The increasing influence on air transport in the Alps by exogenous governance: spatial relevance in relation to the principles of sustainable transport and regional development

• Applicant: Dr. Tobias Behnen
• Subject Area: Human Geography
• Term: from 2010 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 63977254

The aim of the renewal proposal is to widen the horizons of the first proposal in three directions. As the main focus was on the accelerated change of air transport in the Alps, it will now be on the increasing exogenous governance, instead of a short-term view a long term-view will be made and instead of the alpine airports only the metropolises outside the Alps will be included in the research. Basically, the main emphasis is not on explaining transport behaviour and the genesis of transport any more but on understanding the motives of transport policy and the transport economy and relating social reactions.The results have so far revealed a knowledge gap concerning the analysis of the exogenous governance and concerning the qualitative evaluation of its sustainability relevance. The results have shown that the key players for the long-ranging sustainability of air transport in the Alps are the institutional decision makers in circumalpine and more distant metropolises. That arises the question if this governance from outside the Alps can be seen as distinctive of a typical European center-periphery relationship.The main goal is the verification of the following hypothesis using the example of the Alps: "Exogenous governance is increasingly influencing air transport in peripheral European regions, affecting substantially the sustainability of transport and spatial development by reducing the opportunities for action of policy, economy and society on the local and regional level."During the first funding period an equally quantitative and qualitative approach has proved to be successful. For the second funding period there should be a focus on guideline-based expert interviews. They are especially suitable for the analysis of the players' motives and spatial relevance of their action. The relevant institutions and companies will be divided by the socio-economic trichotomy "State-Market-Society". They include players of the transport policy (governments and institutions for spatial planning), players of the transport economy (circumalpine hub-airports, network airlines, railway companies and incoming tour operators) and players of the third sector (NGOs).The topic is embedded in the recent scientific and political discussion about the external dependency of the Alpine Space by metropolises located outside the Alps. The analysis of the state of research has revealed substantial deficiencies, not only concerning air transport but also about the integrative role of a possible European Macroregion Alpine Space. The expected scientific gain of knowledge refers to transferable regularities of exogenous governance and the pressure for change airports in peripheral regions are exposed to and to the remaining options for action the stakeholders in these regions have.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants