A comparative review of the making of urban transport policies in metropolitan areas in Southeast Asia

Abstract

The urban transport systems are primarily the result of political decision-making processes, and only secondarily a matter of technical necessity or technical possibility, because every individual or group does have vested interests in transport policies, which are often conflicting if not inherently incompatible. What constitutes the so-called “common good” is not a technical question but ultimately a political one – while its implementation requires the suitable technical solution. This “comparative review of the making of urban transport policies in metropolitan areas of Singapore and Bangkok” analyses (1) the “input” of different actors into the political decision-making process, (2) how this input is processed by the various actors in government and administration, including the interaction of all participatory actors, and (3) finally how the results of these processes influence the form of the actual transport systems. The results are based on the research of the different polities influencing transport-related decisions in cities of Singapore and Bangkok. The process of decision-making is analysed using seven illustrative examples from these cities and the assessment of the transport systems is made according to pre-defined quantitative and qualitative data. This adopted approach is along the lines of classical policy-field analysis: In this study it examines the policy field of urban transport and draws conclusions, which are specific to the chosen cities and general to the policy field