| 1. |
- Berg, Jessica
(författare)
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Everyday Mobility and Travel Activities during the first years of Retirement
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Mobility is central to living an independent life, to participating in society, and to maintaining well-being in later life. The point of departure in this thesis is that retirement implies changes in time-space use and interruption in routines, which influence demands and preconditions for mobility in different ways. The aim of this thesis is to explore mobility strategies and changes in mobility upon retirement and how mobility develops during the first years of retirement. A further aim is to provide knowledge of the extent to which newly retired people maintain a desired mobility based on their needs and preconditions. The thesis is empirically based on travel diaries kept by newly retired people, and qualitative interviews with the same persons, and follow-up interviews three and a half years later. The results show that mobility is a way of forming a structure in the new everyday life as retirees by getting out of the house, either just for a walk or to do errands. Many patterns of everyday life remain the same upon retirement, but the informants also merge new responsibilities and seek new social arenas and activities. As a result, the importance of the car have not changed, but it is used for other reasons than before. After leaving paid work, new space-time constraints are created which influences demands for mobility. The study further shows that “third places” become important, especially among those who live alone, as they give an opportunity to being part of a social context and a reason for getting out of the house. The follow-up interviews revealed that declining health changes the preconditions for mobility. Daily walks had to be made shorter, and the car had to be used for most errands to where they previously could walk or cycle. However, mobility can also be maintained despite a serious illness and a long period of rehabilitation.
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| 2. |
- Bhatti, Harrison John, 1979-
(författare)
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Sustainable Electromobility : A System Approach to Transformation of Transportation
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis aims to explore, analyze, and develop knowledge that leads to an understanding of identifying the key actors and their symbiotic relationships and dependencies in transforming the energy and transportation system from fossil-based to renewable and fossil fuel-powered vehicles to electric. The research was explorative and categorized into two studies. The Study – I focuses on the technological development that leads toward transforming from the old fossil-based analog electricity generation and distribution system to the new digitalized renewable system. This study further explores the impact of these disruptive technologies on the market and society, and the challenges hindering the implementation and adoption of the new energy system. Study – II focuses on developing new knowledge and understanding by integrating technological, political, societal, and economic aspects into one model and named it a 'multidimensional readiness index model.' This model can serve as an analytical tool and provide a broader perspective for exploring, analyzing, evaluating, and determining the countries' positions in transforming the transformation system. The model has been applied to eight countries, two from Asia (China and India) and Australia and five from Europe (Germany, Norway, Sweden, Slovenia, and the UK). The kappa synthesizes the exploration of the papers. Additionally, the system approach is applied to explore and understand the symbiotic relationship in the new ecosystem among the key actors and stakeholders and their significant role in transforming the transportation system from fossil-based to electric. The main conclusion is that the countries with a higher symbiotic relationship among the key actors achieved a higher level of readiness in transforming the transportation system. In contrast, other countries with a low symbiotic relationship among the key actors are slowly catching up or even far behind in transforming the transportation system towards electrification.
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| 3. |
- Stave, Christina
(författare)
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Safety as a process : From risk perception to safety activity
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The frequency of occupational accidents in the Swedish food industry and agriculture is high. This thesis has therefore explored the 'process of safety' in order to detect and analyse factors that either hinder or facilitate safety activity and to further develop intervention methods towards increased safety activity. The first study was based on in-depth interviews with 54 injured food-industry operators and their supervisors, exploring preconditions of accidents, using the qualitative method of grounded theory. Results showed that the accidents were embedded in the "normal" in which the accidents occurred without any warning. Preconditions of accidents were technical and organisational deficiencies such as insufficient communication and learning, high responsibility in combination with low control, conflicting goals, and a gap between procedures and practice. These factors influenced the safety culture toward risk acceptance and a normalisation of accidents. The second study tested a hypothetical model of the casual relationship between risk perception and safety activity as well as risk acceptance. Results were based on a cross-sectional questionnaire exploring the attitudes towards risk and safety of 315 farmers and farm workers. The results mainly confirmed two paths, one mediated by risk manageability and one by work stress, which counteracted each other The third study was an evaluation of a safety intervention methodology based on group discussions with three levels of structure. Eighty-eight farmers and farm workers divided into 9 groups gathered on seven occasions during one year. A pre-post questionnaire was used to evaluate the effects. The results showed a significant increase in safety activity. Stress as well as risk acceptance were reduced, but risk perception and perceived risk manageability did not change. The fourth study evaluated the process of the intervention. Results indicated good feasibility of the method. The social network was stated to be most beneficial and a time span was needed. The conclusions of the thesis were that the process of safety might benefit from reflecting and discussing incident experiences, detecting hindrances/facilitators to safety. Risk acceptance and normalisation of accidents may be influenced by focusing on work stress and the priority of safety, supporting a participative process of change with an honest climate.
