International Cooperation on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans in Latin America
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International Cooperation on
Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans in
Latin America
Investigating Collaborative Planning Processes In The
Metropolitan Area Of Guadalajara
Anouchka Magdalena Strunden
Supervisor: Kobe Boussauw
Master thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Science in Urban Studies (VUB) and Master of Science in
Geography, general orientation, track ‘Urban Studies’ (ULB)
Date of submission: 29th July 2020
Master Thesis - Anouchka Strunden – M.Sc. Urban Studies VUB & ULB
Master in Urban Studies – Academic year 2019-
i
And it is not only about the physical context, but about the mindset,
and that is difficult Anouchka, very difficult.
(Expert Interview, stakeholder AMG, 2020)
I want to express my gratitude for those that have been a crucial support in making the most out
of this research project. For Kobe’s regular advice and check-up and the cooperation with
Rupprecht Consult: the input and insights from Siegfried, the discussions with and availability of
Susanne, the inspiring and motivating assistance in Katy’s daily work and the kind support from
Marie were very encouraging.
I also thank all interviewees for the insightful conversations and the look behind the curtains of
international cooperation in sustainable mobility planning, in particular the ones with Jesus and
Raúl!
Of course, writing this thesis, most importantly the last part of the complex process of
assemblage was ever so much eased by the delightful, constructive and intelligent – human and
virtual – presence, advise and encouragement of Santiago. And Jake! And Paula, Beany, Noel
and Taddy (ohne dessen VPN natürlich nichts gegegangen wäre).
To have a very positive and optimistic outlook on life is possible because of Tanja and Stefan
and to retreat to the Höferhof for some final concentration because of Annette and Henning.
Master Thesis - Anouchka Strunden – M.Sc. Urban Studies VUB & ULB
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Declarations ............................................................................................................................................................................................iiiii
List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................................................................ iiv
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................................................................. v
List of Graphs .............................................................................................................................................................................................. v
Abstract .........................................................................................................................................................................................................1
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................2
2. Contextualisation ......................................................................................................................................................................7
2.1 Literature Review ...............................................................................................................................................................7
2.2 Policy Transfer in the LAC Region ...............................................................................................................................9
3. Presenting the Case Study ................................................................................................................................................. 11
3.1 European Policy Guidance on SUMPs...................................................................................................................... 12
3.2 The SUMP Guidelines and the LAC Region ............................................................................................................ 13
3.3 Demographic Growth and Car-Ownership in the LAC Region ..................................................................... 15
3.4 Urban Mobility in the AMG........................................................................................................................................... 17
3.4.1 The AMG’s Institutional Structures around Sustainable Planning .................................................. 21
4. Methodology ............................................................................................................................................................................ 25
4.1 The Triangulation of Data and Grounded Theory ............................................................................................. 25
4.1.1 Participant Observation ..................................................................................................................................... 28
4.1.2 Stakeholder Mapping ........................................................................................................................................... 29
4.1.3 Expert Interviews .................................................................................................................................................. 33
4.1.4 Coding ......................................................................................................................................................................... 37
5. Analysis of International Consulting Practices......................................................................................................... 39
5.1 Transnational Best Practices ...................................................................................................................................... 39
5.1.1 Communication ...................................................................................................................................................... 40
5.2 Collaborative SUMP Planning ..................................................................................................................................... 41
5.2.1 Technical vs Strategic Consultancy ............................................................................................................... 42
5.2.2 Technical vs Strategic Planning ...................................................................................................................... 44
5.3 Commitment to the SUMP Approach ....................................................................................................................... 47
5.3.1 Decision-Making Processes............................................................................................................................... 49
5.3.2 Metropolitan Governance Mismatch ............................................................................................................ 51
6. The Community of Practice and the Implementation of SUMPs....................................................................... 52
6.1 Political Dependency ...................................................................................................................................................... 53
6.2 Prioritising Technical Expertise over Participatory Planning ..................................................................... 56
6.3 Contextual Differences between the LAC Region and Europe ..................................................................... 58
7. Discussion and conclusion on Drivers and Barriers in the Cooperation ...................................................... 61
7.1 Recommendations and Learned Lessons .............................................................................................................. 67
7.2 Limitations and Outlook................................................................................................................................................ 68
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 70
Appendix .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 75
Stakeholder Mapping ...................................................................................................................................................................... 75
Interview Questions ........................................................................................................................................................................ 75
Master Thesis - Anouchka Strunden – M.Sc. Urban Studies VUB & ULB
iii
Declarations
Declaration of originality
I hereby declare that this thesis was entirely my own work and that any additional sources of
information have been duly cited.
I certify that, to the best of my knowledge, my thesis does not infringe upon anyone’s copyright nor
violate any proprietary rights and that any ideas, techniques, quotations, or any other material from
the work of other people included in my thesis, published or otherwise, are fully acknowledged in
accordance with the standard referencing practices. I declare that this thesis has not been submitted
for a higher degree to any other University or Institution.
Declaration of unexpected circumstances
This master's thesis came about during the period in which higher education was subjected to a
lockdown and protective measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The process of
formatting, data collection and the research method could therefore not always be carried out in the
usual manner. The reader should bear this context in mind when reading this Master thesis, and in
the event that some conclusions are taken on board.
