| 1. |
- Abebe, Henok Girma, 1988-
(författare)
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The Rationality and Moral Acceptability of Vision Zero Goal and Its Interventions
- 2021
-
Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This licentiate thesis discusses moral issues associated with road safety work, with a particular emphasis on the Vision Zero (VZ) goal and its interventions. The licentiate thesis contains three articles and an introduction that briefly discusses issues and arguments presented in the articles.The first article, identifies, systematically categorizes and evaluates arguments against VZ. Moral, operational, and rationality related criticisms against the adoption and implementation of VZ are identified and discussed. The second article in this thesis seeks to reconcile the methods of Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) and VZ in road safety decision making. CBA has been and still is a major decision making tool in road transport and traffic safety work. However, proponents of VZ question the use of CBA in road safety and transport decision making on methodological and ethical grounds. In this paper, we locate the philosophical roots of the conflicting views promoted by proponents of CBA and VZ. Then we try to identify ways through which the two methods can be made compatible.The third and final paper uses VZ as a normative framework to explore and analyse the Addis Ababa road safety work. The aim of the paper is twofold. First, the paper seeks to examine how road safety problems are actually understood by those responsible for road safety at the local level. To this end, government policy documents, reports and other relevant sources where consulted to identify how road safety problems are framed, who is assigned responsibility for addressing road safety problems and through what interventions. Second, the paper aims to examine road safety work in the city from a normative point of view, i.e., what is the best, or most adequate, way of framing the problem, and who should be given the responsibility for addressing the problem and by what measures. It is argued that enhancing road safety in the city requires adopting a broader view of causes of road safety problems, and emphasizing the responsibility of actors that shape the design and operation of the traffic system and the safety of its components.
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| 2. |
- Abebe, Henok Girma, 1988-
(författare)
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Ethical Issues in the Adoption and Implementation of Vision Zero Policies in Road Safety
- 2023
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this doctoral thesis is to analyze ethical issues in the adoption and implementation of Vision Zero policies. The first article analyses criticisms against Vision Zero goals and measures promoted to reach them. We identify and assess “moral”, “operational”, and “rationality-based” arguments against Vision Zero. In total, thirteen different criticisms are analyzed. The second article seeks to reconcile the two major decision-making principles in road safety work, i.e., Cost Benefit Analysis and Vision Zero, which are often viewed as incompatible. We argue that the two principles can be compatible if the implementation of Vision Zero accepts temporal compromises intended to promote efficient allocation of resources, and the results of Cost Benefit Analysis are viewed not as optimal and satisfactory as long as fatal and serious injuries continue occurring. The third article uses Vision Zero as a normative framework to explore and analyze road safety work in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The ensuing analysis shows that there are significant differences between Addis Ababa road safety policies and Vision Zero in terms of how road safety problems are understood and in their responsibility ascriptions for improving road safety problems. It is argued that enhancing road safety in the city requires promoting a broader view of the causes and remedies of road safety problems. Moreover, given the magnitude and severity of road safety problems in the city, it is vital to emphasize the moral responsibility of actors responsible for the design and operation of the road system, and entities that procure and own large number of vehicles. The fourth article analyses equity and social justice considerations in Vision Zero efforts in New York City (NYC). Moreover, this study seeks to understand and assess how the city accounts for equity and social justice implications of road safety work. The result of the study shows that equity and social justice considerations played important roles in the initial adoption of Vision Zero policy in the city. Nonetheless, the study also shows that the adoption and implementation process gave rise to important equity and social justice issues which are primarily related to the method of prioritization used in road safety work in the city, equity and fairness in the distribution of life saving interventions, the socioeconomic impacts of road safety strategies, and the nature of community engagement in policy design and implementation. The findings of this study, among others, point to a need for Vision Zero practitioners to give due considerations to equity and social justice implications of Vision Zero policies and strategies. The fifth article analyzes the nature and moral acceptability of risk impositions from car driving in a low-income country context. It is shown that car driving involves an unfair and morally problematic risk imposition in which some stakeholders, namely those who decide on the nature of the risk in the road system and benefit the most from car driving, impose a significant risk of harm on others, who neither benefit from the risk imposition nor have decision-making role related to the risks they are exposed to. It is argued that addressing moral problems arising from the unfair risk imposition necessitates the promotion, on the part of beneficiaries and decision makers, of certain types of moral obligations related to the nature and magnitude of road crash risks. Importantly, those who benefit the most from car driving, and actors who decide on the risk level in the road system, have the moral obligation to implement effective risk reducing measures that protect those unfairly risk exposed, obligations to know more about road crash risks, obligations to compensate victims, obligations to communicate with the risk exposed and incorporate their concerns in policy making, and obligations to bring about attitudinal change.
