IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirc/v44y2026i3p449-473.html

“When the force of public opinion gathers†: From online advocacy to policy engagement on pedestrian safety

Author

Listed:
  • Tsu-Jui Cheng
  • Ken-Ti Liu
  • Yu-Ping Wang
  • Yen-Hua Lin

Abstract

Pedestrian safety has emerged as a critical policy issue in Taiwan, where persistent road fatalities and car-centric planning have fueled public concern. This study examines how third-sector advocacy has evolved from online mobilization to real-world policy engagement, influencing transportation governance. Drawing on qualitative interviews with advocates, policymakers, and planners, the research explores how social media platforms enable advocacy coalitions to build visibility, mobilize public discourse, and press for institutional change. The study employs the Advocacy Coalition Framework and the Multiple Streams Approach to analyze how shared beliefs, policy learning, and political opportunity shape the trajectory of advocacy. Findings show that online advocacy catalyzed issue salience and participatory pressure, leading to partial policy responses such as painted sidewalks. However, incremental gains remain constrained by institutional fragmentation, stakeholder resistance, and the absence of structural reform. The study contributes to existing literature on participatory transport governance by demonstrating how hybrid advocacy models, linking digital and real-world engagement, can influence policy processes while facing persistent limits to institutionalization.

Suggested Citation

  • Tsu-Jui Cheng & Ken-Ti Liu & Yu-Ping Wang & Yen-Hua Lin, 2026. "“When the force of public opinion gathers†: From online advocacy to policy engagement on pedestrian safety," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 44(3), pages 449-473, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:44:y:2026:i:3:p:449-473
    DOI: 10.1177/23996544251385324
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23996544251385324
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/23996544251385324?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McAndrews, Carolyn & Marcus, Justine, 2015. "The politics of collective public participation in transportation decision-making," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 537-550.
    2. Molly Scott-Cato, 2010. "Did the Earth Move? Social and co-operative models of economic activity," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 53(3), pages 333-337, September.
    3. Leung, Abraham & Burke, Matthew & Perl, Anthony & Cui, Jianqiang, 2018. "The peak oil and oil vulnerability discourse in urban transport policy: A comparative discourse analysis of Hong Kong and Brisbane," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 5-18.
    4. Jean-Louis Laville, 2003. "A New European Socioeconomic Perspective," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 61(3), pages 389-405.
    5. Astari, Annisa Joviani & Lovett, Jon C., 2019. "Does the rise of transnational governance ‘hollow-out’ the state? Discourse analysis of the mandatory Indonesian sustainable palm oil policy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 1-12.
    6. Griffin, Greg Phillip & Jiao, Junfeng, 2019. "The Geography and Equity of Crowdsourced Public Participation for Active Transportation Planning," SocArXiv 9ghrn, Center for Open Science.
    7. Abid Mehmood & Muhammad Imran, 2021. "Digital social innovation and civic participation: toward responsible and inclusive transport planning," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(10), pages 1870-1885, October.
    8. Jiawei Ge & Wenming Shi & Xuefeng Wang, 2020. "Policy Agenda for Sustainable Intermodal Transport in China: An Application of the Multiple Streams Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-14, May.
    9. Woo Hoon Jeon, 2022. "Priority-Setting Methodology of Qualitative and Quantitative Analyses for Pedestrian Road Construction: Case Study of a National Highway in South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-18, December.
    10. Wayne Williamson & Kristian Ruming, 2020. "Can social media support large scale public participation in urban planning? The case of the #MySydney digital engagement campaign," International Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 355-371, October.
    11. Wayne Williamson & Kristian Ruming, 2017. "Urban consolidation process and discourses in Sydney: unpacking social media use in a community group’s media campaign," Planning Theory & Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 428-445, July.
    12. Reinout Kleinhans & Maarten Van Ham & Jennifer Evans-Cowley, 2015. "Using Social Media and Mobile Technologies to Foster Engagement and Self-Organization in Participatory Urban Planning and Neighbourhood Governance," Planning Practice & Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(3), pages 237-247, June.
