in medium-sized throughout Thailand – would have made an interesting case study. Initially the case of the songtaew system in Chiang Mai was included in one of the empirical chapters, but in the process of publishing articles this discarded in order to make room for a more comprehensive conceptual contribution (this case is briefly summarized in Appendix V in chapter 4). A more thorough analysis of the variety of songtaew systems throughout Thailand – and of the different actor strategies in dealing with other transport systems and in incorporating new technologies – would have been worthy of a chapter in and of itself. While some would consider these shared informal transport systems as part and parcel of unrestrained motorization, I argue that they constitute a radical alternative. It is certainly true these systems proliferate unabatedly in situations where the authorities struggle to grapple with rapid urban growth, severe resource constraints and limited capabilities to structure the transportand land-use system according to any pre-determined plan. And it is also true that such systems

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are sometimes in direct competition with formally sanctioned public transport (as in the case of Chiang Mai’s songtaew in chapter 4). Yet I want to emphasize that, on the other hand, many informal transport systems serve as feeders or otherwise as ‘gap fillers’ that tie formally sanctioned public transport systems together (as in the case of Bangkok’s motorcycle taxis in chapter 3) and that such systems are often highly compatible with the twin ideas of the compact city and of striving for limited use of privately owned motorized vehicles for individual transport.

9.3

Moving forward: follow-up research

Throughout the previous chapters, various promising avenues for follow-up research have been argued for (see sections 2.5, 3.1, 6.4, 8.5). Instead of repeating these here, I want to end this dissertation by laying out two lines of research to further our understanding of the geographies of experimentation and transitions in urban transport systems. The first line would be to develop a deeper geographical understanding of the mechanisms that underpin the global mushrooming of alternative mobility systems. It might be possible to ‘map out’ (both literally and figuratively speaking) the socio-spatial dynamics of knowledge transfer by re-tracing the steps and of the certain key actors in order to tease out who encounters whom, when and where as well as the substance of embodied knowledge that is transferred in these moments of exchange. This would require ethnographic ‘mobile methods’ (Büscher and Urry 2009) and time-space diaries and as a way study the mobile lives of these ‘transfer agents’ (Stone 2004). While most transition accounts employ ‘process theory’ in order to provide a qualitative narrative of the factors that underpin niche building in a particular place, it might also be worthwhile to employ ‘variance theory’ in order to try to provide a quantitative explanation of the factors that underpin niche building in multiple connected places (Van de Ven and Poole 1995). A deeper enquiry into the case of Bus Rapid Transit (chapter 4) might provide a fruitful starting point for empirical analysis here. BRT systems have popped up in a manageable number of locations (around 200 cities), their spread seems to be orchestrated by a core group of experts of manageable size (probably several dozen people) and the spread of BRT is recent enough (most systems established within the last decade) to trace the steps of the key actors. It might be possible collect quantitative data for the operational systems and their localities (urban density figures, participation in certain city-to-city networks, etc.) and to ‘map out’ (both literally and figuratively speaking) the socio-spatial dynamics of knowledge transfer by re-tracing the steps of the experts involved.

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The second line would be to develop an anthropological understanding of experimenting for transitions in informal transport systems. While these systems are an integral part of the urban fabric of most cities in the world and used by millions – if not billions – of people every single day, little is known about how they were established and how they might change. Two fruitful starting points to develop a compressive and deeply human perspective on stability and change in informal transport pop to mind. One starting point would be the ‘mobility turn in the social sciences’ (Sheller and Urry 2006; Cresswell 2006; Urry 2007). Several decades ago, modernist planners reduced the study of mobility to the maximization of traffic flow (the logic of ‘predict and provide’), while the next cohort of planners reduced the study of mobility to the maximization of access to activities and services (the logic of ‘prevent and provide’). The more recent mobility turn in the social sciences argues that the study of mobility should look beyond ‘the brute fact’ of movement in favor for holistic perspective that includes the experiences, meanings and politics tied up with systems of mobility. Along similar lines an anthropological understanding could be developed, which provides center stage to everyday routines of users and the struggles of vehicle operators, who illicitly ply their trade at the margins of society in cities throughout the global south. Another starting point would be to take a ‘subaltern’ perspective. This means engaging with marginalized populations whose voices are seldom heard and critically questioning the power relations between key actors involved in order to characterize the core principles that govern the social interaction that shape the evolution of informal transport systems in post-colonial societies. 91 While the mobile lives of experts and of members of civil society were foregrounded in the case studies of BRT (chapter 4) and cycling (chapter 5), a more in-depth study on informal transport would thus center on the mobile lives of users and operators as members ‘political society’ (Chatterjee 2004). The term political society calls into question the legitimacy of the knowledge and power of experts and it re-casts the notion of civil society as a culturally equipped bourgeois community walled up in its sanitized fortress of civic virtue. Political society, on the other hand, is where the governmental administration of populations and their claims to livelihoods and the distribution of welfare take on a distinctly different character and logics. It is the muddy strategic terrain of electoral politics and where populations need to be identified as communities and other categories of governmentality so as to be eligible for state support and 91. This is in line with Lawhon and Murphy’s (2012) call to improve transition theory and practice by incorporating insights from political ecology According to these authors, this means foregrounding social processes and power relations, critically examining the construction of knowledge, and engaging with diverse subjects and contexts