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| 3. |
- Döhlen Wedin, Anna
(författare)
-
The planner's dilemma : An ethical investigation of adaptation to sea level rise
- 2023
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This is a thesis on the ethics of adaptation to sea level rise, with a focus on proactive adaptation planning. The research, which has been conducted within a transdisciplinary research project, takes a bottom-up approach to applied ethics, and has been conducted in close collaboration withadaptation planners and other project partners. The thesis consists of an introductory chapter which includes broader methodological concerns, and an overview of scientific and theoretical issues that are considered as relevant background to the broader research topic, as well as five articles.Article 1: Departing from an interview study with planners working with adaptation to sea level rise in Sweden, a typology of ethical issuesis presented. It is shown that planners have to deal with input-oriented, process-oriented, and outcome-oriented ethical issues, and that knowledge of these can contribute to ethical adaptation policy.Article 2: Responsibility of adaptation to sea level rise is often assigned to local planners. But what does it mean to be responsible? Departing from the idea of professional virtues, three codes of ethics for planners are analysed to extract aspirational characteristics for planners. The identified virtues are put in relation to central challenges of adaptation, where five virtues stand out as central to the understanding of what it means to be responsible in adaptation to sea level rise.Article 3: A method building on Value Sensitive Design (VSD) and scenario planning is developed and applied to address the challenge of integrating ethics when planning for uncertainty over long time-horizons, in the context of adaptation to sea level rise. The method iscalled VSSP and consists of three steps for scenario development and three steps for value investigations. The application resulted in insights on aspects important for an ethical long-term adaptation to sea levelrise.Article 4: Climate change and adaptation to climate change tend to have disproportionately negative impacts on women. An analysis of what a gender-sensitive adaptation planning needs to address is conducted, and the potential of VSSP as an approach for promoting gender equality in long-term adaptation planning is investigated.Article 5: The concept of feasibility, as it is used in the climate change context, is discussed. It is found that common uses of the term fail to capture what is meant by feasibility, and that this can have significant consequences for practical deliberation on climate policy. The conditional probability account of feasibility, as discussed in political theory, is suggested as a preferable account for feasibility in the climate change discourse.In all, the thesis explores a range of ethical topics of relevance in the context of planning for a sustainable adaptation to sea level rise. It bridges practical experiences and concerns with insights from the fields of climate ethics, decision theory, philosophy of technology, and political philosophy, to mention a few. In doing this, the thesis contributes to thegrowing field of ethics of climate change adaptation, with results that can be of interest to both philosophers, planners, and others working with adaptation genrally and adaptation to sea level rise specifically.
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| 4. |
- Edvardsson Björnberg, Karin, Docent, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
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Faithful Stewards of God's Creation? : Swedish Evangelical Denominations and Climate Change
- 2022
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Ingår i: Religions. - : MDPI AG. - 2077-1444. ; 13:5, s. 465-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Studies from the United States (U.S.) show that opposition to climate policy is strong among some Christian groups, especially White evangelical Protestants. Much of this opposition is channelled through organisations such as the Cornwall Alliance, which argue against climate measures on religious, economic and what they claim to be science-based grounds. In the present study, we investigated to what extent these convictions were present among Swedish evangelical denominations. Representatives from the Evangelical Free Church, the Pentecostal Alliance, the Swedish Alliance Mission, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church were interviewed to identify the denominations' views on the scientific underpinnings of climate change and the moral implications of climate policy. Our data show that the denominations' views differ markedly from those expressed by climate-oppositional evangelical groups in the U.S. The denominations held homogenous views on the legitimacy of climate science, expressed a clear biblical mandate for climate policy based on the notion of human stewardship, and believed that climate change was inextricably linked to poverty and, thus, had to be addressed. Our results point to the need for further studies on the factors behind acceptance and denial of climate science within and between faith-based and other communities in different countries.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Karlsson, Mikael, Docent, et al.
