National Swedish environmental objectives and detailed development plans A good built environment - a change of perspectives The aim of this paper is to analyze if the environmental quality objectives ‘a good built environment’ can be implemented in the municipal detailed plans and/or how it is done today. In addition to a number of interviews with people within the academy and government, a document analysis of detailed development plans has been done. As of today, you can not completely do planning based entirely on the environmental objectives and it is perhaps not desirable. In the study it emerges that there are uncertainties in what the environmental quality objectives really are and how they should be used, therefore, is also the implementation of the objectives to some extent different in the detailed development plans (if they are used at all). Within the environmental objective ‘a good built environment’ and its sub-goals one can find both concrete and more unsolid goals, as part of this, goal conflicts arise and problems with implementing the various goals within detailed development plans. Some conclusions are that short-term economic goals stands in the way for a change in perspectives that is needed, if goal achievement should be reached.

That women and men have different travel patterns has been known for a long time, and previous research argues that gender inequality is the reason for the different travel patterns. Thus, integrating a gender equality perspective into transportation planning has been a relevant topic for quite some time. However, it has been proven to be easier said than done. Gender equality has not been given much attention within transportation planning and planners find it difficult to know how to implement a gender equality perspective. By studying two County Transportation Plans developed by regions in northern Sweden and interviewing infrastructural planners as well as gender equality experts, this thesis will investigate how gender equality is managed and integrated in transport planning on a regional level, and how it could be integrated. How gender equality relates to sustainable transportation on a regional level is another research question. The results show that the planners are aware of women’s and men’s different travel patterns, but they have experienced the difficulties of how gender equality can be integrated in the plans, and integration has previously been made with modesty. This is partly due to lack of competence among the planners and because it has not been prioritized. The result also indicates that gender equality can be beneficial for sustainable transportation, but some goal conflicts were found as well. A conclusion it that there seems to exist a paradox among the respondents where they are unsure of if the transportation should adjust to the current travel needs, or promote change. It is seemingly not either the lack of competence that is the reason gender equality has not been prioritized, but the fact that other areas, such as the need of functional connections due to long distances between places has been seen as more important. The competence and knowledge exists, but need to increase among the planners, and gender equality within transportation planning has to be given more attention on a national level and in the directives from the government.

The thesis aims at developing new, alternative approaches and methods based on suggestions and ideas originating from moral philosophy and philosophical decision theory. More precisely, the thesis aims at investigating the rationality of transport policy decisions, including goal-setting and performance evaluation. Paper I discusses rationality in road safety policy. Problematic features are identified and discussed. The paper argues that the Swedish road safety goal is rational, since it is action-guiding and achievement-inducing. This follows by observing that the goal satisfies the criteria of precision, evaluability, approachability, and motivity. The paper states that previous accusations of irrationality have been unnecessarily imprecise, since no reference is made to independently developed criteria of rational goal-setting. Paper II discusses the Swedish transport policy goals, and the role of social welfare in rational policy decisions. Goals often come into conflict and trade-offs must be rationally and consistently managed. Policy decisions are outcomes of political processes. In the case of policy goals and decisions, the agent is society. This introduces the problematic concept of social welfare, which itself is an ambiguous goal with many meanings. Whether a decision is rational or not depends on whose perspective one takes on – that of society as a whole or that of the actual decision makers. Paper III aims at investigating six different procedures for resolving goal conflicts: weighted average, lexicographic preference, conditional lexicographic preference, absolute restriction, generalised prioritarianism, and partial comparability. Criteria for selection, according to the respective procedures, are formulated and summarised in a table. The six procedures are contrasted with respect to their tendency to rule out possible sets of alternatives as being not choiceworthy. / QC 20101123

