Moving together towards vision zero: a case of managerial mediation of values and imaginaries in transportation planning
Date
2021
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Transportation systems are in the midst of technological disruption. As visions of desirable futures, sociotechnical imaginaries associated with new and rediscovered innovations make claims on transportation decision-making. In municipal transportation system management, decision-making guidance derives from legislative direction, community voice, expertise, and/or a public value-seeking orientation that strives to produce public value. Yet, for those managers who aspire to the latter, little direction is available to determine what is valuable to pursue. This case study applies a mixed methods research design to analyze the motivations of transportation public managers in the update of a long-range transportation plan in Ann Arbor, Michigan using the Sociotechnical Imaginaries Theory and Public Value Theory frameworks. The project management team is revealed to manage the planning process to seek to advance a professional conception of public interest (what is good for the public) to the extent that it can be justified by public will (what the public wants or will tolerate). This conception of public value is contrary to the Public Values literature which conceptualizes public value as contributing to one or the other. The technocratic approach adopted in Ann Arbor, constrained by disciplinary bounds, yielded a safe and multimodal choice mobility dominant imaginary. A further finding is the presence of additional sociotechnical imaginaries competing at the institutional level. While the connected and autonomous imaginary of safe, efficient, equitable and comfortable mobility remained captured outside the public sphere, it nevertheless continues to materially shape Ann Arbor’s transportation future. The trajectory of the sustainable mobility imaginary, however, eventually paralleled the safe mobility imaginary in the planning process. In an instance of unexpected managerial learning, the scope of a traditional safety and infrastructure-focused transportation plan broadened to address the physical well-being of vulnerable users, is further reconceived to address broader social goals. My findings support the need for cities in general, and transportation engineers and planners in particular, to reconsider the role of transportation planning in local communities to better account for, and redress, the multiple influences of transportation on the human experience.
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Keywords
Case study, Public service mindsets, Public value, Q method, Sociotechnical imaginaries, Transportation planning