Translations
As this case study investigates the Mexican metropolitan area of Guadalajara and the Latin-
American and Caribbean Community in general, articles, papers, conversations and written
communication held in Spanish are substantial part of the research. For purposes of simplification,
all Spanish content used in the thesis was translated into English by the author. As the interviews
were not formally transcribed but instead summarised and simultaneously translated, the accounts
of 4 out of 9 interview partners do not represent their literal formulations. All translation of research,
interviews and other documents have nevertheless been carried out consciously and carefully and
with the attempt to keep falsification and distortion to a minimum.
Master Thesis - Anouchka Strunden – M.Sc. Urban Studies VUB & ULB
iv
List of Abbreviations
AMG Area Metropolitana de Guadalajara (Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara)
AFD Agence Française de Développement
CoP Community of Practice
COM Citizen Observatory of Mobility and Transport for the State of Jalisco
EU European Union
GIZ Gesellschaft für International Zusammenarbeit
IADB Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (Inter-American Development Bank)
IMEPLAN Instituto de Planeación y Gestión del Desarrollo del Área Metropolitana de Guadalajara
(Metropolitan Planning and Management Institute)
LAC Latin American and Caribbean Countries
LATAM Latin American Countries
MA Mobility Academy Learning Platform
AMIM Agencia Metropolitana de Infrastructura y Movilidad de Guadalajara
(Metropolitan Infrastructural and Mobility Agency)
NUMP National Urban Mobility Plan
PIMUS Plan Integral de Movilidad Urbana Sostenible (SUMP)
PO Participant Observation
RC Rupprecht Consult
SUMP Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan
UMP Urban Mobility Plan
Master Thesis - Anouchka Strunden – M.Sc. Urban Studies VUB & ULB
v
List of Figures
FIGURE 1: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF POLICY TRANSFER ROUTES ..............................................................................................9
FIGURE 2: THE SUMP CYCLE OF THE GUIDELINES WITH ITS FOUR PHASES AND 12 STEPS .......................................................... 12
FIGURE 3: URBAN EXPANSION IN THE AMG ........................................................................................................................... 15
FIGURE 4: GROWTH FACTORS IN TRANSPORT DEMAND...................................................................................................................... 15
FIGURE 5: LAND USE AND NATURAL RESERVES IN THE METROPOLITAN AREA OF GUADALAJARA ............................................... 18
FIGURE 6: SURFACE IN HECTARES COVERED BY PUBLIC TRANSPORT ROUTES IN THE METROPOLITAN AREA OF GUADALAJARA
............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 19
FIGURE 7: VISUALISATION OF THE METHODS AND STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS .............................................................................. 26
FIGURE 8: RESEARCHER’S ROLE IN PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION ...................................................................................................... 28
FIGURE 9: SCHEMATIC REPRESENTATION OF KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER IN THE TRANSNATIONAL EXPERT NETWORK ................ 33
FIGURE 10: USE OF SUBCODES ON EXPERT INTERVIEWS IN THE CATEGORY "CONSULTING PROCESS"....................................... 36
FIGURE 11: DISTRIBUTION OF CODES AND SUBCODES ACCORDING TO THE GROUP OF EMPIRICAL DATA; PARTICIPANT
OBSERVATION AND EXPERT INTERVIEWS .................................................................................................................................... 37
FIGURE 12: FREQUENCY OF APPLIED CODES ON ALL ANALYSED EMPIRICAL DATA .......................................................................... 38
FIGURE 13: TRADITIONAL TRANSPORT PLANNING VS SUMP............................................................................................................ 44
FIGURE 14: SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS................................................................................................................................................. 61
FIGURE 15: STAKEHOLDER MAPPING IN THE EUROCLIMA+ POLICY TRANSFER ON SUMP SUPPORT .................................. 75
List of Tables and Graphs
TABLE 1: SWOT ANALYSIS OF THE PIMUS FROM 2015 .................................................................................................................. 23
GRAPH 2: PARTICIPANTS THAT HAVE ALREADY MONITORED TRANSPORT PLANNING PRACTICES IN THEIR CITY ...................... 53
GRAPH 3: PERCEIVED IMPORTANCE OF ELEMENTS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A SUMP ....................................................... 56
GRAPH 4: PREFERRED METHOD TO LEARN ABOUT THE SUMP METHODOLOGY .............................................................................. 56
GRAPH 5: PREFERRED METHODS TO COOPERATE AND COORDINATE MORE EFFICIENTLY WITH STAKEHOLDERS AND CITIZENS
............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 57
GRAPH 6: THE PERCEIVED RELEVANCE OF CONTEXT DIFFERENCES ACCORDING TO THE LAC COP ............................................. 58
Master Thesis - Anouchka Strunden – M.Sc. Urban Studies VUB & ULB
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Abstract
International Cooperation on Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning:
Investigating Collaborative Planning Practices in the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara
This qualitative research develops a critical perspective on Global North-to-South policy transfer
in sustainable mobility planning in the Mexican case study of the metropolitan area of Guadalajara
(AMG). Situated within an international network of cooperation, the AMG is regarded as national
example for urban initiatives towards sustainable and integrated urban planning in Mexico.
To understand the complex dynamics between stakeholders, the study investigates consulting
practices in the AMG, drawing on the rich study on policy transfer, actor-network theory and the
recently bourgeoning body of literature on sustainable mobility concepts in the Global South. The
aim is to provide more accurate accounts on the problematics of contextualisation in policy
transfer, the barriers in overcoming a technical and pragmatic planning approach and the
governmental struggles in a polarised, developing country such as Mexico.