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benefits. Despite the squalor, ugliness, and sometimes violent nature of this domain, it is one of the few ways for marginalized populations to wield a degree power 92. The cases of the motorcycle taxi industry in Bangkok (chapter 3) and the songtaew system in Chiang Mai (Appendix V in chapter 4) hint at these dynamics, but more comprehensive ethnographic research should be conducted to take this topic further.

92. According to Chatterjee (2004) the logics of political society can be found throughout the developing world. While they seem flawed, they are – according to Chatterjee – actually fundamentally democratic and morally legitimate

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Summary

Over the past decades Thailand’s cities have developed in line with the principles of ‘unrestrained motorization’ – relentless growth of private cars and motorcycles without effective land-use planning and control. As a counter force, however, a set of alternative mobility systems, which are collectively geared to undermine this regime of unrestrained motorization, have burst onto the scene in the last few years and are gaining momentum. This dissertation follows the wheeling and dealing of actors who are experimenting to establish four such alternatives: (1) informal transport, (2) Bus Rapid Transit, (3) cycling and (4) participatory land-use planning. Empirically, the dissertation reveals how these mobility experiments are being conducted and to what extent such effort contribute to socio-technical transitions toward sustainable urban transport in Thai cities. Conceptually, the dissertation contributes to the development of a geography-informed perspective on mobility transitions. Chapter 1 argues that that the development of urban transport in Thai cities requires major overhaul. Establishing sustainable transport requires the streets to be reclaimed by an array of more radical alternatives that harbor a greater potential to these cities into a more environmentally benign, socially inclusive and livable places. To study how these radical alternatives are (or are not) gaining a foothold, the central concepts of ‘sociotechnical transitions’ (i.e major shifts in the way societal functions such as transportation are fulfilled) and ‘experimentation’ (i.e hands-on projects to establish new transition paths) are mobilized. It is also argued that challenges remain with regards to developing a more spatially-nuanced or ‘geographyinformed’ understanding on urban transitions in a globalizing world. These empirical and conceptual challenges are addressed in the consecutive chapters. Chapter 2 unpacks the notion of ‘the experiment’ as it is conceptualized within the transition studies field. Experimentation is a central concept in this dissertation because it plays an important role the development of alternative systems in early phases of socio-technical change. The chapter presents a systematic review of the notion of experimentation as it appears in the transitions literature and reveals how transition scholars have made sense of the plethora of initiatives and projects designed to foster socio-technical transformations. A distinction is made between various terms (niche experiments, bounded socio-technical experiments, transition

