Anne Jensen

Mobility, Space and Power: On the Multiplicities of Seeing Mobility

Abstract Mobility as a key modern phenomenon can be seen in multiple ways and this article raises the question of how mobility becomes visible and real through diverse ways of seeing mobility. Mobility’s different aspects appear and take place in particular spatial settings under the workings of diverse forms of power, and recognizing this informs us about the making of spatialised mobility. It is shown how mobility intermingles with perceptions, experiences and desires of the modern self. Such workings of power relate, among other things, to framing and imagining, practising and experiencing mobility. Capturing ways of seeing mobility thus widens our language for engaging with questions of mobility and its political and social reality and possible futures.

Mobility Regimes and Borderwork in the European Community

Abstract With changing forms of mobility governance in the EU and borderwork as its point of departure, this article examines how borderwork and mobility interweave in a European Community context and, in particular, how mundane politics of mobility co-shapes the borderwork that takes place in contemporary Europe. Borderwork is thus addressed in terms of multiplied processes of differentiation. Pricing policies as key components of the governance of transport flows in Europe influence the way the European Community is formed as an ‘imagined community’ and a territory criss-crossed by connected cities and regions. Furthermore, pricing policies add to intangible borders between the highly mobile Europeans who master complex mobile practices and those without access to the high mobility networks or are slow-moving.

How do Europeans want to live in 2040? Citizen visions and their consequences for European land use

The aspirations, motivations and choices of individual European citizens are a major driver of the future of global, European and local land use. However, until now no land use study has explicitly attempted to find out how the general public wants to live in the future. This paper forms a first attempt to survey European citizens to understand their desired future lives in relation to consequences for European land use. We used a crowdsourcing experiment to elicit visions from young Europeans about their lives in 2040. Participants completed a graphic novel around carefully selected questions, allowing them to create a story of their imagined future lives in pictures. The methodology worked well, and the sample seemed reasonably representative albeit skewed towards an educated population. In total, 1131 responses from 29 countries were received. Results show a strong desire for change, and for more sustainable lifestyles. There is desire for local and ecologically friendly food production, to eat less meat, to have access to green infrastructure and the ability to cycle to work. However, international travel remains popular, and the desire for extensive food production and owning detached houses with gardens will likely result in complex land use trade-offs. Future work could focus more specifically on quantifying these trade-offs and inform respondents about the consequences of their lifestyle choices. This was a first attempt to use crowdsourcing to understand citizen visions for their lives in the future, and our lessons learned will help future studies improve representativeness and increase responses.

Sketching sustainable land use in Europe by 2040: a multi-stakeholder participatory approach to elicit cross-sectoral visions

The continuously growing global demands on a finite land resource will require better strategic policies and management of trade-offs to avoid conflicts between different land-use sectors. Visions of the future can support strategic planning by stimulating dialogue, building a consensus on shared priorities and providing long-term targets. We present a novel approach to elicit stakeholder visions of future desired land use, which was applied with a broad range of experts to develop cross-sectoral visions in Europe. The approach is based on (i) combination of software tools and facilitation techniques to stimulate engagement and creativity; (ii) methodical selection of stakeholders; (iii) use of land attributes to deconstruct the multifaceted sectoral visions into land-use changes that can be clustered into few cross-sectoral visions, and (iv) a rigorous iterative process. Three cross-sectoral visions of sustainable land use in Europe in 2040 emerged from applying the approach in participatory workshops involving experts in nature conservation, recreation, agriculture, forestry, settlements, energy, and water. The three visions—Best Land in Europe, Regional Connected and Local Multifunctional—shared a wish to achieve a land use that is sustainable through multifunctionality, resource use efficiency, controlled urban growth, rural renewal and widespread nature. However, they differ on the scale at which land services are provided—EU-wide, regional or local—reflecting the land-sparing versus land-sharing debate. We discuss the usefulness of the approach, as well as the challenges posed and solutions offered by the visions to support strategic land-use planning.

Framing climate change: new directions in Dutch and Danish planning strategies

Planning in contemporary societies takes place under conditions of complexity and uncertainty, which stresses the politicised character of planning. Through studies of change in particular framings of planning, induced by the integration of climate change policy issues in the strategic planning of Copenhagen (Denmark) and the Zuidplaspolder (the Netherlands), this paper analyses how climate policies push reframing the basic perceptions and spatial imaginaries of strategic planning, and how this affects planning as a politicised activity. The study shows that reframing socio-spatial imaginaries influences the spatiality of the city/the polder, including a spatial identity, advocates certain solutions, and further enables institutional actors to reframe climate issues strategically to benefit other planning objectives as well as weaving together environmental agendas with economic agendas. However, new framings are challenged by some citizens/actors. At an institutional level, framing of planning may hence serve to relocate tensions and engage citizens and stakeholders in hard transitions, thus revealing implications beyond the discursive.

Research challenges for cultural ecosystem services and public health in (peri-)urban environments

Urbanization is a global trend, and consequently the quality of urban environments is increasingly important for human health and wellbeing. Urban life-style is typically associated with low physical activity and sometimes with high mental stress, both contributing to an increasing burden of diseases. Nature-based solutions that make effective use of ecosystem services, particularly of cultural ecosystem services (CES), can provide vital building blocks to address these challenges. This paper argues that, the salutogenic, i.e. health-promoting effects of CES have so far not been adequately recognised and deserve more explicit attention in order to enhance decision making around health and wellbeing in urban areas. However, a number of research challenges will need to be addressed to reveal the mechanisms, which underpin delivery of urban CES. These include: causal chains of supply and demand, equity, and equality of public health benefits promoted. Methodological challenges in quantifying these are discussed. The paper is highly relevant for policy makers within and beyond Europe, and also serves as a review for current researchers and as a roadmap to future short- and long-term research opportunities.

Analyzing the Policy Framework for Climate Change Adaptation

Abstract This chapter explores how policies and policy-making perform to support climate change adaptation. It reflects on different tools that have been presented in Chapters 2–5 and that can be deployed to support decision-making. It also discusses how current adaptation measures operate to enhance the capacity to respond to climate change impacts in a coherent manner across sectors. In this the chapter draws on a database of tools that were developed as part of the Bottom-Up Adaptation Strategies for a Sustainable Europe project to support climate change adaptation. It also draws on an analysis of EU, national, and sectoral adaptation policy-making to document: (1) the mix of tools that have been used to develop adaptation policy in the EU, national policy contexts, and a number of different contexts; (2) the policy challenges of delivering climate change adaptation specifically related to autonomous and planned adaptation, public–private decision-making, bottom-up adaptation policy-making, and policy implementation; and (3) the extent to which adaptation has been mainstream in key sectoral polices in the EU from the supranational to the local level.