Facilitating Evidence-Based Decision-Making – The Development and Use of an On-Line Knowledgebase on Sustainable Land-Use and Transport

Abstract

It is clear from recent policy and research initiatives that city authorities need improved advice on the appropriateness of individual policy instruments, and combinations of such instruments, to their particular circumstances. Reasons for this identified by the ECMT and OECD include, poor policy integration and co-ordination, counter productive institutional roles, unsupportive regulatory frameworks, weaknesses in pricing and poor data quality and quantity. There are now some 80 policy instruments available, but unfortunately, for the majority of these, there is an absence of clear and consistent evidence of their performance in different contexts. For some there are long standing reference sources which are still used, whilst for others, there are more recent reviews. However, for the majority the evidence is widely dispersed in journal articles and consultancy reports. Further to this, assessments are often made against different criteria and are sometimes incomplete as well as being subjective. This paper reports the development of an on-line Knowledgebase on Sustainable Urban Land-use and Transport (KonSULT) which aims to provide comprehensive, consistent and up to date assessments of evidence on the impacts of a wide range of urban transport policy instruments for use by decision-makers in the development and implementation of integrated transport strategies. In addition to reporting on how KonSULT has been developed, the paper reports on how the knowledgebase works, puts forward plans for further development and seeks feedback on its usefulness, and on other potential developments. Further to this, compilation of the material for inclusion in KonSULT has identified areas where further research is needed to fully understand the impacts of policy instruments and the development of effective strategy. This is especially true of newer policy instruments, especially attitudinal and behavioral measures, and small scale projects that operate below the level which is conventionally assessed by transport appraisal methods. The way in which cross-sector impacts are considered is a further challenge at institutional, strategy and appraisal levels. Consideration is given to these areas of further research in drawing conclusions from the work that has gone into the development of KonSULT.