As a participant observer, the thesis follows the international cooperation to support the AMG’s
Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan in the scope of in the EUROCLIMA+ project which advocates a
procedural and capacity building approach. With the qualitative methods of participant
observation, expert interviews and the study of practitioners’ contribution to the community of
practice, the study works out opportunities and limitations of such endeavour, according to the
different agents involved in the transfer of policy guidance.
The collected material is analysed regarding local and international communication, expectations
of the cooperation, and its integration into the local context. These results are put against
experiences from the Latin American and Caribbean community of practice to validate the
formulation of a set of lessons that are drawn from the specific inhibitions of the Mexican case
study. Finally, recommendations for international cooperation transfer in sustainable mobility
include an increase in the use of online tools for local participation and international consulting
activities, a coherent national framework that legitimises the strategic approach, and lastly an
increased use of best practices and contextual additions form the Global South, like road and street
safety.
Keywords Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan; policy transfer; Global North-to-South; international
consulting practices; actor-network theory; strategic planning
Master Thesis - Anouchka Strunden – M.Sc. Urban Studies VUB & ULB
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1. Introduction
High urbanisation rates in “non-Western”1 parts of the world put the struggle towards a multi-
modal and efficient urban transport network high on the agenda. In Europe, experience with and
interest in integrated transport systems is high, demonstrated by the abundance of Urban Mobility
Plans (UMP) in countries such as the UK, Spain, France and Germany. Indicative of the demand for
urban transport development and strategic assistance in sustainable mobility, the European
Commission developed a “Urban Mobility Package”. As core document, the European Sustainable
Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) guidelines (Rupprecht Consult, 2019) were first published in 2013
and updated in 2019. The practice of mobility plans – both obligatory and voluntary, depending
on the respective national framework of European countries – is a consolidated and substantial
step towards integrated urban planning and land use regulation in the recent history of Western
planning. It embodies a transformational, “game changer” narrative of urban centres, symbolising
the clustered potential to rethink our unsustainable way of living, consuming and moving. As such,
urban transport planning in the Western world is the product of an inherent process of path
dependency, and yet it is applied in non-Western urban realities of rapidly growing, vast and
dense cities.
Given the dynamic development of international exchange on planning and policy
practices in Europe (see projects such as CIVITAS; SUMPs-Up; Eltis, the Urban Mobility portal),
sustainable urban mobility has come to be regarded as fertile ground for policy transfer (Bezerra
et al., 2020; May et al., 2017) and European initiatives are progressively expanding beyond the
continent’s boarder to cooperate with Asian, African and Latin-American and Caribbean (LAC)
cities (see projects such as EUROCLIMA+ SUMP support; MobiliseYourCity; SOLUTIONS+;
ReVeAL). Policy mobility in the transport sector is substantially based on the use of best practices
which is both welcomed and contested by transfer agents, local planners and international
agencies alike.
Such “best practices” in planning are inspired by narratives pertaining to successful
sustainable cities that defy the omnipresent urban challenges of social polarisation, pollution and
fragmentation of the urban fabric (Kębłowski et al., 2019; López, 2017; Pereira et al., 2017;
Vasconcellos, 2003). The general objective of the thesis is therefore to assess transfer agents’
practices in transcontinental urban mobility consulting in the case of the EUROCLIMA+ SUMP
support in the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara (AMG) in Mexico. The researcher’s participant
perspective seeks to provide diversified and accurate accounts of procedural struggles in policy
learning and underpinning dynamics of governance, and to discuss the consequent
“recommendations” and “learned lessons”.
1 In the following, the term “non-Western” describes all regions of the world except Canada, the US and Western Europe.
Master Thesis - Anouchka Strunden – M.Sc. Urban Studies VUB & ULB
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In Europe, planning practices have a long and complex history, as does the relationship
between urban planning and European colonisation (Watson, 2016; Connell, 2007). Place-based
factors, path dependency, a liberal global market, continuous national outsourcing and
fragmented production chains perpetuate structural Western dominance. In this sense, the flow
of knowledge transfer and policy learning remains a Global North-to-South trajectory. However,
instant communication facilities and the global accessibility of information allow policies to
spread faster and further than ever. South-to-South policy learning is also increasing (Montero,
2017b; Sosa López and Montero, 2018; Flores Dewey, 2013). At the same time, actor-networks
(Latour, 2005) are progressively expanding from a classical governmental spectrum into a
heterogenous constellation of multi-actor, multi-scale cooperation between international
development agencies, development banks, think tanks, universities and local advisors (Montero,
2017b; Swyngedouw, 2009). Relational processes of governance and international knowledge
transfer have a decisive effect on implementation and should therefore be considered alongside
the study of content-related transferability (Haeley, 2013; Peck and Theodore, 2010a; De Jong and
Edelenbos, 2007).
Academic literature on subjects such as “crossfertilisation” and the transnational network
in sustainable urban transport development has only recently burgeoned including work that
engages with Global South to South transfer of the “sustainable urban agenda” (Montero and
López, 2018; Montero, 2017c) as well as Brazilian literature on transport measures (Bezerra et
al., 2019) and the effects of transport networks on poverty (Benevenuto and Caulfield, 2019).