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| 4. |
- Hamidi, Zahra
(författare)
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Examining Inequalities in Cycling Motility : A Pathway Towards Cycling Justice
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Realizing the environmental and social benefits of cycling requires effective policies that deliver increased and inclusive cycling. This thesis aims to contribute to the development of such policies by providing insights into what could make cycling achievable for more diverse social groups through engaging with theoretical perspectives from transport geography, the mobilities paradigm and social justice. In doing so the thesis examines the various elements that constitute an individual’s potential to use a bicycle and the connected inequalities.The thesis employs conceptions of accessibility and motility in combination with measures of inequality to examine the socio-spatial inequalities in cycling potentials. The first paper designs a new composite indicator based on Theil’s index of inequality and accessibility measures to study inequalities in bike-and-ride opportunities in Malmö. The second paper develops a quantitative operationalization of cycling motility by applying GIS-based and statistical analyses to empirical data collected using a survey study. Specifically, cycling motility is operationalized along three dimensions of access, competence, and appropriation. This is done by measuring cycling-related material and nonmaterial, as well as objective and subjective factors related to individuals and their social, cultural, and geographical environment.The subsequent papers put the concept of cycling motility in practice. The third paper builds on the approach developed in the second paper and examines inequalities in the cycling motility across different social groups from the three-dimensional justice lens of Nancy Fraser. Finally, the fourth paper provides insights into the relationships between individuals’ cycling motility and their realized mobility. The empirical findings highlight that such relationships vary across three urban contexts of Malmö, Gothenburg, and Beijing. Overall, the findings support that the operationalization of cycling motility is useful for studying individuals’ cycling potentials and capturing the connected between-individual differences, thereby helpful for development of policies that could realize the social and environmental potentials of cycling.
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| 5. |
- Hansson, Lisa
(författare)
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Public Procurement at the Local Government Level : Actor roles, discretion and constraints in the implementation of public transport goals
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall purpose of this thesis is to gain further knowledge of how the Swedish local government level is affected by requirements to use public procurement through competitive tendering and, more specifically, understand the actions taken by included actors when public procurement is required in implementation of public transport goals. Through case study method, an in specific process tracing, various implementation processes have been examined. One studied process complied with the procurement regulations, while the others included elements that circumvented them. In each process, the actions taken by involved actors have been the focus. The findings are presented in four papers. An overall conclusion is that, when public procurement is required in implementation at the local government level, several actors need to interact. These actors may use procurement to expand, maintain, or restrain their discretion towards others actors. In addition, various control mechanisms, such as e.g. monitoring, are used to restrain an actor’s discretion when the actor is circumventing procurement legislation.
