Unravelling the Flemish Mobility Orgware: the transition towards a sustainable mobility from an actor-network perspective

ABSTRACT

Large mobility projects in Flanders end up in wicked problems. In the quest for efficient and sustainable mobility, the Flemish government becomes entangled in endless struggles between ever more involved and changing stake- and shareholders. The role and effectiveness of the government is exposed to rising challenges from inside and outside. Since most new projects focus on infrastructural (hardware) or (socio-)technical innovations in the use of mobile means (software), innovations within the organizational structure of mobility (‘orgware’) have mostly remained untouched. We address this hiatus by approaching mobility projects as complex adaptive systems, comprising various, dynamic actor-networks. Following actor-networks through space and time is necessary to obtain an idea of the upcoming, and leading associations of various mobility actors, that are decisive for the success, failure and efficiency of mobility projects. To grasp these complex challenges, one needs to unravel the orgware and identify the potentials of the mobility systems regarding the travel, transport and traffic mobility arenas. We draw upon a combination of actor-network theory and institutional theory insights applied to conceptual mobility frameworks. The resulting research framework for the Flemish mobility orgware will be first applied to the Oosterweel link case in Antwerp.

KEYWORDS:

• Governance
• sustainable mobility
• Flemish mobility system
• actor-network theory
• complex adaptive system
• Oosterweel link

Additional information

Funding

This research is supported by the Flemish Government programmes: ‘Richting morgen’, ‘Vlaanderen in Actie’, ‘Vlaanderen is Innovatie’ and ‘Pact 2020’ within the Urban Logistics and Mobility Project (ULM).