3- A combined approach for the study of the attenuating of the private automobile presence

3- A combined approach for the study of the attenuating of the private automobile presence

The work of other different practitioners from the urban studies field (Bertolini, 2017; Levinson & Krizek, 2008; Wegener & Fürst, 1999) is interlinking with the Sustainable transitions studies. As a good example, the scheme of the feedback cycle (Wegener & Fürst, 2004) illustrating the link between transport and land use demonstrates the contribution of technological innovations and transportation policies to the development of the transport system. The interaction between a transport system and land use passes through two essential and linked parameters, activities, and accessibility.

Figure 8 Scheme of the "transport land-use feedback cycle" (Wegener &Fürst, 1999: adapted by Bertolini, 2012)

To better explain this interaction process, we note that the enhancement or weakening(a) of a transport system has a direct impact [4] on accessibility (b) since it reduces the economic and the time cost of reaching specific locations. As a result, the accessibility (b) created when combined with landuse policies and regional demand (c) has a slow and steady effect [1] on the distribution of land use (making land more valuable for additional development) and locations of activities (e.g., housing, facilities, businesses). The travel behaviours (d) are then quickly influenced [2]by this distribution, these activities are also attached to other socio-demographic, economic and cultural factors (e), for example,

racial and economic segregation, access to capital allowing ease of relocation… The transformation of land use patterns requires changes in activity patterns (e.g., living, working), which take place at and between locations. Meanwhile, the loop continues with a slow impact of the activities [3] on the transport system through adaptive mobility strategies by eventually demanding new or improved transport infrastructure (Giuliano, 2004).

In their work about the ‘scarcity perspective’ framework, Petzer et al. (2021) integrate the urban space as a major component in their framework unlike the transition scholars that consider urban space as any other transition component, leaving thus the “unique constraints and forms of contestation that [urban space] is subject to” (Petzer, Wieczorek, & Verbong, 2021, p. 4).

Graaf et al. (2021) established an assessment framework based on transition studies and linked it to urban planning and mobility studies. Their framework targets “the strategic assessment of urban mobility transition policies by adding and detailing the exnovation perspective to the discussion, both for researchers and decision makers.” (p. 4)

Finally, the work of Mäkinen (2015) on the Helsinki region represents an excellent example of combining urban planning studies with sustainable transition frameworks. The study aimed to understand how the urban form influences the outcomes of mobility policies by combining the three concepts of "path dependence", "path creation", and path destabilisation" to three urban fabrics

Figure 9 : Application of Path creation and Path destabilisation on the three urban fabrics (Mäkinen, Kivimaa, & Helminen, 2015, p. 490)

(walking, transit, and car cities) ( See Figure 9 : Application of Path creation and Path destabilisation on the three urban fabrics . This innovative analytical framework will be borrowed in the following work and applied to the Brussels region.

The complementarity of these different concepts tends to explain the importance of studying urbanisation and mobility through the sustainability transitions lenses and vice versa. The following figures summarise the intertwines of urban planning (through land use) and transport systems and the transition concepts. In Figure 11 : Scheme demonstrating the link between Scheme of the "Transport land-use feedback cycle and the MLP in the case of Walking city and Transit city. Made by the author.we see that through path creation we target the walking and transit city, this involves the path creation in the technological niches, which could translate into the creation of new types of transport modes, new infrastructure, and the revival of walking and biking guided by mobility policies. Followingly, in the walking and transit city, path creation increases the area attractiveness and makes new urban structures through new spatial policies.

In Figure 11 : Scheme demonstrating the link between Scheme of the "Transport land-use feedback cycle and the MLP in the case of Walking city and Transit city. Made by the author.we see that through path destabilisation we target the car city, this involves the path destabilisation of the automobility regime, which could translate the ambition of mobility policies that exnovate the automobile through disinvestment from the automobile infrastructure. Followingly, in the car city, path destabilisation shakes the existing urban structures through new spatial policies that limit the space dedicated to the car and reshape the urban fabric.

Figure 11 : Scheme demonstrating the link between Scheme of the "Transport landuse feedback cycle and the MLP in the case of Walking city and Transit city. Made by the author.

Figure 10 : Scheme demonstrates the link between the Scheme of the "Transport land-use feedback cycle and the MLP in the case of the Car city. Made by the author