Against the backdrop of continuous “mobility” of knowledge, policy and people, processes
of policy adaptation and policy learning have not ceased to be of great interest to academics of
critical geography, international politics and urban and social studies. Policy transfer in the form
of capacity training from the Global North to the Global South as well as the expected vs actual
results of such endeavours, deserves more academic attention. In this way, the lacunae in the
literature on European policy models, in combination with governance in the LAC region and the
dialectic of European and LAC policy transfer (Bezerra et al., 2020; Soria et al., 2019; May et al.,
2017) indicate a blank spot in the progressive development of SUMP methodologies, and
correspond to a call for a more critical approach on the feasibility of the promoted sustainable
mobility measures (Kębłowski et al., 2019; Sosa López and Montero, 2018; Pereira et al., 2017;
Sosa López, 2017a; Banister, 2008).
To maximise the qualitative added value of this investigation, the thesis is structured
around the specific case of policy advice in the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara. This specific city
stands for a new urban agenda in the Mexican context. This is apparent in local grassroot activism
pushing forward infrastructure for non-motorised modes of transport (e.g. GDL en bici; Consejo
Ciudadano para la Movilidad Sustentable; Colective Ecologista Jalisco), the creation of a
metropolitan planning institute (IMEPLAN) and coordinative forums for better integration of
Master Thesis - Anouchka Strunden – M.Sc. Urban Studies VUB & ULB
4
planning practices (Mesas Metropolitanas). In the course of these recent developments, the AMG
is cooperating with a diversity of international agencies and offices, actively engaging in the global
exchange and dissemination of urban strategies for sustainable development. EUROCLIMA+,
funded by the European Commission to support environmental sustainability and climate action,
operates through various international development agencies (AfD, CEPAL, FIIAPP). In the case of
the AMG, EUROCLIMA+ supports the development of the SUMP and of a pilot project for the study
of travel demand. This is in cooperation with the GIZ which engaged Rupprecht Consult to support
the SUMP related tasks.
In this multilateral consulting project, the propagation of SUMP planning tools focuses on
both a sustainable decision-making process and sustainable urban transport plan, and thus
requires for the thesis a collaborative planning perspective and a qualitative exploration of
communication and relational processes between stakeholders.2 As such, the present work will
triangulate participant observations and expert interviews to study the meta-level of the planning
process. This meta-level is understood as the policy learning which precedes the actual
publication and implementation of the plan; the phase in which different transfer agents and local
stakeholders negotiate and assert planning approaches. To this end, the thesis investigates the
transfer process of the SUMP guidelines, here in the form of direct consulting and an online
learning platform (Mobility Academy). The theoretical basis for this study draws principally on
procedural research pertaining to policy transfer (Minkman et al. 2018; May et al. 2017; Peck &
Theodore, 2010; Dolowitz & Marsh 2000) as well as the exploration of relations between actors,
policies and communities in the style of relational planning and actor-network theory
(Söderström, 2018; Haeley, 2013; De Jong & Edelenbos, 2007; Latour, 2005).
The necessity for contextualisation in the integration of transport policies and the urgency of
acknowledging prevailing impediments in the way of frictionless sustainable mobility concept
transfers in emerging economies has very recently become a subject of discussion for small and
medium-sized cities in Brazil (see Bezerra et al., 2020) and for sprawling metropoles like Istanbul
(see Cantinez, 2020). But the study of obstacles and barriers to the successful local development
and implementation of a SUMP does not account for actual communication-related processes and
issues in the international consulting process.
By developing a critical perspective on the Mexican case study, this study reveals that
policy mobilities in sustainable urban mobility are in fact characterised by a high effort in
mediation and contextualisation – challenging the consulting process and effectiveness of
international cooperation. Local disagreement on procedures and adaptation of governance have
proven to be major impediments in advancing efficiently in the implementation of European
2 The SUMP guidelines (Rupprecht Consult, 2019) are based on eight principles: planning for sustainable mobility in
the ‘functional urban area’, co-operation across institutional boundaries, involving citizens and stakeholders, assessing
current and future performance, defining a long-term vision and a clear implementation plan, developing all transport
modes in an integrated manner, arranging for monitoring and evaluation, and assuring quality.
Master Thesis - Anouchka Strunden – M.Sc. Urban Studies VUB & ULB5
participative mobility approaches. The heterogeneity of actors’ interests and definitions of
development work on both the sender and the receiver’s side make the analysis of policy transfer
in the mobility sector a rich ground to study planning practices and the future of urban transport
in the respective regions.
The thesis is structured along six successive steps. First, the hypotheses and research
questions and the theoretical backdrop of the undertaking will be presented. Then, still within the
contextualisation, the case study – i.e. the context of the consultation process and the target city –
is set up. The fourth part overviews all applied methods in the study and discusses their
procedural and content-related implications for the research. After that, the fifth part summarises
the results of the triangulation of data, first on behalf of the expert interviews and second by
encompassing results from the Community of Practice (CoP). In a sixth and last step, the thesis
concludes with an evaluation of the results, explains how they are related to the research
questions and presents which areas require further research.
***
Broad philosophical and societal shifts have diversified monopolies of technical and modernist
predominance on planning, allowing for new practices drawing upon postmodern, post-state and
“relational glocal” approaches to surface (Watson, 2016; Haeley, 2013; Swyngedouw, 2009).
Hence, this study researches the articulation of such a “relational glocal” approach that “worlds”
(see Haeley, 2013; Roy and Ong, 2011) planning practices on different continents (i.e. Latin
America and Europe).