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experiments, sustainability experiments and grassroots experiments), each with their own theoretical backgrounds and discursive and empirical focal points. Observed patterns and trends in the literature are discussed, as well as promising lines of enquiry for further research on the role of experiments in sustainability transitions. Chapters 3 to 7 deal with the empirical dimensions of stability and change through experimentation in the domain of urban transport in Thailand. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 constitute the empirical heart of the dissertation by laying out the dynamics of experimentation and niche development as described in the cases of informal transport (chapter 3), Bus Rapid Transit (chapter 4) and cycling (chapter 5). Chapter 6 explores participatory land-use planning as an experimental approach to undermine modernist-, top-down-, car-oriented urban form. Chapter 7 summarizes part of the empirical findings by providing a meta-analysis of several mobility experiments by providing center stage to the navigational strategies of actors conducting experiments in Bangkok and other booming Asian cities. More specifically, chapter 3 deals with a highly significant but under-researched set of urban mobility systems that collectively form the domain of ‘informal transport’ (i.e. communal- or shared transport systems that are not fully sanctioned by the rule of law but nonetheless used by vast numbers of people in rapidly growing cities in Thailand and throughout the developing world). Thus far the field of transition studies has addressed the dynamics of socio-technical change in situations where regimes of automobility and sanctioned public transport constitute the dominant order, but not in contexts of cities in the developing world, where informal transit thrives. To enquire about stability and prospects for change in these kinds of socio-technical systems, the chapter traces the evolution of Bangkok’s motorcycle taxi industry including a recent experiment to introduce a potentially radical innovation: an ICT platform used as a taximeter. It is concluded that innovations in informal urban transport are opening up alternative mobility pathways for the developing world, which might even spread far beyond their original confines into the West; and that the persistence of informal transport systems and the proliferation of innovations within those systems in developing countries prove to be relevant phenomena for defining prominent topics on the agenda of transitions research. Chapter 4 investigates the rapid world-wide proliferation of Bus Rapid Transit (i.e. a promising new mode of urban transportation based on metro-like bus systems). The tortuous innovation journey of BRT starts in the cradle in the Brazilian city of Curitiba in the 1970s and continues up to the eventual implementation of a BRT system in Bangkok in 2010. Theoretically, this chapter responds to recent criticism from geographers that the ‘local–global’ niche model in transition

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studies is spatially naïve. A number of relevant geography literatures (buzz-pipelines, global production networks, policy mobilities) are mobilized to develop a more geographically nuanced understanding of niche development. The result complements the original model by providing center stage to (1) the spatialities of the production and transfer of knowledge, (2) the geographies of the actor networks involved and (3) the dynamics of embeddedness by which these global networks and knowledge discourses become entangled with place-specific power relationships, institutions and infrastructures. Chapter 5 engages with cycling as a re-emerging socio-technical system in Thai cities. Following a number of prolific cycling campaigners through the streets of Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Korat, it reveals how urban sustainability transitions are envisioned from the bike saddle and, more generally, how a seemingly disparate set of urban development pathways converge around technological artifacts and material infrastructure. Theoretically, this chapter argues that transition pathways start out in the minds of change agents as vague conceptual images, which are then further articulated as envisioned urban futures that are able to attract a wider following. The notion of ‘urban imaginaries’ (i.e. ideas and ideals about what constitutes ‘the good city’) is mobilized as a useful concept to address how these envisioned futures are put to work to reshape the present and exert their influence on ongoing transition processes. Chapter 6 examines the forces of stability and change in land-use and urban planning in Chiang Mai. Ineffective land-use planning and a lack of public transport are indicative of how current urban planning practices have failed to lead to desirable directions for urban development in Chiang Mai. In response, a heterogeneous coalition of actors representing various elements of strong and vibrant civil society groups have rallied around a series of issues to voice their desire for change. This has contributed to the construction of a protected space (niche) for thinking about alternative (more participatory) ways of planning with a certain degree of momentum. This collective action has not been in vain and some of their ideas have been incorporated in the modified land-use plan. Theoretically, this chapter highlights the importance of the spatial context and shows how the Multi-level Perspective framework in transition studies can be fruitfully applied to the domain of land use planning. Chapter 7 provides a meta-analysis of a number of different urban mobility experiments in Asia – within and beyond Thailand’s borders. It explores the strategies that the niche actors deploy to navigate through the challenges posed by incumbent socio-technical regimes. It concludes that whilst niche actors tried to stretch-and-transform technological, infrastructural and cultural dimensions of regimes, they opted to fit-and-conform with public policy and political power

