Felix Pot (p), Taede Tillema

Jón Þorvaldur Heiðarsson

Traditional approaches in transport planning that encourage motorized mobility have induced the upscaling and spatial concentration of opportunities while aiming to maximize overall economic growth. Car-based land-use development and the associated spatial accessibility inequalities have resulted in mobility becoming vital for accessing economic and social opportunities, particularly in rural areas. However, the status quo, of car use as a means of reducing accessibility inequalities, could increasingly prove incompatible with emerging broader transport policy agendas that include social inclusion and environmental objectives.

Some inequality in accessibility is unavoidable, as activity locations and transport infrastructure are inevitably unequally distributed across space. The normative issue that then arises is how to balance the economic and societal benefits of spatial concentration and personal mobility against potential negative impacts on the environment and quality of life in rural areas, where residents may face reduced opportunities for local participation in activities. Individual heterogeneity in activity participation requirements and abilities complicates the evaluation of accessibility adequacy and setting policy goals in such places with few locally available opportunities. Accessibility evaluations typically comprise top-down approaches using accessibility indicators calculated from spatial data that rely on aggregated assumptions on how individuals perceive accessibility, but potentially overlook much of the heterogeneity in needs, desires and abilities that shape perceived levels of accessibility.

This paper describes how giving consideration to perceived accessibility can contribute to the design of effective, efficient and fair accessibility policies for rural areas. First, it argues that understanding perceived accessibility can help to normatively assess the impact and fairness of inequalities in spatial accessibility. Subsequently it is argued that subjective experiences can provide valuable information regarding balancing accessibility policy goals against other, potentially conflicting, social and environmental policy goals related to transport. This is illustrated by scrutinizing some pathways to sustain rural accessibility oriented towards facilitating spatial proximity, physical mobility and digital connectivity (i.e. the ‘triple access system’), while considering some of the practical issues when attempting to integrate perceived accessibility in policy practice.

Martin Bieleman (p)

Felix Pot

Concerns about socioeconomic disparities and sustainability challenges have prompted calls for a more comprehensive assessment of wealth that extends beyond mere economic output. Consequently, when appraising transport infrastructural investments, challenges emerge in aligning goals and the assessment of a broader array of potential societal and environmental outcomes more explicitly, either within or alongside traditional appraisal methods. This study contributes to this challenge for the case of high-speed rail (HSR) by reviewing the (spatial) effects, motivations for construction, and decision making process of high speed rail in an international context. Several systematic reviews, literature reviews, and meta-analyses have been used to develop a conceptual model on the decision making process and micro and macro-level impacts related to HSR. This conceptual framework served as the structure of the literature review. The relevant literature was identified using a snowballing approach, beginning with existing reviews on the socioeconomic outcomes of HSR. This involved tracing the references and related literature cited in the papers used to construct the conceptual model. Additionally, governmental and institutional reports elucidating policy goals and presenting ex-ante and ex-post economic appraisals related to HSR were included. This paper finds that the most cited reason for high speed rail construction is congestion on existing (rail) infrastructure. The use of the social cost-benefit analysis (SCBA) in the decision making process seems paradoxical. On the one hand, several governments use SCBAs to identify socially profitable infrastructural investment. On the other hand, SCBAs play a minor role in the final decision. Lobbying and electoral support seem influential in the decision making process and design of the infrastructure. In terms of effects this paper finds that HSR can increase accessibility if existing services and maintenance continue, and that spatial economic effects show parallels to the New Economic Geography: Agglomeration economics initially cause the clustering in densely populated agglomeration, but will eventually, under high clustering with soring property prices and congestion, stimulate the spread of economic activity towards (semi-)peripheral areas. Especially the service sector seems affected by HSR. For this reason, economic development motivations seem unsubstantiated as they are highly context dependent. Therefore, future research could address this uncertainty by what factors contribute to this context. Moreover, future research could perform qualitative research into the decision making process about how different goals and motivations weighed in different context and what actors influence the actual outcomes. Lastly, qualitative methods could be used to research the underlying socioeconomic impacts.

Felix Pot (p)

Martin Bieleman

Peripheral rural regions in Europe face significant challenges in providing adequate access to essential services and employment opportunities, primarily due to the effects of centralization and urbanization. This trend symbolizes a perceived withdrawal of governmental support, emphasizing the prioritization of urban economic centers and the neglect of rural areas. Consequently, these 'lagging places' may cultivate a sense of abandonment among residents, manifesting in feelings of being 'left behind'. Quite literally, considerable distances to essential facilities, coupled with a lack of transport options and perceived limited efforts to enhance accessibility, may exacerbate feelings of isolation and exclusion. This experience of neglect may contribute to the perception of institutional bias against peripheral regions, treating them like they ‘don’t matter’, a sentiment commonly associated with populist movements

Previous research has highlighted distance as a significant factor contributing to senses of neglect, particularly emphasizing the impact of proximity to the nation’s capital as a driver of discontent. Moreover, communities of discontent are nested within their regional contexts wherein feelings of being left behind may, in addition to the national context, be fuelled by their relative position regarding access to opportunities in nearby places. However, regional disparities in distances and travel times to opportunities do not always correspond to differences in satisfaction with access. Such potential discrepancies between perceived accessibility and spatial data is compounded by regional variations in individual accessibility needs, desires, and abilities.

This complexity prompts the question of whether the relationship between accessibility and perceptions of institutional bias in rural areas is primarily driven by the actual challenges in accessing desired opportunities or by relative differences in the availability of these opportunities. This paper aims to explore the extent to which difficulties in accessing desired opportunities moderate the link between accessibility and perceptions of institutional bias in rural areas, contributing to a deeper understanding of the dynamics driving regional disparities and populist sentiments in Europe's peripheral rural regions.

Jón Þorvaldur Heiðarsson (p)

Felix Pot

Iceland is an island with uninhabitable highland in the middle but with circle road around the island in the lowlands by the shore. It means that it is impossible to drive between north and south parts of the country unless driving through the west or east part. For some time it has been discussed whether it is possible to make new road across the highland and thus connecting the north and south parts directly. Making chord on the circle which would be fundamental change on the road system in Iceland. In the presentation it will be showed what possibilities there are in this respect and focused on one possibility, new road called Kjalvegur. The main social and economical gains will be discussed, how communities, which now are far apart, can be connected giving various social and economical effects. Tourism is one of them. Furthermore it will be explained what weather, environmental, political and cost barriers there are to construct such a road.