In practical terms, this research is a participant observation that observes the exchange of
tools and information between German development and transport consulting firms and local
planning departments to improve sustainable mobility planning. The case study looks specifically
at the EU-funded EUROCLIMA+ project that provides SUMP support and an online learning
platform to assist in the formation of a Community of Practice among stakeholders and planners
from the LAC region.
The leading question of the thesis is therefore:
What challenges do mechanisms of governance and international cooperation face in the process of
implementing a sustainable urban mobility plan, and how can they be met?
In order to develop a substantial and differentiated answer to this research question I will use two
subordinated questions which review planning practices in the selected case study and
distinguish the most pressing struggles and opportunities perceived by the CoP:
Master Thesis - Anouchka Strunden – M.Sc. Urban Studies VUB & ULB6
o How is sustainable urban mobility planning integrated into urban planning practices in
Latin America, taking the specific example of the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, Mexico
as a case study?
o What drivers and limitations in international consulting on procedural SUMP approaches
can be derived from the Community of Practice?
In sum, the hypotheses underpinning this research are that pragmatic planning practices and
isolated institutional processes hamper the dissemination of more inclusive and integrated plans
within the Mexican planning context, and that consensus is lacking with regard to what to tackle
first – the build infrastructure (referring to technical and modal change) or the planning and social
practice (i.e. institutional and social). Although political and administrational processes in the
region suggest a trend towards the SUMP approach, existing deficits in governance and
comparable problems in other cities of the CoP show that for a successful policy transfer of
sustainable mobility plan, the European guidelines need to incorporate more governance related
components in order to be adaptable to the LAC region’s context.
***
For the sake of later analysis of the procedural-substansive dualism, the following work uses
“SUMP” as acronym for the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan. It therefore refers to substantive
plans from different cities with different adapted methodologies. The “SUMP approach” however
refers to a clearly defined methodology – the SUMP guidelines that summarise all aspects that
should ideally be respected, acknowledged and integrated in the process of drafting and
developing the plan. It is essential to differentiate between the result (the content of the plan) on
the one, and the process; the collaborative negotiation and development of the plan on the other.
In the context of this case study, international cooperation is focussing on a systematic approach
to assist in the strategic conceptualisation of the plan (EUROCLIMA+, 2018) and does not define
clear results in the form of a SUMP or other planning documents. This strategic and collaborative
orientation will be referred to as “SUMP process”. In this respect, the analysis will focus on
procedural aspects of the planning process and not on feasibility of implementation.
Master Thesis - Anouchka Strunden – M.Sc. Urban Studies VUB & ULB7
2. Contextualisation
The following introductory part of the thesis will provide the reader with the background
of the project. It includes both theoretical considerations of urban planning and contextual
information on the SUMP approach and the LAC region. The context thus consists of three
sections: first, the review of literature on policy transfer, sustainable mobility and actor-network
theory; second, the presentation of the SUMP guidelines and the international consulting process
of the case study, and third, the introduction of mobility and governance in the metropolitan area
of Guadalajara.
2.1 Literature Review
The body of literature on policy transfer from the Global North to South in urban mobility has
grown substantially in the last years which demonstrates that awareness of mobile policies, as
well as the urge to reveal their shortcomings is progressively increasing. While acknowledging
the interdisciplinarity of the field, the majority of scholarship on the subject relates directly to the
urban mobility sector, including the academic fields of policy transfer, actor-network theory and
the (critical) sustainable paradigm. This chapter briefly introduces the terms of policy transfer,
policy mobility and actor-network theory, before theoretically positioning the research in
planning theory on knowledge transfer from the Global North to the Global South and addressing
the role of the sustainable paradigm in the transfer process.
First, there is a need to clarify whether the term “policy transfer” is most apposite in the
case of consultancy and capacity work on the basis of transport planning guidelines, and whether
“knowledge transfer” might describe the process more accurately. To begin to evaluate these
terms, one must consider the variety of manifestations and degrees of transferring policies that
have developed in policy and urban studies over the last decades. As one of the agenda-setting
scholars on this matter, Rose (1993) differentiates between copying, emulation, hybridisation,
synthesis and inspiration in “lesson drawing”. He shows that degrees of transfer can range from a
1:1 implementation of policy (“copying”/“imitation”) up to “inspirational” takeover of certain
characteristics and selected measures (“inspiration”). Minkman et al. (2018, p.232) add, that while
policy “imitation” usually occurs as “quick fix” and in its superficiality is associated with failed
transfer, policy adaptation and inspiration might result in new, hybrid policies and a learning
process that suggests “successful transfer”.
The broad notion of policy transfer is therefore not limited to “policy” but includes diverse
activities and artefacts associated with the implementation of new directives or laws such as
Master Thesis - Anouchka Strunden – M.Sc. Urban Studies VUB & ULB8
expert knowledge, tools, meetings and assessments. The SUMP guidelines extrapolate local
policies from across Europe to schematise and summarise them in the guidelines in order to then
transport synthesised advice and policy overview to “policy recipients”. This presents a
hybridisation of both phases, the conceptualisation of the guidelines and the transfer and
adaptation of the plan.
