Strategic Planning for Sustainable Transport: An analysis of the mechanisms behind public policies for sustainable transport and infrastructure in Costa Rica

Costa Rica has set ambitious goals regarding climate issues. It strives to be carbon neutral in 2021, and aims to completely decarbonize their economy by 2050. The state of the transport and infrastructure in Costa Rica are therefore a thorn in the side for both civil society and policymakers. In light of the issues in this sector the government has formulated several policies with the goal to transform the transport sector, creating a clean, efficient and safe system of transport and infrastructure. Some of these policies will be discussed in this thesis, namely the Plan de Descarbonización 2018-2050, the Plan Integral de Movilidad Urbana Sostenible, and the Plan Nacional de Transporte 2011-2035. The focus of this thesis will be on the mechanisms behind these policies. As such, some key questions that will be addressed are: how is the policymaking process designed? Who are the actors in this process? What institutions are involved and how is coordination shaped? Where lie the...Show moreCosta Rica has set ambitious goals regarding climate issues. It strives to be carbon neutral in 2021, and aims to completely decarbonize their economy by 2050. The state of the transport and infrastructure in Costa Rica are therefore a thorn in the side for both civil society and policymakers. In light of the issues in this sector the government has formulated several policies with the goal to transform the transport sector, creating a clean, efficient and safe system of transport and infrastructure. Some of these policies will be discussed in this thesis, namely the Plan de Descarbonización 2018-2050, the Plan Integral de Movilidad Urbana Sostenible, and the Plan Nacional de Transporte 2011-2035. The focus of this thesis will be on the mechanisms behind these policies. As such, some key questions that will be addressed are: how is the policymaking process designed? Who are the actors in this process? What institutions are involved and how is coordination shaped? Where lie the biggest challenges in the implementation of these policies? As it currently is, the transport sector suffers from high degrees of fragmentation, with many institutions involved and no clear leadership. It is a very interesting subject for study, as these mechanisms are the foundations on which the implementation of the policy builds. Without proper understanding of the interactions and challenges that one is faced with in this sector, effective implementation of the policies, and therefore the reaching of the climate goals becomes less feasible. . The facilitation of the implementation of the plans through institutional transformation is argued to be the absolute priority for the achievement of the goals and objectives as proposed in the policies that will be discussed in this thesis. The expectation is that the Costa Rican public administration for the transport sector will require a comprehensive reform, and as it stands it lacks the capacity to push for such reform. In the first chapter of this thesis the conceptual and theoretical basis for the analysis of the transport sector will be laid. Here the concepts of the public policy process in Latin America, Neo-institutionalism, and Public-Private Partnerships will be discussed and put into perspective of how they can be used to analyse the Costa Rican transport and infrastructure sector. The second chapter will offer the contextualization of the topic of study. The chapter is organised chronologically and starts with the economic crisis of the 1980s in Costa Rica. The chapter then continues to address the state reform during the 1980s and 1990s, followed by the developments of the past twenty years. It concludes with a brief overview of the current situation and policies in the transport and infrastructure sector. The third and final chapter’s focus will be the analysis of the policies discussed using the concepts as discussed in the first chapter, looking into the mechanisms behind these policies and the actors involved in the process. The chapter starts with an analysis of the policy process, followed by an analysis of the role and functioning of the institutions involved. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the use of public-private partnerships and the challenges the public administration if faced with regarding coordination between the sectors.Show less

Leiden University Student Repository

Documents

In Collections

Strategic Planning for Sustainable Transport: An analysis of the mechanisms behind public policies for sustainable transport and infrastructure in Costa Rica