(författare)
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Ethics and biodiversity offsetting
- 2021
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Ingår i: Conservation Biology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0888-8892 .- 1523-1739. ; 35:2, s. 578-586
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Biodiversity offsetting is an increasingly applied tool aiming to compensate for environmental damage caused by exploitation projects. Critics, however, raise concerns over the purported effectiveness of offsetting and question the ethical underpinnings and implications of offsetting. These ethical dimensions have largely been overlooked in research, which may lead to offsetting systems that fail to respect the values intended to be safeguarded. To address these dimensions, 5 ethical objections in the scientific literature were identified: offsetting violates nature's intrinsic value; losses of nature cannot be compensated for by human interventions; too little is known to make adequate trades; offsetting impedes virtuous dispositions toward nature; and offsetting has negative justice implications. We examined these objections and arguments against them based on the ethical concepts of intrinsic and instrumental values, anthropocentrism, nonanthropocentrism, and deontological, consequentialist, and virtue-ethical paradigms. Both nonanthropocentric and anthropocentric concerns were expressed in deontological, consequential, and virtue-ethical framings. Objections mostly had a deontological or virtue-ethical basis, whereas counterarguments were based on consequential reasoning, but common ground in practice is often conceivable. Based on our findings, we formulated 10 recommendations for policy makers and 5 questions for practitioners to consider. We propose, for example, that policy makers clarify aims, legislate on no-go areas, and govern the use of multipliers. We suggest that practitioners consider, for instance, how to improve case-specific knowledge and promote learning and stakeholder engagement. We hope these recommendations and questions will encourage further discussion of the ethics of biodiversity offsets and ultimately strengthen the respect for biodiversity and human-welfare values at stake in offsetting projects.
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| 7. |
- Svenfelt, Åsa, PhD, Docent, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
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Goal conflicts in adaptation to climate change
- 2011
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Ingår i: Moving Toward a Sustainable Future. - : Earth Institute, Colombia University. ; , s. 238-239
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Two fundamental policy approaches exist to reduce the environmental, economic, and social threats posed by climatechange: mitigation and adaptation. Adaptation has gradually received more attention in international policy discussions asscientists and decision makers have come to realise that changes in climate are unavoidable. Since emissions reductions willnot abate all negative climate change impacts, mitigation has to be combined with a process of adapting to those impacts.In decision-making processes concerning adaptation to climate change, there is often a choice between differentstrategies and measures. The choice of adaptation measure or strategy can have implications for other goals. In thecontext of climate change adaptation this means that a goal conflict arises when a measure that is taken by an agent(e.g., a local authority, county administrative board or county council) in response to actual or expected climate changeor effect, obstructs the achievement of some other goal that the agent has set. These goal conflicts constitute a majorpolicy challenge for decision makers involved in adaptation.So far, research on adaptation has dealt a lot with needed adaptation measures, but rarely analysis of what kind ofconflicts those measures could impose on other goals. The measures may even fuel climate change themselves and,hence, accelerate the need for further adaptation. To ensure the coherence of adaptation measures with other policygoals, there is a need for tools to assess and predict outcomes, but also to balance those outcomes and trade themoff in situations where they are not easily reunited. As goal conflicts (and the nature of those conflicts) are identified,strategies and tools for managing them can be developed.The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the existence of goal conflicts in the adaptation process, to provide examplesof goal conflicts related to adaptation measures concerning physical planning, and to propose and discuss strategies fordealing with these conflicts. The basis for the paper is an inventory of potential goal conflicts in Sweden’s climate changeadaptation process. We use the adaptation process in Sweden as empirical basis, but we make the assumption that theresults are sufficiently general to apply to other countries with similar socio-economic structure and climate.The paper is focused on measures and goal conflicts concerning physical planning and decisions taken at the localscale, mainly the municipal level. A desk-based review of adaptation measures were carried out, and analysed withregards to potential goal conflicts in relation to environmental goals, goals concerning human health, recreational goals,and social justice goals. Goal conflicts were identified based on literature studies combined with interviews with relevantstaff from national and local authorities and field experts.The adaptation measures that were analysed within the area of physical planning, mainly concerned protection of thebuilt environment against flooding, landslide and increased temperatures and