“Integrated Mobility and the Governance of Urban Transit,” a Knowledge Synthesis Report prepared for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada by Elena Goracinova, Lisa Huh and David A. Wolfe (Principal Investigator) of Munk’s Innovation Policy Lab is now available.
The project was awarded a Knowledge Synthesis Grant in June 2021 and sought to understand how and which public policies can be most effectively employed to ensure that new digital infrastructure and associated mobility services are used to provide Canadians with a higher quality integrated transit service.
Most Canadian cities have been implementing new mobility technologies in increments and through pilot projects. However, the piecemeal adoption of technologies often occurs quietly and without robust public debate. These initiatives lack proper attention paid to governance issues such as data ownership or the commodification of mobility as the public sector recruits private technology partners to provide mobility services. Yet, questions about how governments should steer these changing networks of actors, resources and power are essential. A failure to address both the short and longer-term governance issues risks a lock-in to a mobility system that exacerbates the social and environmental problems that have challenged Canadian planners throughout the automobility transition. This synthesis report seeks to bring clarity and urgency to the debate about the impacts of new technologies by synthesizing our existing knowledge on the state’s critical role in managing the transition to a ‘smart’ transport future. – excerpt from “Integrated Mobility and the Governance of Urban Transit” report
Dr. Goracinova will share the project’s research, findings, and policy implications at the Mobility & Public Transit virtual forum presented by SSHRC in collaboration with INFC in a session on January 25, 2022.
About Knowledge Synthesis Grants
The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) collaborated with Infrastructure Canada to launch a Knowledge Synthesis Grants competition on mobility and public transit in 2020 to examine and synthesize existing knowledge on mobility and public transit issues.
Knowledge syntheses are comprehensive analyses of literature and other forms of knowledge on a particular question or issue. Knowledge Synthesis Grants are intended to support the synthesis of existing research knowledge and the identification of knowledge gaps. This call was particularly focused on the state of research knowledge emerging over the past 10 years.
Read the report
Goracinova, Elena, Lisa Huh, David A. Wolfe, “Integrated Mobility and the Governance of Urban Transit.” A Knowledge Synthesis Report prepared for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. December 2021.