Sustainable suburban mobilities – planning practices and paradoxes

Cities are in transition towards more sustainable mobilities, and many city cores are beyond peak car. However, the suburbs are still largely car based. Although planning principles for compact centres and transit-oriented development have been prevalent since the early nineties, there has been little progress towards more sustainable suburban mobility. This is also the case for the Greater Oslo region. To understand this implementation gap, we have investigated the adoption of the overarching principles of land use and transport planning, as represented in the regional plan for Greater Oslo. In two suburban municipalities, we have focused on key actors in local planning, who are crucial for the implementation of planning principles and strategies to achieve change. We find that the sustainability principles focusing on densification around public transport nodes and in suburban centres are supported. However, essential aspects of social sustainability in the growing suburban towns, have largely been left out. Drawing on the reflexive turn in policies and planning, we argue that this implementation deficit is an unintentional consequence of a too narrow disciplinary spatial planning approach. The implementation of sustainable planning principles requires a broader knowledge base, including the social sciences, in order to take into account peoples’ preferences and practices.