protection against human health risks inthe built environment. There are close connections between the identified adaptation measures. Many of the adaptation measures that are taken to protect buildings and developments from the negative impacts of climate change are alsoadequate responses when it comes to mitigating harm to human health.The paper shows that, goal conflicts in adaptation are common phenomena.Sometimes, adaptation conflicts with mitigation efforts, such as when air-conditioning and other mechanical coolingsystems used to reduce heat-related mortality also increase carbon dioxide emissions. At other times, adaptation conflictswith goals concerning the preservation of natural and cultural values, such as when ski establishments are relocated to meetsnow deficits, resulting in biodiversity loss and damage to landscape integrity. Often, adaptation conflicts with some goalswhile at the same time benefits others, which makes choices concerning adaptation complex and difficult to manage.Obviously, goal conflicts in adaptation to climate change can be managed through many different types of strategies.If actions to mitigate climate change are intensified, and are successful in halting climate change, fewer adaptationmeasures will presumably need to be taken, which reduces the risk of conflict between adaptation goals and other policygoals. Another strategy is to focus adaptation policy on reducing the vulnerability in social and ecological systems bymaking them more resilience towards the effects of climate change. With resilience built into the systems, systems aremore designed and planned to withstand changes without collapsing, and the need for adaptation measures could also decrease and thereby conflicts between interests or goals.Conflicts also arise between the local authorities’ goals and the national authorities’ goals. Hence, integrating adaptation policies and measures between different agencies and sectors is an important means of identifying and avoiding or limiting potential goal conflicts between proposed adaptation measures and other policy goals. Because of the diverseinterrelationships that exist between different policy sectors today, adaptation strategies need to be developed in anintegrated fashion to be effective and sustainable.Some strategies are conflict-reducing in the sense that they reduce the need for (further) adaptation and, consequently,the risk of creating conflicts between the goal of adaptation and other policy goals. Other strategies are conflictidentifying in the sense that they help to detect actual or potential goal conflicts in present or planned adaptation work.These strategies are central to the goal conflict resolution process, since a first step in managing a goal conflict consistsin being aware that the conflict exists. Conflict-directing strategies constitute a third type of strategies; they tell thedecision maker how to act in situations where a goal conflict is present or foreseen.An important conclusion is that, by pro-actively working with goal conflicts at an early stage in the decision-makingprocess, governmental decision makers can play an important role in promoting sustainable adaptation at local andregional levels. The goal conflicts that exist in the context of climate adaptation make it clear that successful adaptationpolicy cannot be defined in terms of effectiveness, i.e., how well an adaptation measure, strategy, or policy succeeds insolving the problem that it is intended to solve. Before an adaptation measure is decided upon, the decision maker must also consider how appropriate the measure is, given her other policy goals.
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| 8. |
- Wedin, Anna, 1987-
(författare)
-
Ethical Adaptation to Sea Level Rise: The Planner’s Perspective
- 2021
-
Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis addresses local adaptation to climate change-induced sea level rise, taking an ethical perspective and focusing at the role of planning and the planner. The research, which has been conducted within a transdisciplinary research project, takes a bottom-up approach to applied ethics, and relies to a great extent on empirical data. In doing this, it contributes to the growing field of ethics of climate change adaptation, with results that can be of interest to both ethicists and planners. The thesis consists of an introductory chapter and three articles. Article 1: Departing from an interview study with planners working with adaptation to sea level rise in Sweden, a typology of ethical issues is presented. It is shown that planners have to deal with input-oriented, process-oriented, and outcome-oriented ethical issues, and that knowledge of these can contribute to ethical adaptation policy. Article 2: A method building on Value Sensitive Design (VSD) and scenario planning is developed and applied to address the challenge of integrating ethics when planning for uncertainty over long time- horizons, in the context of adaptation to sea level rise. The method consists of three steps for scenario development and three steps for value investigations. The application resulted in insights on aspects important for an ethical long-term adaptation to sea-level rise. Article 3: Responsibility of adaptation to sea level rise is often assigned to local planners. But what does it mean to be responsible? Departing from the idea of professional virtues, three codes of ethics for planners are analysed to extract aspirational characteristics for planners. The identified virtues are put in relation to central challenges of adaptation, where five virtues stand out as central to the understanding of what it means to be responsible in adaptation to sea level rise.
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| 9. |
- Abebe, Henok Girma, 1988-, et al.