<p>Environmental goals are commonly set to guide work towards ecological sustainability. The aim of this thesis is to develop a precise terminology for the description of goals in terms of properties that are important in their practical use as decision-guides and to illustrate how it can be used in evaluations of environmental policy.</p><p>Essay I (written together with Sven Ove Hansson) identifies a set of rationality criteria for individual goals and discusses them in relation to the typical function of goals. For a goal to perform its typical function, i.e., to guide and induce action, it must be precise, evaluable, approachable (attainable), and motivating.</p><p>Essay II argues that for a goal system to be rational it must not only satisfy the criteria identified in Essay I but should also be coherent. The coherence of a goal system is made up of the relations that hold among the goals, most notably relations of support and conflict, but possibly also relations of operationalization. A major part of the essay consists in a conceptual analysis of the three relations.</p><p>Essay III contains an investigation into the rationality of five Swedish environmental objectives through an application of the rationality criteria identified in Essays I-II. The paper draws the conclusion that the objectives are not sufficiently rational according to the suggested criteria. It also briefly points at some of the difficulties that are associated with the use of goals in environmental policy and managemen</p>

<p>The thesis aims at developing new, alternative approaches and methods based on suggestions and ideas originating from moral philosophy and philosophical decision theory. More precisely, the thesis aims at investigating the rationality of transport policy decisions, including goal-setting and performance evaluation.</p><p>Paper I discusses rationality in road safety policy. Problematic features are identified and discussed. The paper argues that the Swedish road safety goal is rational, since it is action-guiding and achievement-inducing. This follows by observing that the goal satisfies the criteria of <em>precision,</em> <em>evaluability, approachability, </em>and <em>motivity</em>. The paper states that previous accusations of irrationality have been unnecessarily imprecise, since no reference is made to independently developed criteria of rational goal-setting.</p><p>Paper II discusses the Swedish transport policy goals, and the role of social welfare in rational policy decisions. Goals often come into conflict and trade-offs must be rationally and consistently managed. Policy decisions are outcomes of political processes. In the case of policy goals and decisions, the agent is society. This introduces the problematic concept of social welfare, which itself is an ambiguous goal with many meanings. Whether a decision is rational or not depends on whose perspective one takes on – that of society as a whole or that of the actual decision makers.</p><p>Paper III aims at investigating six different procedures for resolving goal conflicts: weighted average, lexicographic preference, conditional lexicographic preference, absolute restriction, generalised prioritarianism, and partial comparability. Criteria for selection, according to the respective procedures, are formulated and summarised in a table. The six procedures are contrasted with respect to their tendency to rule out possible sets of alternatives as being not choiceworthy.</p>

Environmental goals are commonly set to guide work towards ecological sustainability. The aim of this thesis is to develop a precise terminology for the description of goals in terms of properties that are important in their practical use as decision-guides and to illustrate how it can be used in evaluations of environmental policy. Essay I (written together with Sven Ove Hansson) identifies a set of rationality criteria for individual goals and discusses them in relation to the typical function of goals. For a goal to perform its typical function, i.e., to guide and induce action, it must be precise, evaluable, approachable (attainable), and motivating. Essay II argues that for a goal system to be rational it must not only satisfy the criteria identified in Essay I but should also be coherent. The coherence of a goal system is made up of the relations that hold among the goals, most notably relations of support and conflict, but possibly also relations of operationalization. A major part of the essay consists in a conceptual analysis of the three relations. Essay III contains an investigation into the rationality of five Swedish environmental objectives through an application of the rationality criteria identified in Essays I-II. The paper draws the conclusion that the objectives are not sufficiently rational according to the suggested criteria. It also briefly points at some of the difficulties that are associated with the use of goals in environmental policy and managemen / QC 20101111

Background: Today, the construction industry faces heightened expectations in terms of environmental and economic requirements. Consequently, goal conflicts have become a persistent challenge in construction projects, necessitating efficient conflict strategies. It is therefore important to understand goal conflicts to be able to solve them before they escalate and become an issue that affects the project’s outcome. Purpose: The aim of this study is to explore goal conflicts and their prioritization, as well as the factors influencing the choice of conflict management strategies, regarding environmental and economic goal conflicts. In addition, the study aims to identify the perceived hindrances to achieve more efficient conflict management.  Method: Relevant literature was analyzed to establish a theoretical foundation for the researchconducted in this report. Additionally, a methodological approach incorporating ten semistructured interviews was implemented, where thirteen respondents from private developers, public developers, and municipalities were interviewed as part of the data collection process.  Conclusion: Goal conflicts that arise tend to revolve around the challenges of implementing environmental solutions while staying within budgetary constraints, as well as deciding whose goals should be prioritized. Among the conflict management strategies, avoiding was the least mentioned approach, while compromising emerged as the most popular choice. The selection of an approach was mostly influenced by goal prioritization, hierarchical position, and resource availability. The study also identified three key barriers to effective goal conflict management: knowledge gaps, varying levels of ambition, and industry conservatism. / Bakgrund: Idag står byggbranschen inför förhöjda förväntningar när det gäller miljömässiga och ekonomiska krav. Följaktligen har målkonflikter blivit en ständig utmaning i byggprojekt, vilket kräver effektiv konflikthantering. Det är därför viktigt att förstå vilka målkonflikter som finns i byggprojekt för att hitta lösningar som förhindrar att de eskalerar och skapar problem som påverkar projektets resultat negativt. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att utforska målkonflikter och deras prioritering, samt vilka faktorer som påverkar valet av konflikthanteringsstrategier, avseende miljömässiga och ekonomiska målkonflikter. Dessutom syftar studien till att identifiera vilka barriärer som aktörer upplever för att uppnå effektivare konflikthantering. Metod: För att etablera en teoretisk grund för den aktuella studien analyserades relevant litteratur. Därefter tillämpades ett metodiskt tillvägagångssätt för att samla in data, vilket gjordes genom tio semistrukturerade intervjuer med 13 respondenter. Dessa aktörer representerade privata och kommunalt ägda fastighetsbolag, samt kommuner. Slutsats: Målkonflikter som uppstår tenderar att kretsa kring utmaningarna att implementera miljövänliga lösningar samtidigt som man håller sig inom budgetramarna, samt att besluta vilka mål som bör prioriteras. Utav konflikthanteringsstrategierna var avoiding den minst nämnda medan compromising var den mest använda. Valet av strategi påverkades mest av prioriteringar av mål, hierarkiska positioner, och tillgängliga resurser. Studien identifierade även tre primära hinder för effektiv hantering av målkonflikter: brist på kunskap, varierande ambitionsnivåer och konservatism i branschen.

