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Learning through Policy Tourism: Circulating Bus Rapid Transit from South America to South Africa

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  • Astrid Wood

    (Department of Geography, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AP, England)

Abstract

Study tours, a form of ‘policy tourism’ in which local actors travel elsewhere to see best practice and meet with those in the exporting locality who implemented it, have become a basic tenet for policy exchange. In the pursuit of these lessons, hundreds of South African public transport enthusiasts visited South America, particularly Bogota, to learn of its thriving bus rapid transit (BRT) network. This paper evaluates the influence of these exchanges on BRT circulation and adoption—what takes place while delegates are overseas and how do these learning experiences influence the adoption and implementation of circulated forms of best practice? This paper reconnoiters these ‘mobility events’ and their outcomes to demonstrate theoretically that they are a necessary informal infrastructure through which best practice circulates: in particular, as a method for developing and strengthening social bonds between delegates and with hosts—relationships integral to policy adoption.

Suggested Citation

  • Astrid Wood, 2014. "Learning through Policy Tourism: Circulating Bus Rapid Transit from South America to South Africa," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(11), pages 2654-2669, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:46:y:2014:i:11:p:2654-2669
    DOI: 10.1068/a140016p
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Marsden, G. & Frick, K.T. & May, A.D. & Deakin, E., 2011. "How do cities approach policy innovation and policy learning? A study of 30 policies in Northern Europe and North America," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 501-512, May.
    2. Sophie Didier & Elisabeth Peyroux & Marianne Morange, 2012. "The Spreading of the City Improvement District Model in Johannesburg and Cape Town: Urban Regeneration and the Neoliberal Agenda in South Africa," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 915-935, September.
    3. Ian R. Cook & Stephen V. Ward & Kevin Ward, 2014. "A Springtime Journey to the Soviet Union: Postwar Planning and Policy Mobilities through the Iron Curtain," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 805-822, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ashmore, David P. & Pojani, Dorina & Thoreau, Roselle & Christie, Nicola & Tyler, Nicholas A., 2019. "Gauging differences in public transport symbolism across national cultures: implications for policy development and transfer," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 26-38.

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