Description
Book SynopsisImproving urban air quality has become a policy priority for the European Union, national governments and city authorities as more evidence comes to light of the harmful health effects of road traffic pollution. This book clearly illustrates how to work towards effective policies for improved urban air quality.
The authors argue that designing and implementing successful policies is not just a matter of deciding on the most appropriate technological solutions. A process of institution building has to take place which works towards consensus among a variety of potentially divergent interests; from the police and highway authorities to business interests and citizens. Making use of policy network theory, this volume presents studies of attempts to build such coalitions, and the factors that have often frustrated them, in countries such as Canada, France, Italy and Switzerland. This book provides a major contribution to the theoretical and empirical understanding of the policies needed to combat road traffic pollution.
The Politics of Improving Urban Air Quality will prove invaluable to scholars of environmental studies and public policy.
Table of ContentsContents: Preface 1. Introduction 2. When Policy Networks Collide: The Institutional Dynamic of Air Pollution Policy-making in two Canadian Cities 3. ‘Soft’ Institutions for Hard Problems: Instituting Air Pollution Policies in Three Italian Regions 4. Improving Air Quality in Italian Cities: The Outcome of an Emergency Policy Style 5. Shifting Tools and Shifting Meanings in Urban Traffic Policy: The Case of Turin 6. Changing Definitions and Networks in Clean Air Policy in France 7. Lyon’s Urban Transportation Policy and the Air Quality Problem: A Policy Network Approach 8. Clean Air and Transport Policy in Switzerland: The Case of Berne 9. Conclusion: Institution Building for Sustainable Urban Mobility Policies Bibliography Index