In their work on policy transfer, Dolowitz and Marsh (2000, p.9) define several categories
in the analysis of the transfer:3 who is engaged (stakeholder mapping), for what reason (expert
interviews), what is transferred (contextualisation) and under which conditions (i.e. tools,
communication), and with what results (analysis). Their framework of policy transfer entailed a
rapid divulgation of policy transfer analysis and the differentiation of denominations such as
policy diffusion, policy mutation and policy mobility which, however, seem to have overlapping
meanings with only slight nuances (Minkman et al., 2018, p.223).
Considering the fluid “policy” that takes shape of an aggregated best practice catalogue for
good transport governance, Peck and Theodore (2010a), in their paper on “mobilizing policy”
demarcate more accurately the complex processes. With the dynamic terms of “mobility” and
“mobilisation”, the authors open up the analysis of international policy advice, exchange and
transfer to the study of discourse, networks, norms and actors, beyond “internalist and positivist
evaluations of state(d) [sic] aims and objectives” (2010a, p. 169). This is where actor-network
theory and its application to the study of policy networks and transfer processes by “assembling
the collective” (Latour, 2005, p.50) becomes relevant for the overall concept. Actor-network
theory is a constructivist approach that puts emphasis on the relation between concepts and
people in an ever-shifting network of dependencies, i.e. agencies (Latour, 2005).
As social processes are dependent on the participant actors as well as uncertainties about
the motives of similar/collective action, the basic epistemological premise of the present thesis
understands the constant interactions between experts, institutions, epistemic communities and
written concepts as driver for policy mobilisation. Such interactions that share a narrative of
sustainable development come in the form of accounts, reports, guidelines and plans etc.
Following calls in policy transfer, relational planning research and from scholars of the Global
South for more contextualised research on micro practices (Boussauw and Vanin, 2018; Sosa
López and Montero, 2018; Connell, 2014; Healey, 2013), actor-network theory supports the
relational perspective of urban governance and policy and “directs investigation towards the role
of intermediaries and translation procedures in translocal planning” (Söderström, 2018, p.3).
3 I hereafter connect their main questions with the method applied in the thesis in parentheses.
Master Thesis - Anouchka Strunden – M.Sc. Urban Studies VUB & ULB9
2.2 Policy Transfer in the LAC Region
Policy mobility (Theodore and Peck, 2010) claims that the orthodox study of policy transfer has
been outdated by the recent transnationalisation of norms and practices and the emergence of
new critical strands of literature. It is based on the premise of rational actor behaviour with the
objective of good practices driving out bad ones. These new critical studies of policy transfer
encourage a focus on the mutation and mobility of policies during the transfer rather than
assuming a black-box process. The latter, with its supervised, led or accompanied input and
output in the form of implementation (of failed transfer) is a simplification that provides neither
insights nor learned lessons on relational struggles in the gradual process of active exchange.
While the mutation and change in planning practice is not something new, some scholars
suggest that it is happening at an increasing pace (Healey, 2013; Peck and Theodore, 2010a).
Nevertheless, the lack of comprehensive explanations of policy transfer processes and outcomes
still prevails (Minkman et al., 2018, p.224) and calls for a contextual analysis of “new forms of
power, legitimacy, and governance in the circulation of policy knowledge and models” (Montero,
2017c, p.116). The conceptual framework of Minkman et al. (2018), based on a systematic review
of 180 publications on policy transfer, schematises what Dolowitz and Marsh used to illustrate in
a table based on the big “W” questions
(Why, who, how transformed and
adapted) can function as a constructive
basis for the consideration of travelling
policies. The overview in Figure 1
distinguishes between the four main
factors in policy adoption:
“transferability“, “process design“ and
“adoptability“, all embedded in the
Figure 1: Conceptual Framework of Policy Transfer Routes
general context and institutional system Source: Minkman et al. (2018, p.236)
of the “environment“.
As the conceptual framework of policy transfer (Minkman et al., 2017) shows, policy
routes are defined by coalition building, the institutional setting and the involvement of source,
mediating and adopting actor (later also described as policy sender, facilitator and recipient). This
focus on consensus-driven transfer agents and administrative conditions may be considered in
the light of Swyngedouw’s critique on depoliticized environments (2009, p. 602). According to
him, the postdemocratic and postpolitical condition has led to the “retreat of the political in the
so-called sociological shift in the analysis of political-ecological transformation”. Looking at the
importance of the sustainable narrative in the transfer process that Montero (2017b, 2017c)
Master Thesis - Anouchka Strunden – M.Sc. Urban Studies VUB & ULB10
describes, this resonates with Swyngedouw’s (2009) critiques on the solutionism of
contemporary planning and politics, the “urban” as response to urgent climatic and political issues
(Swyngedouw 2009). In this context, the political dimension, as other studies on European policy
transfer in urban mobility planning have shown (Canitez, 2020; May et al., 2017; May, 2015), is
now receiving more attention. With regard to how disagreement and ambiguity in the policy
process design is integrated or reflected in the SUMP guidance and international consulting
process, the present study will scrutinise whether the involved actors “operate within an overall
model of elite consensus and agreement” (Crouch cited in Swyngedouw, 2009, p.610).
According to Latour’s (2005) definition of actor-network theory, to speak of an intentional,
homogenous international discourse that pushes forward the sustainable paradigm implies
simplification and deliberate ignorance of the uncertainty about the origin of action and the
members’ or groups’ understanding of their own behaviour (p.49). Selective discourses and
nonlinear reproduction in the transfer and eventual mutation of policies is therefore a
consequence of the transformative and fluid state of policies themselves and the 3-dimensional,
cross-scalar policy mobility in general (Theodore and Peck, 2010, pp.169-170). After all, the role
of narratives of change in climate adaptation policy (see Paschen and Ison, 2014) turns planning
into an “inherently political process in which, frequently, planning ideas become attached to a
political project” (Watson, 2016, p.38).