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| 6. |
- Portinson Hylander, Jens
(författare)
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Constructing Transit Corridors : The Politics of Public Transport Policy and Planning in Malmöhus and Skåne 1970-2020
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Planning local and regional public transport in so-called ’transit corridors’ – i.e., to concentrate infrastructure and resources to few, but more attractive corridors in a city or a region – is commonplace in contemporary public transport planning. This has not always been the case, however. In this thesis I analyze how transit corridors have come to dominate the policies and planning practices of public transport governance through a case study of Malmöhus County and Region Skåne between 1970 and 2020, and show how the organization of decision-making, planning practices and the spatial configuration of public transport have been central sites of an ongoing struggle between different actors and levels over influence over ideas and resources. Understanding the fundamental values and processes that shape public transport system and the conflicts that arise when values and actors collide can contribute to increased possibilities to shape a just and inclusive public transport system that enables sustainable mobility for people.The research is based on qualitative analyses of archival records and interviews with individuals who were involved in the planning and politics of public transport in Malmöhus County and Region Skåne. Through an analysis of how change and permanence in the public transport system have been motivated and turned into institutional practice, the thesis shows how the transit corridor paradigm evolved in through an interplay between the regional political dynamics and the wider societal context. A recurring tension exists in public transport policy and planning between values of equity and efficiency on the one hand, and how these values are translated into the organization of public transport governance through policies of coordination and competition on the other. These values and policies have been decisive for the motivations to the organizational and spatial re/configurations of public transport since the introduction of regional public transport authorities in Sweden since the end of the 1970’s.Initially, spatial and economic equity were leading principles that motivated a rapid expansion and distribution of the regional public transport system. At the turn of the 1990’s, a set of interlinked policy processes assisted the formulationof transit corridors as a strategic development policy for public transport in Malmöhus County. These ideas were institutionalized through a reorganization of public transport governance with a stronger regional mandate and a moreperipheral role for the municipalities and was materialized through infrastructure investments in train and express bus systems at the expensive of areas with weaker demand. When Region Skåne was formed in 1999, the transit corridorparadigm was fully developed and contributed to shaping spatial relations in the new region and has continued to be a core in public transport policy in Skåne. However, despite (or perhaps because of) the dominance of transit corridors,conflicts persist between the parts of the region that have gained the most from transit corridor planning, and those that remain concerned over declining public transport supply from the planning orientation.
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| 7. |
- Ryan, Jean
(författare)
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Towards a capability approach to mobility : An analysis of disparities in mobility opportunities among older people
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Older people represent a greater proportion of the population than ever before. In Sweden, one in five is now aged 65 and above, and more than one in seven is aged 65-79. This demographic change has challenged and will challenge society, presenting sizeable tasks for the transport sector. These challenges have forced and will force us to question the ways in which we approach and tackle the policy, planning, design and provision of services for an expanding and ever-varying proportion of older people and a changing demographic composition. The focus for this thesis is on those aged 65-79. This age group represents those who are in the young-old life stage, or what can be described as the earlier stages of later life. This age range signifies the time during which most people transition from working life to retirement, adjusting to a different set of financial circumstances, a different set of daily activities and often, deteriorating health. Several studies have shown that, as people age, they tend to change the ways in which they travel. In the Nordic context in particular, there is a long history and large inventory of research concerning the travel of older people. However, few have approached such issues from a transport equity perspective – a perspective inherent in this thesis.The results from this thesis highlight the differences in potential mobility among the young-old living in Sweden’s large metropolitan regions. The methods used complement one another, and uncover concerns and connections which may have been hidden had just one type of method been used. The dissatisfaction and limitations that can arise from having insufficient modal options in later life are highlighted. Combining and coordinating transport services and the location and provision of other important services in an integrated manner could effect change with respect to the capability to carry out everyday activities of value for this age group.
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| 8. |
- Thorslund, Birgitta, 1976-
(författare)
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Effects of hearing loss on traffic safety and mobility
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this PhD thesis was to investigate traffic safety and mobility for individuals with hearing loss (HL). Three studies were conducted: 1. a questionnaire survey aimed to evaluate differences in choice of transportation that might be related to HL, 2. a driving simulator study that looked into compensatory strategies and evaluated the efficiency of a tactile signal to alert the driver, and 3. a field study to evaluate these effects in real traffic and to evaluate a navigation system with a supportive tactile signal. The effects of HL discovered in this thesis add to the knowledge and understanding of the influence of HL on traffic safety and mobility. Differences found consistently point to a generally more cautious behavior. Compensatory and coping strategies associated with HL are bound to driving complexity and appear when complexity increases. These strategies include driving at lower speeds, using a more comprehensive visual search behavior and being less engaged in distracting activities. Evaluation of a tactile signal showed that by adding a tactile modality, some driver assistance systems can also be made accessible to drivers with HL. At the same time, the systems might be more effective for all users, since the driver can be more focused on the road. Based on the results in this thesis, drivers with HL cannot be considered an increased traffic safety risk, and there should be no need for adjustments of the requirements of hearing for a license to drive a car.