(författare)
-
Arguments against Vision Zero: A Literature Review
- 2022. - 1
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Ingår i: The Vision Zero Handbook. - Switzerland : Springer Nature. ; , s. 107-149
-
Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite Vision Zero’s moral appeal and its expansion throughout the world, it has been criticized on different grounds. This chapter is based on an extensive literature search for criticism of Vision Zero, using the bibliographic databases Philosopher’s Index, Web of Science, Science Direct, Scopus, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Phil Papers, and by following the references in the collected documents. Even if the primary emphasis was on Vision Zero in road traffic, our search also included documents criticizing Vision Zero policies in other safety areas, such as public health, the construction and mining industries, and workplaces in general. Based on the findings, we identify and systematically characterize and classify the major arguments that have been put forward against Vision Zero. The most important arguments against Vision Zero can be divided into three major categories: moral arguments, arguments concerning the (goalsetting) rationality of Vision Zero, and arguments aimed at the practical implementation of the goals. We also assess the arguments. Of the thirteen identified main arguments, six were found to be useful for a constructive discussion on safety improvements.
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| 10. |
- Abebe, Henok Girma, 1988-, et al.
(författare)
-
Equity and Social Justice considerations in road safety work: The case of Vision Zero in New York City
- 2024
-
Ingår i: Transport Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0967-070X .- 1879-310X. ; 149, s. 11-20
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper analyses how Vision Zero (VZ) efforts in New York City (NYC) account for equity and social justice implications of road safety work. VZ policy documents, research literature, popular science and opinion articles on road safety work in the city were studied with a prime focus on equity and social justice. Twelve semi-structured interviews with stakeholders involved in road safety and transport planning in the city and at national level were conducted to gain an in-depth understanding of policy design, the adoption process, and the role of equity considerations in the city's road safety work. The results show that major equity and social justice issues arise in the adoption and implementation of VZ. These issues are primarily related to equity and fairness in the distribution of life saving interventions, the socio-economic impacts of road safety strategies, and the nature of community engagement in policy design and implementation. The findings point to a need for VZ practitioners to give due considerations to equity and social justice implications of VZ policies and strategies. Among others, it supports the need for understanding the nature of past equity and social justice problems in road safety and transport planning in the VZ policy design process. Moreover, the findings suggest the need for empirical studies on the socio-economic implications of VZ strategies and interventions.
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| 11. |
- Abebe, Henok Girma, 1988-, et al.
(författare)
-
Equity and Social Justice Considerations in Road Safety Work : The Case of Vision Zero in New York City
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper analyses how Vision Zero (VZ) efforts in New York City (NYC) account for equity and social justice implications of road safety work. VZ policy documents, research literature, popular science and opinion articles on road safety work in the city were studied with a prime focus on equity and social justice. Twelve semi-structured interviews with stakeholders involved in road safety and transport planning in the city and at national level were conducted to gain an in-depth understanding of policy design, the adoption process, and the role of equity considerations in the city’s road safety work. The results show that major equity and social justice issues arise in the adoption and implementation of VZ. These issues are primarily related to equity and fairness in the distribution of life saving interventions, the socio-economic impacts of road safety strategies, and the nature of community engagement in policy design and implementation. The findings point to a need for VZ practitioners to give due consideration to equity and social justice implications of VZ policies and strategies. Among others, it supports the need for understanding the nature of past equity and social justice problems in road safety and transport planning in the VZ policy design process. Moreover, the findings suggest the need for empirical studies on the socio-economic implications of VZ strategies and interventions.
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| 12. |
- Edvardsson Björnberg, Karin, Docent, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
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Consistent risk regulation? Differences in the European regulation of food crops
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Risk Research. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1366-9877 .- 1466-4461. ; 22:12, s. 1561-1570
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the EU legal system, there is a large difference between the procedures and requirements for the introduction of crops that are classified as genetically modified (GM) and crops not so classified. In order to investigate whether this regulatory divide is compatible with real risks two cases of GM crops and two cases of non-GM crops are scrutinized. It is concluded that the regulatory divide cannot be justified from the viewpoint of risk assessment, since the GM/non-GM dichotomy is not an accurate indicator of either health risk or environmental risk. Much better such indicators are available and should form the basis of a legislation aimed at preventing the introduction of crops that are harmful for human health or the environment. If the legislator has other reasons to regulate GM crops differently than conventional crops, then those reasons should be stated in the legislation and determine the types of measures that it prescribes.
