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Environmental and socio-economic crises are creating compelling needs for radical social change. This project investigated the options and barriers for three Scottish rural communities (Fintry, Killin and Kinlochleven) to become sustainable and thrive in a future resource-constrained world. A unique, holistic and mixed methods approach was used to assess baseline sustainability, envision and model futures and develop possible options for sustainability. Central to this investigation was the development of a strong and holistic model of a sustainable community: the sustainable community design (SCD). This framework shaped the assessment of each community’s baseline sustainability. Sustainability was measured for the ten aspects of the SCD using a scorecard approach with a basket of indicators populated by primary data (collected in a household survey) and secondary data (national statistics). Sustainable consumption was analysed using the Resources and Energy Analysis Programme (REAP) to generate each community’s ecological footprint (EF) and results were compared to current estimates of per capita world biocapacity to gauge sustainability. Even the most sustainable community was only sustainable in three out of ten of the SCD’s aspects and this community had the highest EF. Although the most deprived community had the lowest EF, it was unsustainable in all ten SCD aspects. The results reflected the heterogeneity of rural communities and complexity of sustainability measurement. The SCD scorecard approach for sustainability measurement was shown to be sensitive and robust and can be applied to rural communities across Scotland. Future visions were created in focus groups, in which participants were asked to envision what their community would need to thrive in 2030 under the scenario of peak oil and a low carbon economy. Vision ideas and examples of best practice and technological innovation were used to create narrative scenarios for modelling transport, food and energy futures. The scenarios’ EFs were calculated in REAP for three discrete levels of change: a marginal change, a step change and radical transformation. The results suggested that radical transformation is required for communities to become sustainable. Key features are likely to be re-localised and highly co-operative societies, which utilise technological innovations (such as electric cars powered by renewable energy) and share resources to maximise opportunities for living in rural areas. A community’s transformation is likely to be bespoke and require local control, requiring changes to governance and supportive policy. Key barriers identified were availability of affordable technological innovations, energy injustice, power to achieve self-determination, community governance, property rights and sustainability literacy. A process model, incorporating the SCD scorecard approach, was proposed for furthering sustainable community development and research. In taking an interdisciplinary and mixed methods approach, this study has pioneered a novel approach to the holistic enquiry of the options for creating sustainable rural communities.

The UK Government is committed to reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. Reducing emissions from motorised transport and changing travel behaviour of people wishing to travel are two possible means of achieving this. To support schemes designed to change behaviour the UK Government provided a five year funding stream to local authorities in England (excluding London) called the Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF). The LSTF funding creates an opportunity for people to change the way they travel, through the provision of new infrastructure and training. This research is designed to understand how the transport system influences creates this opportunity. This thesis investigates an alternative approach to the existing dominant behaviour change paradigm of behavioural economic theory, favoured by the UK Government. The research examines using the potential benefits of applying the sociological method of Social Practice Theory (SPT). SPT is different to psychology-based approaches as it considers the ‘practice’ that is being undertaken, rather than focusing on the individual undertaking the action. The research explores Shove et al.’s (2012) 3-Elements model, an accessible representation of the complexities of SPT, to demonstrate whether the materials, meanings and competences that make up a social practice are reflected in the design of the sustainable transport bids for LSTF funding and, if not, how the bids could be improved by incorporating the SPT perspective. The research applies SPT in two ways. Firstly, an analysis was undertaken of LSTF bid documents to understand what elements of the practice(s) of travelling the proposed schemes were trying to alter. Secondly, it examines the practices of transport planning itself (in the context of the LSTF). Through the development of the research it became evident that the 3-Elements model would not provide a sufficient explanation of the practices of transport planning. A new conceptual model was therefore created incorporating Fine and Leopold’s (1993, 