IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jotrge/v54y2016icp373-382.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rationalities and materialities of light rail scapes

Author

Listed:
  • Olesen, Mette
  • Lassen, Claus

Abstract

Light rail is a modernisation of old tram systems and a popular tool in urban development strategies throughout many European cities. Light rails continue to be built despite often having poor socio-economic returns — other similar modes could provide the same transport function at a lower cost. Through a case study, this article explores the main vision and rationalities behind light rail projects in two mid-sized European cities — Bergen and Angers — and considers how this vision has materialised in various ‘light rail scapes’. The article argues that the city shapes the light rail project, but also that the light rail re-configures and shapes the urban structures, design and planning practices within the city based on its materiality and spatial interaction with it. This means that light rail projects need to be rethought as complex urban development projects instead of just simple ‘pieces of infrastructure’. Ultimately, this work seeks to shed light on a number of ideas for future light rail research and practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Olesen, Mette & Lassen, Claus, 2016. "Rationalities and materialities of light rail scapes," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 373-382.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:54:y:2016:i:c:p:373-382
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2016.04.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692316301879
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2016.04.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. S. C. Wirasinghe & L. Kattan & M. M. Rahman & J. Hubbell & R. Thilakaratne & S. Anowar, 2013. "Bus rapid transit - a review," International Journal of Urban Sciences, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 1-31, March.
    2. Ole B. Jensen, 2016. "Of ‘other’ materialities: why (mobilities) design is central to the future of mobilities research," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(4), pages 587-597, August.
    3. Mimi Sheller & John Urry, 2006. "The New Mobilities Paradigm," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 38(2), pages 207-226, February.
    4. De Bruijn, Hans & Veeneman, Wijnand, 2009. "Decision-making for light rail," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 349-359, May.
    5. Ela Babalik-Sutcliffe, 2002. "Urban rail systems: Analysis of the factors behind success," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 415-447, January.
    6. Hodgson, Paul & Potter, Stephen & Warren, James & Gillingwater, David, 2013. "Can bus really be the new tram?," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 158-166.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jackson Sekasi & Mauro Luiz Martens, 2021. "Assessing the Contributions of Urban Light Rail Transit to the Sustainable Development of Addis Ababa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-22, May.
    2. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Yazdi, Asieh Haieri, 2019. "Technological frames and the politics of automated electric Light Rail Rapid Transit in Poland and the United Kingdom," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    3. Hrelja, Robert, 2019. "Cars. Problematisations, measures and blind spots in local transport and land use policy," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    4. Kristian Olesen, 2020. "Infrastructure imaginaries: The politics of light rail projects in the age of neoliberalism," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(9), pages 1811-1826, July.
    5. Turnheim, Bruno & Geels, Frank W., 2019. "Incumbent actors, guided search paths, and landmark projects in infra-system transitions: Re-thinking Strategic Niche Management with a case study of French tramway diffusion (1971–2016)," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(6), pages 1412-1428.
    6. Boquet Yves, 2017. "The renaissance of tramways and urban redevelopment in France," Miscellanea Geographica. Regional Studies on Development, Sciendo, vol. 21(1), pages 5-18, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alpkokin, Pelin & Topuz Kiremitci, Sabahat & Black, John Andrew & Cetinavci, Sukru, 2016. "LRT and street tram policies and implementation in turkish cities," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 476-487.
    2. Kołoś, Arkadiusz & Taczanowski, Jakub, 2016. "The feasibility of introducing light rail systems in medium-sized towns in Central Europe," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 400-413.
    3. Seidenglanz, Daniel & Kvizda, Martin & Nigrin, Tomáš & Tomeš, Zdeněk & Dujka, Jiří, 2016. "Czechoslovak light rail — Legacy of socialist urbanism or opportunity for the future?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 414-429.
    4. Valenzuela-Montes, Luis M. & Soria-Lara, Julio A. & Navarro-Ligero, Miguel L., 2016. "Analysing stakeholders' perception of Light Rail Transit as an opportunity to achieve sustainable mobility in Granada (Spain)," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 391-399.
    5. Dominique Laousse & Sophie Hooge, 2015. "Innovative urban temporalities: conceptive and generative temporal regimes," Post-Print hal-01174923, HAL.
    6. Huib Ernste & Henk Van Houtum & Annelies Zoomers, 2009. "Trans‐World: Debating The Place And Borders Of Places In The Age Of Transnationalism," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 100(5), pages 577-586, December.
    7. Lin, Weiqiang, 2014. "The politics of flying: aeromobile frictions in a mobile city," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 92-99.
    8. Mahbubur Meenar & Bradley Flamm & Kevin Keenan, 2019. "Mapping the Emotional Experience of Travel to Understand Cycle-Transit User Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-21, August.
    9. Gustafson, Per, 2012. "Managing business travel: Developments and dilemmas in corporate travel management," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 276-284.
    10. Wu, Yue-Fang & Hannam, Kevin & Xu, Hong-Gang, 2018. "Reconceptualising home in seasonal Chinese tourism mobilities," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 71-80.
    11. Pappas, Nikolaos & Papatheodorou, Andreas, 2017. "Tourism and the refugee crisis in Greece: Perceptions and decision-making of accommodation providers," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 31-41.
    12. Bel, Germà & Holst, Maximilian, 2018. "Evaluation of the impact of Bus Rapid Transit on air pollution in Mexico City," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 209-220.
    13. Kandt, Jens & Leak, Alistair, 2019. "Examining inclusive mobility through smartcard data: What shall we make of senior citizens' declining bus patronage in the West Midlands?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 1-1.
    14. Malene Freudendal-Pedersen & Sven Kesselring & Eriketti Servou, 2019. "What is Smart for the Future City? Mobilities and Automation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-21, January.
    15. Thomas Klinger & Martin Lanzendorf, 2016. "Moving between mobility cultures: what affects the travel behavior of new residents?," Transportation, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 243-271, March.
    16. van der Duim, René & Ren, Carina & Jóhannesson, Gunnar Thór, 2017. "ANT: A decade of interfering with tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 139-149.
    17. Gössling, Stefan & Cohen, Scott, 2014. "Why sustainable transport policies will fail: EU climate policy in the light of transport taboos," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 197-207.
    18. Cheng, Long & Huang, Jie & Jin, Tanhua & Chen, Wendong & Li, Aoyong & Witlox, Frank, 2023. "Comparison of station-based and free-floating bikeshare systems as feeder modes to the metro," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    19. Zerva, Konstantina, 2015. "Visiting authenticity on Los Angeles Gang Tours: Tourists backstage," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 514-527.
    20. Christopher T. Boyko & Stephen J. Clune & Rachel F. D. Cooper & Claire J. Coulton & Nick S. Dunn & Serena Pollastri & Joanne M. Leach & Christopher J. Bouch & Mariana Cavada & Valeria De Laurentiis & , 2017. "How Sharing Can Contribute to More Sustainable Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-16, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:54:y:2016:i:c:p:373-382. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-transport-geography .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.