In the current period of struggle towards a multi-modal and efficient urban transport
network paralleled by high urbanisation rates in non-Western parts of the world, the “demand for
greater understanding of urban development processes” (Haeley, 2013, p.1521) is high and
tackled by the cross-reference of ideas and concepts that are the result of epistemic communities
(Healey, 2013; Dunlop, 2012). Planning theory was mainly dominated by Western scholars
throughout the second half of the 20th century and gradually begun to be challenged by a general
shift in social sciences (Montero, 2017c; Watson, 2016; Connell, 2014). But the mere inclusion of
Southern scholars in the dominant body of research is evidently not sufficient for a long-term shift.
Therefore, Connell (2005) demands for social science that disposes with its economic and social
dependency and establishes local arguments to learn “from and not just about”.
Montero (2017c) in his analysis of international best practice in the form of Bogotá’s and
Guadalajara’s “Ciclovía” (car-free Sunday) suggests that one must consider the “multidirectional”
traffic of policy models and collaborations between policy actors situated in the North and the
South. As such, urban theory also needs to move beyond dual conceptualizations of cities as
belonging to either a modern North or a developing South (Robinson, 2006). This
conceptualisation of policy and best practices can help reveal less evident local and transnational
power relationships and collaborations that shape urban policy and connect cities in complex but
not incoherent ways.
Master Thesis - Anouchka Strunden – M.Sc. Urban Studies VUB & ULB11
As recent academic literature shows, “systemic and structuring dynamics” synonym to
paradigms and the evolution of governance are acknowledged and studied more and more by
Latin American scholars (Sosa López and Montero 2018; Gutierrez Chaparro 2017; Sosa López,
2017b). Thus, by following claims for more “micro-practice” analysis and “site-specific
approaches” in the scope of a global perspective, the present study deconstructs “the complexities
of the systemic and structuring dynamics which shape the worlds in which agency gets to work”
(Haeley, 2013, p.1520).
Considering how the sustainable mobility paradigm entered policy and planning practice
in the LAC region and what the “relational shift“ means for transport policies in the multi-agent
environment of Guadalajara (Sosa López and Montero, 2018), there is both methodological and
epistemological overlap between López and Montero’s publication and my case study. Their
research on non-governmental involvement in sustainable mobility in Guadalajara and Mexico
City documents how agency and typologies of transport planning are rapidly changing. They call
it “a fluid field, where actors seamlessly move across organizations and institutions” (López and
Montero, 2018, p.143) and repeat the importance of critical considerations and examination of
“best practice implementation”, advocating for a sound understanding of the relational processes
in sustainable mobility policies.
3. Presenting the Case Study
This case study follows the EUROCLIMA+ project, a regional cooperation programme on “climate
resilient and sustainable development” (EUROCLIMA+ website, 2020) which operates in 18 Latin
American (LATAM) countries. Rupprecht Consult (RC), a German research and consultancy office
and author of the SUMP guidelines, is contracted by the developing agency Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to support the SUMP related project targets. This research
project follows the active support of RC in the EUROCLIMA+ project which I, in the form of an
internship, took part in. Therefore, the methodology and scope of the undertaking is inseparably
related and influenced by my participant perspective, contextual knowledge and frequent
exchange with the actors involved in the transfer process. This section gives a brief overview of
the different contextual components that are relevant for the testing of the hypotheses, to allow
the reader to become acquainted with both the local context and the actor-network at stake.
The section begins with the emergence of the SUMP guidelines and their role in policy
learning in the EUROCLIMA+ project, followed by a brief diversion into Latin American transport
development and the eventual presentation of the case study of Guadalajara, with attention to its
planning related saliences in urban transport and metropolitan governance. Through synthesising
and categorising the vast stock of information on these topics, this part shall provide a typological
Master Thesis - Anouchka Strunden – M.Sc. Urban Studies VUB & ULB12
framework for the succeeding analysis of intersections in international development, urban
mobility and governance in the AMG.
3.1 European Policy Guidance on SUMPs
Guidance in the form of a normative framework for Urban Mobility Plans has been a common
practice in Europe for many years. Countries such as France and the UK have developed sets of
legal and process-related requirements (May, 2015, p.4) which apply to the whole national
territory. In Flanders, a mobility plan is not compulsory, yet 90% of the cities in the region
nonetheless have one and as a consequence enjoy certain subsidies (Mobiliteit Vlaanderen, 2020).
Therefore, as a way of dealing with the complexity of urban mobility, sustainable and integrative
planning processes can be traced back to individual local and national initiatives that were the
process of a variety of transport actors and state involvement (May, 2015, p.5).
