La réussite des mesures de restriction automobile dans les villes norvégiennes, résultat d’une convergence nationale imposée et cohérente

The aim of this article is to analyze the Norwegian inner-city car restriction policy, to identify its motives, understand its operation and measure its efficiency. It is based on a cross-analysis of the Norwegian legislative developments in the beginning of the 1990s on the one hand and the results on the other hand, apprehended through the study of the modal split of the car. It appears that the significant decrease of car use in Norwegian cities is the outcome of a vertical convergence; that is to say a national policy imposed on local governments. This decrease is evidence of the capacity of the national level to adopt a systemic approach on urban mobility, which succeeds in considering the competitive nature of the various transport modes and in implementing strong measures to restrict car traffic. However, the effectiveness of this national car restriction policy varied from one urban space to another, a sign of hybridization with the local policies and contexts, which were more or less receptive to this summons. Finally, this comparative detour allows taking a decentered look at the situation in France where, against a backdrop of juxtaposition and superposition of urban mobility competencies, and in the absence of a strong national injunction, policies in this field have remained bottom-up and sector-specific. The consequence is that, in comparison, car use is greater in French cities than in Norwegian ones while the Nordic country has experienced a late and brutal urban transition, favorable to low urban density and significant car use.