Designing effective policy packages for sustainable commuting: Insights from social practice theory

Overcoming the challenges related to current unsustainable mobility systems requires both technological innovation as well as changes on the demand side of mobility. In order to induce these changes on the demand side, so-called policy packages – coherent bundles of different measures – are argued to be particularly suitable interventions. The design of successful policy packages for sustainable mobility often includes the combination of push and pull measures. Our study adds to these findings by informing policy packaging with insights from social practice theory. Based on a practice-theoretical analysis of commuting practices in a living lab setting in a metropolitan region in Germany, we have conducted two transdisciplinary workshops in order to derive specific measures for more sustainable commuting. Relating our findings to measures discussed in policy package and transport planning discourse led us to propose a framework for the design of successful policy packages based on our two main findings: Firstly, effective bundles of measures should address all elements of practice as well as the wider network of practices. Secondly, we propose the concept of enabling measures that should be added to mixes of push and pull measures. The introduction of enabling measures to transport policy and planning allows us to propose actionable insights such as the integration of mobility experiments into processes of mobility management. The suggested framework can be applied by practitioners in order to identify appropriate policy packages for their particular spatial context.