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| 13. |
- Edvardsson Björnberg, Karin, Docent, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
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‘Cornwallism’ and Arguments against Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions
- 2020
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Ingår i: Environmental Values. - : The White Horse Press. - 0963-2719 .- 1752-7015. ; 29:6, s. 691-711
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Opposition against greenhouse gas emissions reductions is strong among some conservative Christian groups, especially in the United States. In this paper, we identify five scripture-based arguments against greenhouse gas mitigation put forward by a core group of Christian conservatives (‘the Cornwallists’): the anti-paganism argument, the enrichment argument, the omnipotence argument, the lack of moral relevance argument, and the cost-benefit argument. We evaluate to what extent the arguments express positions that can be characterized as climate science denialist and to what degree they are consistent with support for climate adaptation. Using Stefan Rahmstorf’s (2004) taxonomy of climate science denial, we conclude that the Cornwallists could be labelled climate change deniers. However, their opposition is not only based on denial of climate sciencebut often rests on premises that render the science irrelevant, a position we term`relevance denialism Cornwallists could be labelled climate change deniers. However, their opposition is not only based on denial of climate science but often rests on premises that render the science irrelevant, a position we term ‘relevance denialism`´
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| 14. |
- Edvardsson Björnberg, Karin, Docent, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
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Preface
- 2022
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Ingår i: The Vision Zero Handbook. - : Springer Nature.
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 15. |
- Edvardsson Björnberg, Karin, 1972-
(författare)
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Rational Goal-Setting in Environmental Policy : Foundations and Applications
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall aim of this thesis is to present a model for rational goal-setting and to illustrate how it can be applied in evaluations of public policies, in particular policies concerning sustainable development and environmental quality. The contents of the thesis are divided into two sections: a theoretical section (Papers I-IV) and an empirical section (Papers V-VII). Paper I identifies a set of rationality criteria for single goals and discusses them in relation to the typical function of goals. It is argued that goals are typically set to enhance goal achievement. A goal that successfully furthers its achievement is “achievement-inducing”. It holds for each of the identified criteria that, ceteris paribus, improved satisfaction of a criterion makes a goal better in the achievement-inducing sense.Paper II contains an analysis of the notion of goal system coherence. It is argued that the coherence of a goal system is determined by the relations that hold among the goals in the system, in particular the relations of operationalization, means and ends, support, and conflict. Paper III investigates the rationality of utopian goals. The paper analyzes four arguments that support the normative criterion of attainability: that utopian goals are (1) too imprecise and (2) too far-reaching to guide action effectively, (3) counterproductive, and (4) morally objectionable. A tentative defence of utopian goal-setting is built on counter-arguments that can be put forward to weaken each of the four objections. Paper IV investigates the nature of self-defeating goals. The paper identifies three types of situations in which self-defeating mechanisms obstruct goal achievement: (1) situations in which the goal itself carries the seeds of its own non-fulfilment (self-defeating goals), (2) situations in which the activity of goal-setting contributes to goal failure (self-defeating goal-setting), and (3) situations in which disclosure of the goal interferes with progress (self-defeating goal disclosure). Paper V provides a brief description of the Swedish system of environmental objectives and a preliminary inventory of the management difficulties that attach to this goal system.Paper VI contains an investigation into the rationality of five Swedish environmental objectives through an application of the rationality criteria identified in Papers I-II. The paper identifies and discusses some difficulties that are associated with management by objectives and the use of goals in environmental policy. Paper VII analyses the rationality of the Swedish environmental quality objective A good built environment. Among the conclusions drawn in the paper are that some of the sub-goals to the objective are formulated in terms that are unnecessarily vague from an action-guiding standpoint and that others are problematic from the viewpoint of evaluability.
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| 16. |
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| 17. |
- Edvardsson Björnberg, Karin, Docent, 1972-
(författare)
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Setting and Revising Goals
- 2016
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Ingår i: Log. Argum. Reason.. - Cham : Springer Science and Business Media B.V.. ; , s. 171-188
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- If goals are to fulfil their typical function of regulating action in a way that contributes to an agent’s long-term interests in getting what he or she wants, they need to have a certain stability. At the same time, it is not difficult to imagine situations in which the agent could have a reason to revise his or her goals; goals that are entirely impossible to achieve or approach to a meaningful degree appear to warrant some modification. This chapter addresses the question of when it is rationally justified to reconsider one’s prior goals. In doing so, it enriches the strictly instrumental conception of rationality. Using Bratman’s (1992; 1999) theory of intention and Edvardsson and Hansson’s (2005) theory of rational goal-setting, the chapter critically analyses the steps in the argumentative chain that ought to be considered before it can be concluded that a decision maker has sufficient reason to reconsider her goals. Two sets of revision-prompting considerations are identified: achievability- and desirability-related considerations. It is argued that changes in the agent’s beliefs about the goal’s achievability and/or desirability could give her a prima facie reason to reconsider the goal. However, whether there is sufficient reason—all things considered—to revise the goal hinges on additional factors. Three such factors are discussed: pragmatic, moral and symbolic factors.
