To Örebro University

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Sustainable Development Goals stipulate that persons with disabilities have equal rights to access and safely use transport systems. The aim of the current study is to explore stakeholders' perspectives of the relationship and prioritization between safety and accessibility in the Swedish discussion of disability and transport. The data consist of interviews with 15 informants from the National Council for Disability and Transport and other key stakeholders. Reflexive thematic analysis led to identification of four themes: basis for priorities is a matter of governing; challenges to measuring and evaluating different values; importance of knowledge and building forums; and a universal system of accessibility and safety is a challenge. The results indicate the road ahead for a possible holistic and sustainable governance in the transport systems. However, how this will be put into practise is not yet defined.

Points of interest

• According to several regulations, persons with disabilities have equal rights to safety and accessibility in the transport system. However, there are challenges to combining different concepts and perspectives.
• Lack of mandates for institutions to address both safety and accessibility leads to goal conflicts and a risk that focuses become entrenched with clearly defined boundaries.
• There are challenges in evaluating different values and perspectives in relation to accessibility.
• A facilitating aspect for sustainability regarding safety and accessibility is to create opportunities and systems to allow for the exchange of knowledge.
• Integration of safety and accessibility may be encouraged by the use of existing sets of holistic approaches (i.e. Vision Zero and Universal Design).

Vision Zero was established in 2014 as the foundation of the New York City road safety policy. The purpose of this chapter is to understand why and how Vision Zero was introduced as well as by whom and with what tools. The chapter focuses on understanding this policy change in New York City and is based on a document study and 18 semi-structured interview with 19 respondents city administration staff, researchers, media, and NGOs. The analysis is made by looking closer at the state of four aspects by the time of the establishment of Vision Zero – problem framing, policy formulation, political actors, and proposed solutions. This theoretical framework is mainly based on the work of John Kingdon (Agenda, Alternatives, and Public Policies. Little, Brown, Boston, 1984) and Michael Howlett (Public Policy Adm 34(4):405–430, 2019). The chapter states that there were several factors leading to the adoption of Vision Zero. First, the road safety problems were not as serious as in many other regions of the USA, but compared to other major cities in the western world, the fatalities and serious injuries in New York City were deemed unacceptable by politicians, NGOs, and the public. The imminent problem on the ground was further emphasized by several high-profile cases of child fatalities in traffic crashes. Second, the Vision Zero policy or philosophy was a coherent and above all a successfully tested policy based on a scientific foundation. The credit for introducing Vision Zero in the New York City context is given to non-governmental organizations such as Transportation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets and specific public administrators in key positions. These actors were all searching for new solutions, and as the politicians placed road safety high on the agenda, a window of opportunity was opened to Vision Zero. In addition, politicians, with the support and pressure from NGOs, established a policy program based on Vision Zero, and this program further established a belief in Vision Zero as a credible way forward. There was and is criticism directed towards the policy based on equity and that Vision Zero risks strengthening discriminatory structures. The basic idea of adapting the physical infrastructure to accommodate human mistakes is challenging in many American contexts, but in a diverse city such as New York, this approach may be able to address equity, according to several respondents, if based on solid crash data. The Vision Zero in New York City differs from the original Swedish version in mainly two ways: the focus in New York on law enforcement and on the behavior of the individual road user.

Local strategies and policies are key in climate adaptation, although research shows significant barriers to progress. Sweden, often seen as progressive in climate change issues, has struggled in adopting a sufficient local climate adaptation organization. This article aimed to describe and analyze the climate adaptation organization in 13 Swedish municipalities from five perspectives: Problem framing, administrative and political agency, administrative and political structures, measures and solutions, and the role of learning. The mapping of these perspectives provides an opportunity to analyze barriers to local climate adaptation. Key policy documents have been studied including climate adaptation plans, crisis management plans, and regulatory documents, as well as documents from private consultants. This study showed that few municipalities have a formal organization for climate adaptation, clear structures, political support, and specific climate adaptation plans. At the same time, many of the municipalities are planning for transformation, due to a push from the county board, a lead agency in climate adaptation. There are also ample networks providing opportunities for learning among municipalities and regions. This study concluded that one key barrier is the lack of focus and prioritization in a majority of the municipalities, leaving the administrators, often planners, in a more activist position. The need for organizational mainstreaming and resources is emphasized.