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| 9. |
- Witzell, Jacob, 1981-
(författare)
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Approaching transformative futures : Discourse and practice in Swedish national transport policy and planning
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis concerns the need to transform the transport system to meet climate mitigation objectives. It provides insights into how specific approaches and practices in transport policy and planning affect prospects for transformation. It focuses on specific practices and knowledge perspectives in policy and planning, exploration of future uncertainty, and the scope and agency attributed to planning for influencing the future development of the transport system. The empirical interest is directed towards contemporary Swedish national transport policy and planning, analyzed in four articles: organization and procurement of physical planning of road and rail investments (Article 1), an emerging discursive framing of digitalized, 'smart' accessibility (Article 2), the approach to future uncertainty in the national investment plan for transport infrastructure 2018-2029 (Article 3), and an inter-agency collaboration on a plan for a fossil-free transformation of the transport system (Article 4).The thesis follows a qualitative research approach based on a social constructivist and poststructuralist understanding of knowledge as socially constructed and sustained. To highlight the influence of practice and knowledge perspectives on understandings of the future development of the transport system and conditions for transformation, a Foucauldian discursive approach is applied. This approach emphasizes reciprocal dependency between discourse and practice.Results make evident that Swedish national transport planning and policy is largely characterized by a ‘conventional’ approach with dominant quantitative practices and knowledge perspectives, through which the future is mainly portrayed as a continuation of the historical development. The studies show that this approach strongly influence how the transport system and prospects for transformation are understood and described. The thesis illustrates tendencies to avoid issues of future uncertainty, and how this is taken as an argument for not exploring alternative development directions. Consequently, opportunities to influence future development are portrayed as limited. This has a restrictive effect on the conditions for transformation. However, the thesis also shows contexts where future uncertainty is considered as a basic planning condition, which justifies exploration of opportunities for transformation by broader practices and knowledge perspectives.Overall, the thesis makes visible ways in which specific practices and knowledge perspectives exert significant influence over which choices regarding future pathways that are presented to the public and decision makers. A central conclusion regards a need for a more politically oriented discussion on what knowledge and practices in transport policy and practice that are relevant and fit for purpose in the light of the climate mitigation challenge as well as other societal objectives.
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| 10. |
- Ahlberg, Joakim, 1966-
(författare)
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Multi-unit common value auctions : theory and experiments
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Research on auctions that involve more than one identical item for sale was,almost non-existing in the 90’s, but has since then been getting increasing attention. External incentives for this research have come from the US spectrum, sales, the European 3G mobile-phone auctions, and Internet auctions. The policy relevance and the huge amount of money involved in many of them have helped the theory and experimental research advance. But in auctions where values are equal across bidders, common value auctions, that is, when the value depends on some outside parameter, equal to all bidders, the research is still embryonic.This thesis contributes to the topic with three studies. The first uses a Bayesian game to model a simple multi-unit common value auction, the task being to compare equilibrium strategies and the seller’s revenue from three auction formats; the discriminatory, the uniform and the Vickrey auction. The second study conducts an economic laboratory experiment on basis of the first study. The third study comprises an experiment on the multi-unit common value uniform auction and compares the dynamic and the static environments of this format.The most salient result in both experiments is that subjects overbid. They are victims of the winner’s curse and bid above the expected value, thus earning a negative profit. There is some learning, but most bidders continue to earn a negative profit also in later rounds. The competitive effect when participating in an auction seems to be stronger than the rationality concerns. In the first experiment, subjects in the Vickrey auction do somewhat better in small groups than subjects in the other auction types and, in the second experiment, subjects in the dynamic auction format perform much better than subjects in the static auction format; but still, they overbid.Due to this overbidding, the theoretical (but not the behavioral) prediction that the dynamic auction should render more revenue than the static fails inthe second experiment. Nonetheless, the higher revenue of the static auction comes at a cost; half of the auctions yield negative profits to the bidders, and the winner’s curse is more severely widespread in this format. Besides, only a minority of the bidders use the equilibrium bidding strategy.The bottom line is that the choice between the open and sealed-bid formats may be more important than the choice of price mechanism, especially in common value settings.
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