2002) Systems of Provision (SOP) model to identify the structures, processes, agents and relationships that exist within the Transport Planning SOP (TPSOP) that influence how practices are performed and how this ultimately influences the practices of travelling. The research has been developed from a critical realist perspective and constructs a narrative to explain what the 3-Elements and TPSOP conceptual models tell us about the transport planning sector and the practices of travel. As such does not seek an absolute truth as to the influences on the practices of travelling. The research uses a mixed methods approach to gathering data. This includes content analysis of all 145 LSTF bid submissions, a survey of the bid managers and semi-structured interviews with 23 transport professionals from across the TPSOP. The analysis of the results from the data collection found that the meanings within transport planning of what is defined as a sustainable transport initiative come from national government and this meaning has a direct influence on the types of schemes that were bid for by Local Authorities (LAs). The findings also identified that the national government exerted its power through the provision of funding to LAs who met their vision of what is defined as a sustainable transport scheme. Using the TPSOP conceptual model it was possible to demonstrate the importance of funding as a process, used to exert power. The research found that although the national government was able to exert this power through the delivery of sustainable transport initiatives, the use of funding only created the opportunity for change to occur, rather than creating change. The thesis provides a contribution to knowledge by exploring the applicability of the 3-Elements model to understanding the practices of transport planning and how they ultimately influence how travelling is performed. For example if funding is provided for the construction new carriageways to enable people to drive private motor vehicles, then this is how the practices of travelling are likely to be performed. The 3-Elements model is therefore a more useful tool for use in the design stage of transport initiatives to ensure the meanings that the initiative will create are better understood and mitigated at an earlier stage of the process. The research also demonstrated that the TPSOP model provided a means of describing the underlying mechanisms that exist within the complexes of practices, as defined by Shove et al. (2012). This is because the TPSOP model is able to highlight power relations and the processes used to control the system when attempting to create change. In addition to these conclusions the research identified changes required within the TPSOP to improve the performance of sustainable transport initiatives. These include changing the type of funding supplied to LAs to deliver sustainable transport initiatives to include more consistent funding for revenue based schemes to provide marketing, training programmes and the subsidising of key public transport services. Alterations are also required to the evaluation process for transport schemes to place a far greater emphasis on social, environmental and health impacts of transport.

The level of bike-rail integration (combining cycling with rail) in the UK presents an unrealised sustainable mobility potential: two per cent of rail passengers access the rail network by bicycle, contrasting with 40 per cent in the Netherlands. Cycling on its own has distance limitations but in combination with rail it can substitute for longer car journeys and is one means of reducing car dependence. The overall objective of this PhD research project was to understand existing bike-rail integration behaviour in the UK, using as the research location two stations in the South West of England (Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway), to inform the design, development and implementation of initiatives to increase its incidence. It therefore had two distinct research phases: an exploratory phase and an action research phase. The exploratory phase demonstrated that bike-rail integrators were mainly motivated by saving time or money and taking exercise. The majority were male, in their thirties, in full-time employment and cycled on average 3.7 km to the station. These data in conjunction with a conceptual „ecological‟ model developed from a critical review of behaviour change theory were used to inform the design and implementation of a pay-as-you-go self-hire cycle network (Hourbike) and an intervention to attract car drivers to switch to rail with either walking or cycling access. In the first year of Hourbike, seven per cent of users had never really cycled before and one per cent of car drivers responded to the opportunity to try rail with walking or cycling access rendering rich qualitative data from non-users about the attractors and barriers to bike-rail integration. The process of incorporating theory into practice is described providing useful insights for future interventions which are discussed in the light of theory. Opportunities are identified in the context of the national policy to implement station travel plans which emerged in the latter phases of the research.