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dimensions, thus highlighting especially how political challenges vary throughout different geographical settings. Chapter 8 revisits the literature review in chapter 2 on the concept of experimentation within the transitions literature. It provides additional empirical substance to the initial findings by drawing on examples of experiments in cities in Thailand and other parts of Asia. As its synthesis, it articulates a comprehensive definition of an experiment as ‘an inclusive, practice-based and challenge-led initiative designed to promote system innovation through social learning under conditions of deep uncertainty and ambiguity’. This definition is then mobilized to point out a number of urban governance challenges related to coordination, commitment and negotiation for experimenting in the city. Chapter 9 summarizes the main findings and re-articulates the most important insights of the previous chapters. It argues that if the mobility niches investigated in the previous chapters (i.e. informal transport, Bus Rapid Transit, cycling and participatory land-use planning) are indeed an indication of how radical mobility alternatives are faring in Thai cities, then a fully-fledge systemic change toward sustainable urban transport is not unfolding at this moment the potential for such a mobility transition is limited in the short run. Some of the investigated experiments were either unsuccessful or not followed up so far and there are heavy political constraints that frustrate a concerted effort toward major overhaul of urban transport in cities throughout the country. Yet, the increasing momentum of the investigated niches and the experimental mindset of the change agents building these niches do provide a glimmer of hope for the longer run. The empirical chapters also contribute to the development of a geography-informed perspective on mobility transitions by bringing to the fore a more nuanced understanding of the role of place, space and scale in experimenting for sustainable urban transport. This complements the ‘classic’ transitions perspective, which stresses the ‘timing’ between transition processes, with an emphasis on these processes as (1) locally situated and territorially anchored, and (2) multi-scalar and transnational. A key conceptual contribution is the articulation of an explicitly spatial perspective on niche development, which complements traditional socio-cognitive ‘local–global’ niche model by sensitizing us to the spatialities of knowledge transfer, actor networks and embeddedness. Other relevant insights are derived from explicit engagement with contexts in the global south (transition pathways that diverge from the global north are opened up), with transnational linkages (change agents who travel across borders to facilitate experimentation and niche building) and with ‘the urban’ (a dual understanding of the city as both context and object of transition).

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Acknowledgements It's been quite a ride. In writing this dissertation I have tried to contribute to the scientific understanding socio-technical transitions toward sustainable transport systems, but in the process my personal life has gone through somewhat of a transition as well. Much like shifts in sociotechnical systems, such changes can occur when observers least expect them and when a number of unanticipated developments converge to kick the process into overdrive. Last year was such a rapid turning point for me: my longtime relationship with Andrea came to an end, our house in Eindhoven was sold, and the 4-year PhD project at TU/e expired. Yet these unfortunate endings proved to be beautiful beginnings as well: a new job as a post-doc at Utrecht University, an apartment in Amsterdam and the start of my relationship with Kimm. As in any transition, change does not come without struggle and it takes a while to settle into new routines. I am especially grateful to the following people for their support throughout this journey: First and foremost I want to thank Rob Raven. Rob, you have been a great mentor :your sharp mind, clear focus and relaxed style of leadership bring out the best in me. We work well together and I’m glad that our cooperation continues today. I also want to thank Geert and Johan (for their guidance and feedback), Anna and Mieke (for their help throughout the project), Boukje and Suyash (for being my fellow ‘Professor Chefs’ and roommates, sharing endless hours of conversation in our cosy IPO 2.10 office – I will miss you guys) and the rest of the ‘lentil cooking club’ (Bram, Marloes, Frank, Sadaf, Evelien, Lilianne, Yuti, Johanna, Tuomo, Martin, Nick – thanks for the wonderful evenings together and for sharing your delicious power food dishes made from the humble lentil). For my fieldwork in Thailand I especially want to thank Eakanat (for his friendship), Somp*rn (for her kindness), Sidthinat (for his wisdom) and Boom and Tang (for their help with the Thai and Kham Mueang translation). You guys have helped me tremendously and you made me feel welcome and at home in your beautiful city of Chiang Mai. I also owe a great deal to countless mobility experts I encountered on the streets of Bangkok and beyond (thank you Stefan, Poon, Yossapong, Kerati, Peter, Pawinee, Oravit, Pongrid, Noynoi, Paul, Will, Suthep, Singakham and many others).

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Last but not least I want to thank my close friends and family. Mum, Dad, Jantine, Niels, baby Saar, Tim, Bas, Wouter, Dirk, Rik, Martin – thank you for your unconditional love and unwavering support.

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Curriculum Vitae

Frans Sengers (Eindhoven, 1984) obtained a BSc in Innovation Sciences (faculty of Technology Management) and a MSc in Sustainable Energy Technology (faculty of Mechanical Engineering) from the Eindhoven University of Technology. After his studies, he worked as a researcher on ‘smart grids’ and futures for the Dutch electricity distribution systems and traveled throughout Asia. In 2011, with his travels in Asia still fresh in mind, Frans started his PhD project about sustainable urban transport in Thailand, of which the results are presented in this dissertation. He presented his work at various international conferences and co-organized several international workshops. Next to his research, he supervised master thesis students and was involved in teaching various graduate and undergraduate courses. Since May 2015, Frans is working as a postdoc at the Innovation Studies group at Utrecht University. His current research on sustainable urbanism compares the aspirations and efforts self-declared ‘smart cities’ in Europe and China.

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Selected Publications

Sengers, F., Berkhout, F., Wieczorek, A., Raven, R., 2016. Experimenting in the city: Unpacking notions of experimentation for sustainability. In: Evans, J., Karvonen, A., Raven, R., (Eds.), The Experimental City, Routledge: New York Ghosh, D., Sengers, F., Wieczorek, A., Ghosh, B., Roy, J., Raven, R., 2016. Urban Mobility Experiments in India and Thailand.

In: Evans, J., Karvonen, A., Raven, R., (Eds.), The

Experimental City, Routledge: New York Cook, S., Davidson, A., Stratford, E., Middleton, J., Plyushteva, A., Fitt, H., Cranston, S., Simpson, P., Delaney, H., Evans, K., Jones, A., Kershaw, J., Williams, N., Bissell, D., Duncan, T., Sengers, F., Elvy, J., and Wilmott, C., 2016. Co-Producing Mobilities: negotiating geographical knowledge in a conference session on the move. Journal of Geography in Higher Education. In Press Sengers, F., Raven, R., 2015. Toward a spatial perspective on niche development : the case of Bus Rapid Transit, Environmental Innovation and Sustainability Transitions 17: 166–182 Sengers, F., Raven, R., 2014. Metering motorbike mobility: informal transport in transition?, Technology Analysis & Strategic Management 26(4): 453–468 Verbong, G.P.J., Beemsterboer, S., Sengers, F., 2013. Smart grids or smart users? Involving users in developing a low carbon electricity economy, Energy Policy 52: 117-125 Sangawongse, S., Sengers, F., Raven, R., 2012. The Multi-level Perspective and the scope for sustainable land use planning in Chiang Mai city, Environment and Natural Resources 10(2): 21-30 Sengers, F., Raven, R., Van Venrooij, A., 2010. From riches to rags: Biofuels, media discourses, and resistance to sustainable energy technologies, Energy Policy 38(9): 5013-5027

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Cities throughout the developing world have embarked on the perilous path of ‘unrestrained motorization’. The use and ownership of cars and motorcycles is growing at a relentless pace and these vehicles are welcomed as desirable symbols of progress and modernity. At the same time effective land-use planning and control are absent and urban transport policy is geared toward futile attempts to road-build its way out of congestion. This dissertation investigates the dynamics of urban transport development in Thailand. It provides center stage to the struggles of people who are paving the way for sustainability in Thai cites. They do so by experimenting with a number alternative mobility systems: bicycles, buses and motorcycle taxis. Mainstreaming these alternatives at the expense of the private motorized transport, they claim, is the way forward in building cities that are greener, more inclusive, more livable, and more prosperous. How far have they come so far in their objective of transforming transport in Thailand? Besides addressing this empirical question, this dissertation contributes to the development of a geography-informed perspective on mobility transitions. It brings to the fore a more nuanced understanding of the role of place, space and scale in experimenting for sustainable urban transport.

School of Innovation Sciences Eindhoven University of Technology

[PDF] Transforming Transport in Thailand - Free Download PDF (2024)

FAQs

What is the main transportation in Thailand? ›

Road transportation is the primary form of freight transport across the country. A large number of buses, minibuses and taxis share the streets with private vehicles at Ratchadamri Road, Bangkok. Tuk-tuks are one mode of public transport in Bangkok and other cities in Thailand. For short trips motorbikes are common.

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What is the cheapest transportation in Thailand? ›

Buses and minivans form the most comprehensive – and cheapest – network of transportation in Thailand. There are a variety of bus companies, but the most reliable are those run by the government-subsidized The Transport Co. Buy tickets online or in person at the bus station to avoid scams.

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What is the problem with transportation in Thailand? ›

The immediate causes of Bangkok's transport problems are: (1) Lack of roads and road safety; (2) Lack of public transport; (3) Traffic management and environmental issues; and (4) Government and political problems.

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What is the best way to travel between Thailand? ›

Public transportation can be the best way of getting around while also saving money. Buses around Thailand are very common and easily accessible. When trying to figure out where your local bus station can take you, make sure you go in person and ask.

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How much should I pay for a tuk tuk in Bangkok? ›

A short tuk tuk ride within central Bangkok might cost anywhere from 50 to 150 Thai Baht (THB), which is approximately $1.50 to $4.50 USD, and longer rides or those taken during peak hours or to more distant locations could be more expensive, potentially costing upwards of 200-300 THB ($6-$9 USD) or more.

