James
Interesting and I'd love to participate in further discussion on this topic.
Appreciate off-line contact.
John Meudell
Research Associate
Swansea University
Ps; I have a university e-mail but it's a junk mail magnet, so I tend not to
use it....!
-----Original Message-----
From: Cycling and Society Research Group discussion list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of James Macmillen
Sent: 15 June 2011 11:52
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: international best practice (cycling)
Hi Gail and others, and apologies to list members who aren't interested in
this discussion.
Last year I wrote a thesis on the prevalence of 'best practice' thinking in
UK walking and cycling policy. At the bottom of this email you can find the
abstract and a link to a freely-available .pdf of the full dissertation. If
I remember correctly, this is what I covered:
Chap 1: A broad history of the BP notion and its present ubiquity in
transport policy circles Chap 2: Theory/method Chap 3: Eight case studies
examining how key UK policy actors encounter and understand the notion of BP
(based on interviews with an academic, senior Whitehall official, campaign
directors, local authority planners etc.) Chap 4: Explaining why BP appears
to be such a popular notion (specifically, I argued that it affords a degree
of: 'heuristic learning', 'discourse manipulation','egoistic
promotion','affiliative justification', and 'strategic articulation' - all
of which are of relevance in complex, intractable policy domains such as
transport) Chap 5: Focusing on its major role as a learning heuristic, I
finally attempted to highlight the opportunity costs of present BP thinking
for the broader project of policy learning. If I remember, these related to
the fact that 'best' is invariably understood in a relative sense (rather
than absolute), that 'practice' usually refers to interventions per se,
rather than their associated processes of implementation and action, and
that we can often learn as much, if not more, from instances of policy
failure.
I'd be happy to discuss further off-list if people wish.
Best wishes,
James Macmillen
TSU, University of Oxford
*****
‘BEST PRACTICE’ AND SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY:
A CRITICAL REALIST ACCOUNT
In the last two decades, the notion of ‘best practice’ has become accepted
into the standard lexicon of policy-making. Transport policy has not been
exempt from this trend; ‘best practice’ approaches to the development,
implementation and evaluation of policy interventions are ubiquitous at all
scales of governance, appearing to enjoy both explicit and tacit support
from a diverse array of political actors. Recently, however, dissenting
voices in the planning literature have questioned the core tenets of the
‘best practice’ notion. Chiefly, these critiques have tended to focus on the
apparent naiveté of ‘best practice’ as it relates to the attendant notion of
‘policy transfer’, highlighting the salience of institutional heterogeneity
as a limitation to spatial policy convergence. Yet, while such analyses are
extremely commendable, they have failed to address: (1) how the notion of
‘best practice’ is understood, encountered and employed by policy actors;
(2) why the ‘best practice’ notion has proven so popular; and (3) the
broader implications of ‘best practice’ policy learning with regard to a
future transition to sustainable mobility. Grounded in critical realist
ontology, this thesis directly addresses these three concerns through a
series of in-depth case studies with policy actors involved in UK walking
and cycling policy. Contrary to received wisdom, it argues that the notion
of ‘best practice’ is characterised by significant conceptual ambiguity and
diverse functionality, attributing this to the inherent causal powers
present in the notion itself and the antagonistic, intractable policy
context in which active travel is presently mired. Recognising the limits to
‘best practice’ thinking, the thesis concludes with a plea for a modest
‘rebalancing’ of contemporary policy learning approaches.
Download at: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/171965/
________________________________________
From: Cycling and Society Research Group discussion list
[[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jennings Gail
[[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 15 June 2011 10:50
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Any recommendations for papers on learning from international
best practice (cycling)
Hi John and all
Great, thank you - and I might have been less clear than I could have been
about what I'm looking for...
As I'm pretty sceptical about best practice (who knows how it's devised?).
What I'm really looking for are papers about HOW to pick our way through the
concept of best practice and find the wood among the trees... About exactly
that disenchantment about best practice and its at times misguided
implementation...
I like the North American work as often it's more relevant for African
cities, which are also more car-centric with lower densities...
all the best
Gail
On 15 Jun 2011, at 11:39 AM, john meudell wrote:
Hi Gail
From the lack of response I suspect many over here have become disenchanted
with the (lack of) progress on cycle development or don’t think much of the
so-called “best” practices that have been implemented. Personally I’m very
wary of the term “best practice” as, all too often, the context within which
the measure has been introduced or the claims of “best practice” by the
bodies introducing them (having spent time as a benchmarking practitioner in
international private industry I know the psychology!).
That said, I would recommend looking at North America. Although I can’t be
specific I’ve found that, when the engineers and planners do get around to
doing something, they tend to do better than elsewhere…and it tends to be
more cost effective too (always an advantage when budgets are tight). So,
some sources:
First stop would be the National Center for Bicycling & Walking:
http://www.bikewalk.org/
They organise a bi-annual Conference along the lines of Velo-City, and all
the papers are available on their website, along with a number of
free-to-download publications (some of which claim to have done what you are
looking for).
I’d also talk to some of the more successful city authorities, particularly
the west coast ones, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Vancouver, etc., who
seem to do both the bread-and-butter stuff and the more original stuff
reasonably successful.
I’d also note that City of Edmonton recruited a group of consultants to
advise, develop and implement a cycle policy about two years ago. It might
be interesting to see what they came up with and how well the
implementations have gone (I have the job spec if it’s of interest).
To be honest I wouldn’t bother too much with Northern Europeans who, with
the exception of the UK, tend to be farther ahead in evolution and
approaches (many, many, years in fact). And I would be looking for cities
and states where they are going through a period of change starting from a
low base. And I would avoid looking at those that implemented helmet
legislation in that this tends to mask and undermine other measures, so it’s
difficult to tell the wood from the trees.
Hope this is of some help.
John Meudell
Research Associate
Swansea University
Department of Business and Economics
From: Cycling and Society Research Group discussion list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jennings Gail
Sent: 13 June 2011 17:56
To:
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]
>
Subject: Fwd: Any recommendations for papers on learning from international
best practice (cycling)
Subject: Any recommendations for papers on learning from international best
practice (cycling)
Hi all
Is anyone able to recommend good / useful papers on the above - learning
from international best practice in building cycle-friendly cities (there's
a lot out there about how to / what is / what is not, but I'm interested in
work around context, uncritical 'copying' of what works in one place, etc).
thanks and all the best
Gail
Gail Jennings
Policy Research & Support / Campaigns, Communication & Social Marketing /
Sustainable Transport & Urban Development
call: +27 (0)83 658 5386
email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
skype: gail-mobility
find me on the web
www.gailjennings.co.za<file:///\\Users\gail\Downloads\www.gailjennings.co.za
>
www.mobilitymagazine.co.za<http://www.mobilitymagazine.co.za/>
www.capetownbicyclemap.co.za<http://www.capetownbicyclemap.co.za/>
|
