KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE ON PUBLIC POLICY

funded by the Scottish Funding Council

Duration: January 2009 to February 2010.

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Transport and Scotland’s economic and climate change objectives: public policy knowledge exchange in an international perspective

Funded by Scottish Funding Council (SFC) 2009-2010

Aims and objectives

This project is being run by the Transport Research Institute in collaboration with the University of Glasgow and University of Aberdeen and brings together academic experts and public policy practitioners from within Scotland and also from other countries, to achieve three main aims:

• To strengthen the connections between those in government and public agencies responsible for the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change (ministerial portfolio) and those concerned with transport's role as part of the strategy for sustainable economic growth (cabinet secretary's portfolio);
• To develop transport policy options in relation to new Climate Change legislation and to the UK Climate Change Committee’s recommendations to government on the first three Climate Change budgets; and
• To understand how public policy can be improved to increase the potential for achieving targets for transport within the Scottish Climate Change Programme and the context of the National Performance Framework (NPF).

The measurable outcome of the project will be an increase in awareness amongst those in different sub-areas of transport policy of the concerns and activities of those in other areas, and an increased readiness to bring this awareness into their work.  It will also formulate cross-sector inputs to recommendations to government on Climate Change. In addition, it offers the potential to provide new thinking that can then be fed into updates of Scotland’s National Transport Strategy (NTS) and the Carbon Balance Sheet, as well as to achievement of the National Performance Framework.

What does the project consist of?

The project has a strong international comparative thread running through it.  It is composed of six topic-specific workshops, on climate change and transport; congestion; active travel and streetscape; public transport; land use and economic development; and high speed rail.  Each one will last between five and six hours, have no more than 20 participants, and will adopt the following format:

• How the topic relates to Climate Change and NPF objectives.
• What then should be the outcomes that should be sought in that topic area so that it contributes to Climate Change and NPF objectives.
• How other countries or regions deal with the topic in relation to climate change and other objectives – presented by expert(s) for that country or region.
• The applicability to Scotland of the model presented by the experts.
• What changes are necessary in Scotland to achieve the outcomes identified earlier, informed by international experience.

In addition, three “cross-cutting” workshops will allow a core of attendees to reflect on what they have learned in each of the topic-specific workshops they have attended, and how they may use this in their work.

Who will be involved?

The project is coordinated by Tom Rye, Professor of Transport Policy and Mobility Management at Edinburgh Napier University’s Transport Research Institute.  Other academic partners are Prof John Nelson and Dr Jillian Anable, from University of Aberdeen, and Dr Iain Docherty, from University of Glasgow.  A range of public policy partners is also involved in the “cross-cutting” workshops.  Invitees to individual workshops will be drawn from senior levels in government and other transport organisations.

Workshops

1. Climate change and transport: 26th May 2009, Edinburgh
2. Active travel and streetscape: 21st Aug 2009, Edinburgh
3. Public transport: 28th Sept 2009, Aberdeen
4. Congestion: 3rd Nov 2009, Edinburgh
5. Land use planning and transport: 22nd Jan 2010, Glasgow
6. High speed rail: 12 Feb 2010, Glasgow

Further information

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