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Are tuk-tuks cheaper than taxis in Thailand? ›

The one thing I can tell you is what the price is not. For example, a Tuk-Tuk Driver might ask for 200 baht to travel from MBK to the Grand Palace. It should cost around 100–120baht, probably less but I have never gotten a lower price. Metered Taxis are very reasonable in BKK and start at 35 baht for short journeys.

How to travel locally in Thailand? ›

Motorcycle taxi: Motorcycle taxis are a big part of local transport in Thailand. It can be a great transport choice if you are a single traveller, not carrying heavy luggage and don't want to get stuck in traffic. Tuk-tuk: Tuk-tuks are a popular way to travel within major cities in Thailand.

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How much money do you need to travel around Thailand? ›

For food and spending money, I think 2000 baht per day is enough, but you really have to consider bringing extra as you need to include or know beforehand the fees for each attraction or activity that you'll be engaging in locally. Generally, everything in those places, especially in Thailand, is ridiculously cheap.

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How much does a 1 week trip to Thailand cost? ›

Thailand Packages

Thailand Packages	Day/Night	Price
Unwind in Krabi and phu*ket Package	7 Days/6 Nights	₹71,865
Triple Fun at phu*ket, Pattaya and Bangkok Package	7 Days/6 Nights	₹1,89,671
A Week In Pattaya & Bangkok Package	7 Days/6 Nights	₹66,901
Serene Shores of Phi Phi - Unwind & Reconnect Package	7 Days/6 Nights	₹73,104

6 more rows

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What is the biggest concern in Thailand? ›

Thammasat University School of Global Studies and Marketbuzzz have been running the study every year since 2019 to understand the “Top 10 Public Concerns” among Thais. In April 2023, among the 1,000 Thai people surveyed nationwide, environment was the Top Concern chosen by 42%.

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What is the risk of Travelling to Thailand? ›

Scams, credit card fraud and ATM fraud are common. Sexual assault, assault, robbery and drink spiking can happen to tourists. Never leave your drink unattended. Stay with people you trust at parties, in bars, nightclubs and taxis.

What are taxis called in Thailand? ›

Tuk-Tuk is the name of Thailand style taxi.

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What not to forget when traveling to Thailand? ›

Don't forget to bring sunscreen, insect repellent, and a hat to protect yourself from the sun. For currency, the official currency of Thailand is the Thai Baht (THB). It's a good idea to exchange some currency before your trip or withdraw cash from ATMs upon arrival.

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Which is the best airline to fly to Thailand? ›

Emirates is always a safe bet if you're looking for the extra touches that make the flight to Thailand more comfortable. It's world-renowned for top-class cabin service too. Thai Airways is another great option, given the indigenous flavour to the whole flight experience, it offers on all flights to its home country.

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How many days in Thailand is enough? ›

How Many Days in Thailand Is Enough. Usually, a mid-trip of about 7-10 days is better for several different places to go and experience; a trip of a week or two is also welcome. After all, the more time you have, the more places to visit and the more details to explore.

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How do you get around in Thailand? ›

Transport in Thailand: The Easy Guide To Getting Around Thailand

Tuk Tuk. The most indigenous mode of transport in Thailand, Tuk Tuks are the famous 3-wheeled vehicles that you would have seen in many travel-related photos of Southeast Asia. ...
Taxi. ...
Motorcycle Taxi. ...
Songthaew. ...
Bus. ...
Bangkok BTS Skytrain. ...
Bangkok MRT Subway. ...
Train.

More items...

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Does Thailand have Uber or Lyft? ›

No, Lyft is not available in Thailand. The main ride-hailing apps are Grab, Bolt and InDrive and they works just as well. Is There Uber Eats in Thailand? Since Uber doesn't currently operate in Thailand, Uber Eats are not available there either.

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What is the most common urban transport in Thailand? ›

Why Tuk tuk is the three wheeler most common urban transport in Thailand? Tuk-tuks are a popular choice for both locals and tourists alike.

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What is the most popular transportation in Bangkok? ›

Best ways to travel around Bangkok

Airport Rail Link. Depending on where you are staying in Bangkok, the Airport Rail Link (ARL) can be a convenient option. ...
BTS Skytrain. ...
MRT Metro. ...
Taxis. ...
Tuk-Tuks. ...
Chao Phraya Express Boats. ...
Canal boats. ...
Walking.