Sustainable transport is now a popular goal of transport planning. As with any aspiration, systems and mechanisms are required to assess and gauge success in achieving this policy goal. There is increasing reliance on sustainable transport indicators as appropriate tools for this purpose. The usefulness and credibility of any indicator-based assessment will undoubtedly depend on the specific indicators utilised. As such, indicators must be selected carefully to maximise their contribution to the sustainable transport decision making process. A review of current applications of sustainable transport indicators has revealed however, that they are typically selected in an ad hoc and arbitrary fashion. Development of a framework that facilitates transparent and systematic indicator selection would therefore represent a significant advance in transport research. In that regard, this thesis presents the Evaluative and Logical Approach to Sustainable Transport Indicator Compilation (ELASTIC), a methodological framework which provides a flexible, participatory and systematic mechanism for identifying and selecting key sustainable transport indicators. The output of ELASTIC is the Transport Sustainability Profile (TSP), a small un-aggregated suite of sustainable transport indicators which together can provide a snapshot of the sustainability of a transport system. Using various multi-criteria and statistical techniques, ELASTIC applies a robust process to evaluate and select indicators based on their analytical soundness and their relevance to key objectives of sustainable transport. A generic and transferable tool, ELASTIC is capable of application at different geographical scales as well as to non-transport sustainability assessment. For the purpose of this research, the framework is demonstrated through application to England, UK where the judgements of relevant Academics and Transport Planners are elicited and entered into the ELASTIC framework to systematically select a subset of 15 indicators from an initial set of 200. By disaggregating the sample of stakeholders into regional groupings, different context-specific suites of indicators for the regional groupings were also derived. The demonstration confirms ELASTIC to be an inclusive and practical approach to compiling a suite of sustainable transport indicators specific to context and which reflects the unique values of key stakeholders.

The transport sector is the backbone to our economy and society. However, transport accounts for 24% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is the largest emitting sector in many developed countries. While other sectors such as housing and industry have been able to reduce their emissions in recent decades, emissions from the transport sector are increasing substantially in some countries. One of the reasons we have not succeeded in reducing transport-related GHG emissions is the increasing share of larger and more powerful vehicles in new car registrations. It is estimated that the rise of sport-utility-vehicles (SUVs) and large cars just about cancel the emission reductions we would have acquired from the increasing adoption of battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Other externalities are often neglected, such as increases in pedestrian fatalities and particulate matter emissions that are harmful to health. To counteract these negative externalities, scholars suggest spurring the adoption of BEVs. BEVs can drastically decrease GHG emissions from a lifecycle perspective (cradle to grave) compared to conventional cars fuelled by gasoline and diesel, if the electricity used for charging the BEV stem from renewable energy sources, e.g., solar and wind. Yet, simply replacing conventional cars with large BEVs could lead to potential problems such as increased GHGs and other toxic emissions for the production of large batteries, raw material depletion and supply-chain shortages, increased particulate matter emissions, increased accident severity and increased land use. A small BEV with a usable range of 250km is capable to satisfy more than 96% of trips per year on average, without the need for recharging during the day, given that one could charge the BEV at home. Hence, the number of times per year, where one would need to opt for an alternative is rare. The occasional long-range and special purpose trips (e.g., including large luggage) could be conducted by emerging mobility services like carsharing, car-rental, public transport or the convenient integration of these mobility services in one app, called Mobility as a Service (MaaS). If people would switch from owning a large car to a smaller BEV, capable to satisfy almost all trips and combine it with the occasional use of mobility service, substantial sustainability benefits could be possible. In this thesis, I investigate these alternative mobility lifestyles to owning a large car by conducting several choice experiments within the Swiss Household Energy Demand Survey in 2018 and 2020. In the first contribution, I investigate the challenges and needs of Swiss households in using MaaS for commuting, weekday leisure and weekend trips. The results underline the importance of experience with mobility services like carsharing and public transport, which increases the openness to use MaaS. The needs in using MaaS differ regarding the trip purpose, where fast transfer times and low price are important for commuting, and luggage carrying possibilities and flexibility are important for leisure trips. Policies directly addressing consumers, e.g., increasing fuel levies, vehicle import restrictions and a ban of non-electric vehicles in the city centre, were found to significantly increase the openness to use MaaS. This could be specifically relevant for the hard-to reach groups, i.e., frequent car users. In the second contribution, I directly investigate the effect from experience with carsharing on the likelihood to opt for a micro to mid-sized BEV as the next car replacement for Swiss households. By controlling for a large set of potential influential variables like socio-demographics, mobility