    13. repec:osf:socarx:9ghrn_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Jenkins-Smith, Hank C. & Sabatier, Paul A., 1994. "Evaluating the Advocacy Coalition Framework," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(2), pages 175-203, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Avelino, Flor & Wittmayer, Julia M. & Pel, Bonno & Weaver, Paul & Dumitru, Adina & Haxeltine, Alex & Kemp, René & Jørgensen, Michael S. & Bauler, Tom & Ruijsink, Saskia & O'Riordan, Tim, 2019. "Transformative social innovation and (dis)empowerment," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 195-206.
    2. Willemien Laenens & Wendy Van den Broeck & Ilse Mariën, 2018. "Channel Choice Determinants of (Digital) Government Communication: A Case Study of Spatial Planning in Flanders," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 140-152.
    3. Willemien Laenens & Wendy Van den Broeck & Ilse Mariën, 2018. "Channel Choice Determinants of (Digital) Government Communication: A Case Study of Spatial Planning in Flanders," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 140-152.
    4. Eusebius Pantja Pramudya & Lukas Rumboko Wibowo & Fitri Nurfatriani & Iman Kasiman Nawireja & Dewi Ratna Kurniasari & Sakti Hutabarat & Yohanes Berenika Kadarusman & Ananda Oemi Iswardhani & Rukaiyah , 2022. "Incentives for Palm Oil Smallholders in Mandatory Certification in Indonesia," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-28, April.
    5. Thibaud Deguilhem & Juliette Schlegel & Jean-Philippe Berrou & Ousmane Djibo & Alain Piveteau, 2024. "Too many options: How to identify coalitions in a policy network?," Post-Print hal-04689665, HAL.
    6. Dian Nostikasari & Nicole Foster & Lauren Krake, 2024. "Inhabiting digital spaces: An informational right to the city for mobility justice," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(13), pages 2585-2602, October.
    7. Johanna Wilkes, 2026. "Influence and legitimacy in public policy: investigating the Canadian agricultural subsystem," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 43(2), pages 1-17, June.
    8. repec:osf:socarx:9ghrn_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Ene Ikpebe & Emily Boykin & Alex Osei-Kojo & Bukola Usidame Peters, 2026. "An advocacy coalition framework analysis of local government autonomy in Nigeria," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 59(2), pages 417-437, June.
    10. Mockshell, Jonathan & Birner, Regina, 2021. "Agricultural Policy Processes: Influential Actors, Policy Networks and Competing Narratives," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315323, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Handoko Limaho & Sugiarto & Rudy Pramono & Rio Christiawan, 2022. "The Need for Global Green Marketing for the Palm Oil Industry in Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-15, July.
    12. Griffin, Greg Phillip & Jiao, Junfeng, 2019. "The Geography and Equity of Crowdsourced Public Participation for Active Transportation Planning," SocArXiv 9ghrn, Center for Open Science.
    13. Alattar, Mohammad Anwar & Cottrill, Caitlin & Beecroft, Mark, 2021. "Public participation geographic information system (PPGIS) as a method for active travel data acquisition," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    14. Yun, Hyunsoo & Lee, Eun Hak, 2025. "Party politics in transport policy with a large language model," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 487-496.
    15. Montfort Simon, 2023. "Key predictors for climate policy support and political mobilization: The role of beliefs and preferences," PLOS Climate, Public Library of Science, vol. 2(8), pages 1-21, August.
    16. Diana Pamela Villa Alvarez & Valentina Auricchio & Marzia Mortati, 2022. "Mapping design activities and methods of public sector innovation units through the policy cycle model," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 55(1), pages 89-136, March.
    17. Mockshell, Jonathan & Birner, Regina, 2020. "Who has the better story? On the narrative foundations of agricultural development dichotomies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    18. Hu, Lingqian & Schneider, Robert J. & Chakraborty, Tathagato, 2025. "Reformed planning process for transport justice: The experiment of FlexRide Milwaukee," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 198-206.
    19. Jean-Philippe Berrou & Alain Piveteau & Thibaud Deguilhem & Leo Delpy & Claire Gondard-Delcroix, 2021. "Who Drives if No-one Governs? A Social Network Analysis of Social Protection Policy in Madagascar," Working Papers hal-03180029, HAL.
    20. Mockshell, Jonathan & Birner, Regina, 2015. "Donors and domestic policy makers: Two worlds in agricultural policy-making?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 1-14.
    21. Erik Glaas & Mattias Hjerpe & Martin Karlson & Tina-Simone Neset, 2020. "Visualization for Citizen Participation: User Perceptions on a Mainstreamed Online Participatory Tool and Its Usefulness for Climate Change Planning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-16, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:44:y:2026:i:3:p:449-473. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.