ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Commun.
Sec. Science and Environmental Communication
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2025.1633504
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Role of Human Communication in Addressing Global Wicked ProblemsView all articles
Mixing the Green and the Grey": How Public Officials Use Strategic Communication to Advance Sustainable Transport Policies in Norwegian Medium-Sized Cities
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hogskulen pa Vestlandet, Bergen, Norway
- 2CICERO, Oslo, Norway
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This article fills a gap in existing transport and strategic communication literature by examining the role of public communication as a core component in the design and implementation of large-scale policy packages for urban transport-system development. Using a case-study approach focused on the three Norwegian medium-sized urban regions of Grenland, Haugesund, and Sandefjord, and a multi-method approach combining document analysis and interview data, we investigate how public officials use strategic communication to advance climate-friendly transport policies that are perceived as just and legitimate by local stakeholders. We show that the communication must 1) address tensions between different modes of transport such as car use and public transportation; 2) work to overcome geographic tensions, especially in inter-municipal contexts; and 3) address the temporal dimension of transport transitions, so that individual policy measures appear just, logical, and connected. Based on these findings, we suggest to policymakers how communication strategies can help secure policy legitimacy, reduce resistance, and build momentum for sustainable urban change.
Keywords: Sustainable transport policies, Transport policies, Strategic communication, city packages, Rhetorical situation
Received: 22 May 2025; Accepted: 08 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mjelde and Tønnesen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Hilmar Mjelde, Hogskulen pa Vestlandet, Bergen, Norway
Anders Tønnesen, CICERO, Oslo, Norway
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