characteristics, attitudes, and values, I find a significant correlation between carsharing experience and likelihood to choose a micro to mid-sized BEV for people living in the countryside and agglomerations. This finding suggests that owning a small BEV in combination with mobility services could be marketed especially to people who live outside the city and rely on a car. I am the first to find an additional potential sustainable effect resulting from experience with carsharing, that is, deciding to own a smaller car due to the certainty of having access to long-distance and specialized vehicles when needed. In the third contribution, I investigate the probability of Swiss households to choose a mobility lifestyle comprising the ownership of a small BEV in combination with mobility services for long-range trips. By including different push and pull measures as treatments, I find that providing charging at home and at work can significantly increase the probability to switch from previously owning a conventional car to owning a small BEV and using carsharing, car-rental and public transport for occasional long-range trips, especially for households that currently own large cars. The provision of carsharing and car-rental close to the place of residents increases the openness to switch as well. By combining secured charging at home and at work with a 50% fuel tax, up to 51% of conventional car-owning households would switch to own a small BEV and occasional use mobility services for long-range trips. Two conclusions for society, mobility planners, and policy makers emerge from my findings. First, experience with carsharing can encourage willingness to use MaaS, as well as the purchase of a small BEV. Second, a large proportion of households with conventional vehicles could be convinced to switch to a small BEV and combine it with mobility services through a combination of push and pull measures. The work can serve as a guide on how to curb or stop the trend towards ever larger cars and boost the acceptance and attractiveness of BEVs and mobility services alike.

This thesis offers a critical consideration of theories of social practice, or ‘practice theory’, as a theoretical and analytical framework for the promotion of shifts to sustainable practices. From a practice perspective, it is what people do, as socially and materially mediated practices, that lock in undesirable environmental impacts, such as climate change. Therefore, it is practices that must change – in particular, so that more favourable, sustainable practices are promoted over less desirable, less sustainable alternatives. This research applies these concepts to the promotion of utility cycling – cycling for transport – as an example of a desirable low-carbon personal mobility practice, with an interest in how its participation might be increased. Practice theoretical approaches place single moments of recognisable acting into a performative, recursive relationship with their wider context, meaning that individual performances of seemingly mundane everyday practices are set into dynamic relationship with a diverse array of elements, which may shape, and be shaped by, those performances. When considered in this way, utility cycling becomes far more than simply a ‘choice’ made by an individual. Instead, modal options are heavily prefigured by elements as diverse as bikes, roads, cycleways, weather, loads to be carried, norms, identity and daily scheduling, etc. However, the concept of a practice, as some kind of ‘entity’, remains somewhat elusive. While practices may readily enter the everyday vernacular, as a recognisable ‘way of doing something’, more precise analytical bounding of doing into some kind of entity can become problematic. The practice dynamic contains at its core a fundamental tension between some kind of recognisable activity – a verb – and the elements of its wider context – as nouns. Away from more formal examples of practices, a single, bounded, normative practice entity can become challenging to account for – and, as this research suggests, perhaps even inappropriate for the promotion of pre-existing alternative practices in mundane everyday settings. In this work, utility cycling was analysed from a practice perspective, as modal ‘choice’ through a diverse range of observations and data sources. These included street observations of cyclists, in-depth interviews with regular utility cyclists, observations and survey data from an extensive one-to-one travel planning exercise conducted in local office buildings, plus government travel data. The conduct of this research highlighted that investigation into practices cannot be considered independently of the research context. The empirical engagement with the research question made it clear that utility cycling was only relevant to this work in terms of modal ‘choice’ – i.e., somehow selecting between competing modal practices against a backdrop of other everyday practices. To this end, a ‘practicescape’ approach is proposed which provides a more generic application of practice theoretical principles without requiring an account of an intermediate practice entity. Especially suited to instrumental interventions where practice switching is the desired outcome, it identifies a central activity of interest relative to the research question and then places it into dynamic relationship with a wider practice landscape – a practicescape – comprising the stuff of practices, but not restricted to the delineation of any single practice. Concepts of a ‘utility horizon’ and a ‘utility envelope’ are introduced to provide an analytical framing and narrative sense making to the process. The aim of this approach is to introduce an analytical framework that is more practically and intuitively accessible to change-makers and policymakers who are deeply immersed within their own practicescapes of interest, but are not necessarily conversant with the more arcane mysteries of practice as a theoretical construct. This then offers a practice-compatible framework through which change may be practised through deep engagement with the practicescape containing the change.

