Seminar (TURBA Lab): "Smart and Susitainable Cities"

Program

Seminar 1: «Making and UnMaking of New Delhi: Narratives of Democracy and Identity in Central Vista» — Anavil Ahluwalia

Abstract

Capital cities, born from the era of nation-states, serve as symbolic epicenters of political power, cultural expression, and national identity. The twentieth century witnessed the emancipation of numerous nations from colonial powers, reshaping urban landscapes and giving birth to capitals as powerful symbols of sovereignty. The case of New Delhi is particularly poignant, reflecting the culmination of British colonial aspirations in the form of a modern capital representing sovereign India. The Central Vista Redevelopment project, initiated in 2020, seeks to redefine the city's identity, threading a delicate needle between global modernity and intrinsic Indian ethos. The project's ambition is to reshape the power corridor, but its implications are contested. By examining the project and its consequences, this study seeks to uncover how democracy, national identity, and power manifest in the design, development, and perception of capital cities. The case of New Delhi's Central Vista redevelopment project is taken up to dissect its role in the ongoing nation-building projects, as it actively attempts to decolonize while forging new identities. The ongoing discourse provides a compelling insight into the ongoing negotiations between historical continuity and contemporary aspirations in post-colonial societies.

Anavil Ahluwalia

PhD research fellow in City and Regional Planning at the University of Stavanger, Norway. Hailing from New Delhi, India, her background in architecture, with a specialization in urban design, has fuelled her passion for exploring the dimensions of democracy and justice within urban contexts. Her PhD research is marked by a dedication to understanding the spatiality of nation and identity building and the politics of city building, especially in the post-colonial states. She is on an academic quest to ‘re-read the Asian city’ and aspires to contribute to scholarly efforts from the South in shaping the discourse around their cities and reclaiming their agency in the global academic dialogue on urban histories and transformations.

Seminar 2: «Electric cars as a path to sustainable travel behaviour: Insights from Nord-Jæren» — Ioannis Kosmidis

Abstract

This study examines whether promoting electric cars (EVs) to achieve greener mobility undermines the efforts to reduce car use. It specifically explores the concept of moral licensing, wherein individuals use EVs as a way to feel good about their environmental impact while continuing to drive. The study uses travel data (n=1223) from Nord-Jæren, Norway, to develop a Structural Equation Model (SEM) that explores the relationship between environmental beliefs, attitudes, and travel behaviour (i.e., use of conventional car, electric car, bus, and bicycle). The results confirm that pro-environmental beliefs have a “spillover effect” on EV use due to existing car attitudes. The relative convenience of the car over alternative options has been found to be the most important mitigating factor in the influence of environmental beliefs on behaviour. Consequently, to reduce car use and promote more sustainable travel options, it is essential to simultaneously improve these alternatives while restricting car traffic.

Ioannis Kosmidis

PhD candidate at the University of Stavanger. His PhD project focuses on the synergy of bicycle and public transport as a tool to reduce car dependency and car use in the Nord-Jæren region in Norway. His interests revolve around understanding travel behaviour, promoting active mobility and the safety of vulnerable road users, as well as the social aspects of transportation. He has a strong engineering background and holds a master’s degree from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and a Master of Science from Delft University of Technology.

Seminar 3: «Mobility transitions in Stavanger, Norway: Implications of dominant imaginaries of urban mobility futures» — Morten Ryen Loe

Abstract

Stavanger is a mid-sized city on the western coast of Norway known for its wet climate, pristine nature, and history as the Oil Capitol of Norway. The Stavanger region’s rise to affluence on the back of a booming oil industry from the 1970s onward ensured a rapid urban development and “modernization” of the region's culture, infrastructure and built environment – including the transport and mobility system. Today, urban planners and city representatives are imagining a future in striking contrast to that of the urban sprawl, and car-centric planning of the 20th century. For mobility, this means turning the transport hierarchy on its head, putting cars as the dominant mode of personal transport on the bottom, while raising active travel like walking and cycling to the top and aiming to strengthen public transport systems. The mobility vision for the future is an imaginary of a ‘smart’ and ‘multimodal’ mobility system, where digital technology plays an emancipating role for individual flexibility in the future sustainable mobility system. In this presentation, I will talk about the case of Stavanger and the ongoing mobility transitions. I touch upon what Stavanger’s position as an EU Mission Climate-Neutral and Smart City means for urban mobility transitions. Then I will briefly discuss some of my research findings related to what implications the smart city discourse can have on mobility futures by drawing on the concept of imaginaries. I will discuss the potential pitfall of the technological determinism evident in logics of ‘smart mobility’ imaginaries and reflect on the effect that such imaginaries can have on creating perceived value for various mobility projects in the Stavanger context.

Morten Ryen Loe

Doctoral candidate at the Institute for Media, and Social Sciences at the University of Stavanger since 2021. His doctoral research project is on ‘just and sustainable mobility transitions’ and it touches on the fields of Energy Social Science, Science, and Technology Studies and Human Geography. Morten is broadly interested in the social aspects of change and is drawn towards questions about socio-material relationships, power dynamics, and agency within processes of sociotechnical transitions and transformations. His research context is the city of Stavanger where he studies various social and political aspects of ongoing mobility and transport transition. His research has increasingly come to revolve around the topic of ‘smart city’ and ‘smart mobility’. Morten is broadly interested in questions that deal with what types of futures we are imagining and creating based on trending, popular, or hegemonic paradigms in urban mobility planning and governance.