Public Transportation and Regional Development: actors roles, cooperation and decision making

Purpose and goal

This project is a doctoral dissertation project that started in March 2006. The purpose of the project is to describe and analyze how various actors on local, regional, national and international levels (multi-level governance) act in relation to each other in decision-making processes (particularly public procurement processes) within public transit. The dissertation will be published in the form of four papers in international scientific journals and a synthesizing overview, which will be presented and defended in February 2011.

Results and expected effects

The dissertation can be expected to provide an innovative theoretical contribution to national and international political science research on decision-making processes, both in terms of its empirical focus on public transit and its theoretical approach to analysing procurement processes. The project will also result in analyses, conclusions and policy recommendations concerning actors´ roles, organisation, procurement processes and governance within regional public transit.

Approach and implementation

The project uses a case study approach that focuses on regional decision-making in procurement processes within public transit. Methodologies include document analysis and interviews with relevant actors.