In the case of Europe, various projects (PROSPECTS, GUIDEMAPS, PILOT etc.) investigated
on which areas of the national and local policy framework required specific development and
support for improved capacities to integrate mobility planning. These efforts eventually led to the
development of a comprehensive Guideline for Developing and Implementing a Sustainable Urban
Mobility Plan (SUMP). A summary of numerous urban plans, concepts and directives, it was first
published in 2013 as part of the Urban Mobility Package of the Directorate General for Transport
and Mobility (DG Move). The guidelines success’ derives from “strong European policy
coordination and support, practical guidelines that are based on systematic consultation with
Figure 2: The SUMP cycle of the guidelines with its four phases and 12 steps
Source: Rupprecht Consult, 2019
practitioners, and an active community of practice” (Rupprecht Consult, 2019, p.7). The guidelines
Master Thesis - Anouchka Strunden – M.Sc. Urban Studies VUB & ULB13
are set on the basis of eight core principles4 of sustainable planning and describe a cycle of four
phases, each divided in three to five steps, to reach an integral SUMP: preparation & analysis,
strategy development, measure planning and implementation and monitoring (see Figure 2).
In recent years, with the continuously growing pool of cities that employ the SUMP methodology
and also to the dynamic development of innovation in mobility (digitalisation, electric vehicles,
shared mobility, crowd sourcing, etc.), international climate mitigation projects such as
EUROCLIMA+ and MobiliseYourCity are now increasingly working on „mobilising“ the aggregated
policy advice for a non-European audience of urban and national governments.
As again will show the Latin American example, the process of institutionalising urban
transport planning and formulating a comprehensive, integrated plan holds many unresolved
capacity-related and budgetary issues, which when left unattended, will lead to a gap between
planning and implementation and a mere pro-forma existence of the plan. Among such are the
need for more funding for planning and implementation, more data, in quality and quantity and
more support from the public (May, 2015, p.6).
3.2 The SUMP Guidelines and the LAC Region
In the scope of the EUROCLIMA+ project, work-streams in the urban mobility sector are being
assessed, analysed and advised upon. To carry out these tasks, the GIZ contracted Rupprecht
Consult, listing the following goals of the international cooperation for policy advice in the Terms
of Reference (EUROCLIMA+, 2018):
o Support in the development of National Urban Mobility Policies/Programs (NUMPs)
including sound financing schemes and consistent methodologies for the monitoring of
GHG emissions stemming from urban mobility;
o Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs), promoting integrated multimodal planning
and the integration of climate objectives in existing SUMPs;
o Pilot Projects demonstrating quick wins that can be replicated;
o Community of Practice on SUMPs and NUMPs, accelerating progress in the region by
increased exchange and intra-regional learning among practitioners.
Eventually, the technical and financial support of SUMP related activities in EUROCLIMA+ is
supposed to support the local planning teams by building capacities, transferring tools and
4 Planning for sustainable mobility in the ‘functional urban area’; co-operation across institutional boundaries;
involving citizens and stakeholders; assessing current and future performance; defining a long-term vision and a clear
implementation plan; developing all transport modes in an integrated manner; arranging for monitoring and
evaluation, and assuring quality (Rupprecht Consult, 2019).
Master Thesis - Anouchka Strunden – M.Sc. Urban Studies VUB & ULB14
strategies in sustainable mobility planning and simultaneously facilitating policy dialogue and
climate action in the LAC region.
In the style of European platforms and CoPs in which interested stakeholders can engage
and exchange (see Urban Mobility Observatory (ELTIS) and Mobility Academy), the EUROCLIMA+
seeks to support development and implementation of sustainable mobility through the
distribution of “knowledge products”, so-called “tool-kits” that consist out of factsheets, best
practices, assessment tools and databases.
For the present case study and participant observation this assistance of the SUMP
development process and the Blended Learning Programme are of particular interest. For the
latter, RC developed a Blended Learning course in Spanish for the Latin American community of
urban and mobility planners that is offered via the open source Learning Platform Mobility
Academy. Here, the participants are guided through the different phases of the SUMP guidelines,
asked to submit “tasks”, engage in the dedicated chat forum for the CoP and invited to join and
participate in webinars and discussion rounds. The group of local stakeholders that takes part in
this Blended Learning programme is composed out of about 15 different cities and mainly features
technical planners from municipal and some metropolitan planning institutions.
In this context, the two consulting instances of GIZ5 and RC are in their activities and
relational setting representative for the transmission of expert knowledge, for the creation of an
epistemic community and a structured approach to capacity building and sustainable urban
mobility itself (see also Chapter 4.1.2). The GIZ, actively engaged in international cooperation and
education work for over 50 years, has developed a specific capacity approach which is based on
face-to-face workshops, tools and a Blended Learning Programme. It acknowledges that the
modern horizontal shift in hierarchical structures requires a constant stream of communication
(GIZ, 2015, p.11) and a cooperation that is characterised by “guidance” rather than “leadership”
(p.13). This on the one hand aims at responding more adequately to the complex scope of the
consultancy projects and on the other hand at establishing a “long-term cooperation system” (GIZ,
2015, p.18).
The EUROCLIMA+ project is directed at the LAC region, and SUMP support is provided in
the three very different cities of Antofagasta (Chile), Ambato (Ecuador) and Guadalajara (Mexico).
Thus, by widely covering the continent, the programme looks at diverse urban realities that
dispose of different demographic and territorial conditions and municipal configurations. The
measures and specific support of EUROCLIMA+ are adapted to the context of each city
respectively, varying from the creation and revision of a SUMP to its promotion.
The following section will briefly elaborate on several interrelated factors that on the one
hand demonstrate the necessity of development and investment in urban mobility infrastructure
5 The different pilot and support projects in the Urban Mobility component of EUROCLIMA+ are implemented either by
the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) or the GIZ.
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