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| 18. |
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| 19. |
- Edvardsson Björnberg, Karin, Docent, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
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The vision zero handbook : Theory, technology and management for a zero casualty policy
- 2022
-
Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This handbook provides a comprehensive treatment of Vision Zero, an innovative policy on public road safety developed in Sweden. Covering all the major topics of the subject, the book starts out with a thorough examination of the philosophy, ideas and principles behind Vision Zero. It looks at conditions for the effectiveness of the policy, principles of safety and responsibility as well as critique on the policy. Next, the handbook focuses on how the Vision Zero ideas have been received and implemented in various legislations and countries worldwide. It takes into account the way Vision Zero is looked at in the context of international organizations such as the WHO, the UN, and the OECD. This allows for a comparison of systems, models and effects. The third part of the handbook discusses the management and leadership aspects, including ISO standards, equity issues, other goals for traffic and transportation, and opportunities for the car industry. Part four delves into tools, technologies and organizational measures that contribute to the implementation of Vision Zero in road traffic. Examples of specific elements discussed are urban and rural road designs, human factor designs, and avoiding drunk and distracted driving. The final part of the handbook offers perspectives on the transfer of Vision Zero policy to other areas, ranging from air traffic to suicide prevention and nuclear energy.
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| 20. |
- Edvardsson Björnberg, Karin, Docent, 1972-
(författare)
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Vision zero and other road safety targets
- 2022
-
Ingår i: The Vision Zero Handbook. - Cham : Springer Nature. ; , s. 3-29
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Every year, around 1.3 million people are killed on the road and another 20-50 million are severely injured. This makes road safety one of the most critical global public health issues. To address the negative trend, the international community has responded with the adoption of road safety targets. Sustainable Development Goals 3.6 and 11.2 are two examples. Also at the national level, goals and targets are increasingly used to steer work towards improved road safety. The frequent use of goals and targets in road safety policy makes it interesting to investigate under what conditions the adopted goals can be expected to be achieved. This chapter summarizes the main themes and conclusions of research that have been conducted on goal-setting in road safety policy and management to date. Drawing on previous research, it outlines and discusses a set of criteria that road safety goals should meet in order to be achievement-inducing, that is, have the capacity to guide and induce efforts towards the vision of zero fatalities and serious injuries on the road.
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| 21. |
- Edvardsson Björnberg, Karin, Docent, 1972-
(författare)
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What, If Anything, Is Wrong with Offsetting Nature?
- 2020
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Ingår i: Theoria. - : DPHT Stockholm. - 0040-5825 .- 1755-2567. ; 86:6, s. 749-768
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Biodiversity offsetting is an increasingly popular policy instrument used to compensate for losses in biodiversity and ecosystem services caused by development projects. Although evidence suggests that offsetting can yield significant environmental benefits, application of the policy instrument is surrounded by controversy. Among other things, critics argue that offsetting builds on normatively contentious assumptions regarding the value of nature and the fungibility of biodiversity components, such as species, habitats, ecosystems, and landscapes. A large portion of the criticism targets the allegedly illegitimate commodification of nature that the policy instrument entails. Exploring the significantly more developed normative discussion on carbon offsetting, this article identifies four arguments that plausibly could be made to support the claim that it is wrong to commodify nature in the way biodiversity offsetting schemes do: the common ownership argument, the price argument, the non-substitutability argument, and the “crowding out” argument. Although none of the arguments definitively invalidate the use of biodiversity offsets, they provide good reasons to proceed with caution when designing and implementing them.
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| 22. |
- Eriksson, Dennis, et al.
(författare)
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Options to Reform the European Union Legislation on GMOs : Post-authorization and Beyond
- 2020
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Ingår i: Trends in Biotechnology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0167-7799 .- 1879-3096. ; 38:5, s. 465-467
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We discuss options to reform the EU genetically modified organism (GMO) regulatory framework, make risk assessment and decision-making more consistent with scientific principles, and lay the groundwork for international coherence. In this third of three articles, we focus on labeling and coexistence as well as discuss the political reality and potential ways forward.