This exegesis mainly documents the whole process and ideas of my design of this animation. The background of this document is based on the fact that animation has always been a widely used propaganda technique, but now the environmental problems caused by traffic congestion have aroused widespread attention around the world. I believe that animation as an art form can be better to convey the rules and norms of politeness, civilization and culture. The main theme of this animation is to study how to engage the audience's thinking on environmental issues and to inspire the audience's new ideas on the sustainable transportation development. The main research methodology of this article is practice-based research. I divided my research into story structure, metaphors and symbols, anti-hero archetypes, and visual language. The result of this animation can be predicted to inspire viewers new ideas when traveling in personal traffic to a certain extent.

The halcyon days of the development of the human race due to the increased availability of transport options are threatened by the negative impacts of the principle tools of transport, the private motor car. The negative impacts are apparent in resource use during construction and use, the temporal inequalities between the supply and demand of roads and the impact of the outputs once again both during use and disposal. Whilst the public may be aware of these impacts, their own actions are seen to contribute insignificantly to the result so demand for motor car access continues to increase. At a local level, it is often congestion that has the most impact on motorists and therefore decision makers. Congestion is a relative term, what is free flowing traffic in cities like, Bangkok is considered unacceptable in other cities and towns. The one constant is that congestion increases as more cars are used and is only temporarily relieved when new roads are provided. Christchurch's situation is compared with other world cities and is found to be very car friendly especially in terms of the number of car parks per 1,000 central business district jobs. The Canterbury Regional Land Transport Strategy identifies seven targets for the 2002-2007 period for the region and a further five targets that relate particularly to Christchurch. One of the methods identified for achieving the targets is a change in the mode of travel used when travelers move from Rangiora, Kaiapoi and Rolleston to Christchurch. Details are provided on the populations and work places of the residents of these towns. A survey that gathered details of the barriers to the use of public transport from a few respondents showed that frequency of service, the speed of the service and cost are the main concerns. Finally, the system developed by Bachels (1999) is used to appraise the various options available to the regional council to achieve the identified targets. It is concluded that buses are most effective at reducing car use, transport options will have little influence on transport safety and air quality reductions are mostly due to other activities so should not be a major factor in transport decisions.

The everyday school-run contributes to a large extent to the rush-hour traffic in most developed countries, causing traffic and parking congestion, pollution and safety concerns outside most schools as well as annoyance to the surrounding residents. There has been an increasing trend for parents to drive their children to school and also students using their own cars thus aggravating the situation. The overall objective of this research was to find out about the transport mode and travel patterns of high school students in Christchurch and to assess if the current situation could be changed through improved transport management. Recommendations are given to identify how school transport could be influenced towards more sustainable transport behaviour. An international literature review was compiled on the reasons leading to this modal shift and the effects of the shifts in transport patterns, as well as on measures to initiate a modal shift. A survey of approximately 1,200 students of six high schools was conducted to identify issues such as means of transportation, level of car or bike ownership, travel time, distance to school and attitudes towards a potential shift to soft modes of transport. The study provides data on current attitude patterns to the authorities that can be used as a basis for more efficient transport systems and infrastructure and assisting to develop new objectives, strategies and policies. The results of the behavioural assessment will support future policy making. The study revealed that the current behaviour and attitudes do not support the Councils' objectives of sustainable transport as 37% of the surveyed students use motor vehicles to get to school. The hard measures like restricted parking, improved and safer walking and cycling facilities and improved bus connections will contribute to a shift of modes. However, the soft methods such as education aiming at changed attitudes and behaviour are of main importance. They will only be effective if the government is prepared to set a serious trend, such as increasing the running costs of motor vehicles.