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| 23. |
- Eriksson, Dennis, et al.
(författare)
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Options to Reform the European Union Legislation on GMOs : Risk Governance
- 2020
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Ingår i: Trends in Biotechnology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0167-7799 .- 1879-3096. ; 38:4, s. 349-351
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Here, we discuss options to reform the EU genetically modified organism (GMO) regulatory framework, to make risk assessment and decision-making more consistent with scientific principles, and to lay the groundwork for international coherence. We discussed the scope and definitions in a previous article and, thus, here we focus on the procedures for risk assessment and risk management.
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| 24. |
- Nordström, Maria
(författare)
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Is time money? Philosophical perspectives on the monetary valuation of travel time
- 2020
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This licentiate thesis consists of an introduction (‘kappa’) and three papers discussing various aspects of time as a commodity and the practice of valuing travel time.The first paper is an analysis of the properties of time as an economic resource taking into account literature on behavior with regard to time. The intent is to provide better understanding of the underlying assumption of transferability between time and money in the context of transportation.The second paper builds on the analysis in the first paper combined with the findings of a study of commuters travel experiences during disruptions in the train traffic on the Øresund strait between Sweden and Denmark. It contrasts the theoretical account of value of travel time with the experiences reported by commuters and argues that the view of travel time as strictly a disutility can be limiting from a planning perspective. Instead, it is argued that an alternative approach can be to make travel time ‘plannable’, meaning viewing travel time as time travellers can plan to spend in a certain way at a certain time.The third paper argues that the diversity of possible mobility solutions based on self-driving vehicles has been somewhat overlooked in the current literature on value of travel time. Thus, the complexity of valuing travel time for self-driving vehicles has not been fully addressed. The paper consists of a morphological analysis of the parameters that might impact value of travel time for self-driving vehicles and a deeper analysis of five plausible self-driving vehicle mobility concepts. It is claimed that not all such concepts can be easily mapped into transport modes and that it might be more appropriate to differentiate value of travel based on travel characteristics.
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| 25. |
- Sandin, Per, et al.
(författare)
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Technology neutrality and regulation of agricultural biotechnology
- 2018
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Ingår i: Professionals in food chains: ethics, rules and responsibility. EurSafe 2018, Vienna, Austria 13 – 16 June 2018 / edited by: Svenja Springer, Herwig Grimm. - Wageningen, Netherlands : Wageningen Academic Publishers. - 9789086863211
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Agricultural biotechnology, in particular genetically modified organisms (GMOs), is subject to regulation in many areas of the world, not least in the European Union (EU). A number of authors have argued that those regulatory processes are unfair, costly, and slow and that regulation therefore should move in the direction of increased ‘technology neutrality’. The issue is becoming more pressing, especially since new biotechnologies such as CRISPR increasingly blur the regulatory distinction between GMOs and non-GMOs. This paper offers a definition of technology neutrality, uses the EU GMO regulation as a starting point for exploring technology neutrality, and presents distinctions between variants of the call for technology neutral GMO regulation in the EU.
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| 26. |
- Sandin, Per, et al.
(författare)
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Technology Neutrality in European Regulation of GMOs
- 2022
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Ingår i: Ethics, Policy & Environment. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2155-0085 .- 2155-0093. ; 1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objections to the current EU regulatory system on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in terms of high cost and lack of consistency, speed and scientific underpinning have prompted proposals for a more technology-neutral system. We sketch the conceptual background of the notion of ‘technology neutrality’ and propose a refined definition of the term. The proposed definition implies that technology neutrality of a regulatory system is a gradual and multidimensional feature. We use the definition to analyze two regulatory reform proposals: One proposal from the Netherlands for improving the exemption mechanism for GMOs under Directive 2001/18/EC, and one from the Norwegian Biotechnology Advisory Board, outlining a new stratified risk assessment procedure. While both proposals offer some degree of improved technology neutrality in some dimensions compared to current EU regulation, in some extents and dimensions, they do not. We conclude that proposals for more technology-neutral regulation of GMOs need, first, to make explicit to what extent and in what dimensions the proposal improves neutrality and, second, to present arguments supporting that these specific improvements constitute desirable policy change against the background of objections to current policy.
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