This thesis examines how to take into account both environmental and social sustainability goals to be used in scenarios or in policymaking. In paper I, we select four sustainability goals that have to be fulfilled by 2050 in normative future scenarios for Sweden in a degrowth context. Two goals address ecological challenges, climate change and land use issues specifically. The other two goals address social issues and deal with participation and influence in society as well as resource security and distribution. The environmental goals will require significant reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and land use compared to today's levels. The social goals are within reach today, although the degree of fulfillment differs across different groups in society. In paper II, we review existing and suggested climate or energy targets at a global, national and local scale and search for justice perspectives or for proposals for such perspectives. We find that the justice aspect is not explicitly formulated in existing climate and energy targets and that, the community of justice i.e. the receivers of benefits or burdens, in our reviewed examples, is limited to human beings, thereby excluding all other living beings. In paper III, we assess how four different backcasting scenarios for land use in a Swedish context, all of which fulfil a climate target of zero CO2 emissions in 2060, impact on other sustainability goals. We conduct a goal conflict analysis between the chosen climate goal and the other Swedish environmental goals, the gender equity goals and the public health goal. We find that there are more potential goal conflicts in scenarios with no global climate agreement. From the results of all three papers, I then discuss several aspects that have to be taken into account when setting goals, such as the major uncertainties associated with long-term goals, the elusiveness, the normativity of goals and the need to separate goals from the means to achieve the goals. / Utsläpp av växthusgaser (GHG) och andra miljöproblem, såsom förlust av biologisk mångfald, markanvändning och övergödning av sötvatten och marina kustekosystem, är stora utmaningar för mänskligheten. De planetära gränser för dessa områden har redan överskridits. Av de 16 svenska miljömålen för 2020, vars syfte är att lösa dessa ödesfrågor, bedöms bara ett – "Ett skyddande ozonskikt" – uppnås i tid. Vad gäller sociala mål på global nivå fram till 2015 – FN:s Milleniemål – har visserligen betydande framsteg gjorts på en del områden, t.ex. jämställdhet i utbildningen, men utfallet skiljer sig mellan länder och inom länder med avseende på socioekonomisk grupp och kön. Denna avhandling undersöker hur man kan ta hänsyn till både miljömässiga och sociala hållbarhetsmål som ska användas i framtidsscenarier eller som underlag till beslutsfattande. I artikel I väljs fyra hållbarhetsmål i en tvärvetenskaplig process. Målen ska uppfyllas 2050 i s.k. normativa framtidsscenarier (backcasting) för Sverige i en kontext av nedväxt eller låg tillväxt. De två första målen handlar om klimatförändringar och markanvändningsfrågor. De två andra är sociala mål och omfattar delaktighet och inflytande i samhället samt tillgång till resurser och fördelning av dessa. För att uppnå de valda miljömålen, kommer drastiska minskningar av växthusgasutsläpp (GHG) och markanvändning att behövas, jämfört med dagens situation. Båda de sociala målen är inom räckhåll i dag, även om graden av uppfyllelse skiljer sig mellan olika grupper i samhället. I artikel II genomförs en kvalitativ dokumentanalys för att samla information om befintliga och föreslagna klimat- och energimål på global, nationell och lokal nivå. Vi letar också efter rättviseperspektiv i befintliga klimat- och energimål samt förslag till sådana perspektiv i föreslagna mål i den vetenskapliga litteraturen liksom i rapporter från miljöorganisationer. En slutsats är att rättvisa inte är uttryckligen formulerat i befintliga klimat- och energimål. Vi använder en teoretisk ram för social rättvisa som skiljer mellan vem som ger och får det som fördelas, vad som fördelas (rättvisevaluta) och hur det fördelas (distributionsprinciper). Utifrån vår analys fann vi att en egalitär princip används för de flesta föreslagna målen, exempelvis för globala mål om utsläpp av växthusgaser per capita. Samtliga av de granskade målen omfattar endast rättvisa mellan människor och exkluderar därmed andra levande varelser. I artikel III analyserar vi hur fyra olika backcastingscenarier för markanvändning i ett svenskt sammanhang år 2060 påverkar andra hållbarhetsmål när ett klimatmål om noll CO2-utsläpp är uppfyllt. Med hjälp av en matris gör vi en målkonfliktanalys med de övriga svenska miljömålen, jämställdhetsmål och mål för folkhälsan med dess 11 tillhörande målområden. Analysen visar att de potentiella målkonflikterna är fler i scenarier utan globalt klimatavtal. Detta beror främst på att vissa miljöfrågor måste behandlas på global nivå, samt att minskningen i miljöpåverkan kommer att bero på åtgärder som inte bara vidtagits i Sverige utan också globalt. Utifrån dessa tre artiklar diskuterar jag sedan olika aspekter som måste beaktas vid fastställandet av mål. Eftersom hållbarhetsmål är långsiktiga och kännetecknas av en hel del osäkerhet diskuterar jag behovet av att sätta upp "försiktigt utopiska mål" (cautiously utopian goals), det vill säga mål som kan vara omöjliga att uppnå, men möjliga att närma sig. Sådana mål kan få till stånd de djupgående förändringar som krävs för en hållbar och rättvis framtid samtidigt som de är acceptabla för de intressenter som berörs. Mål är ofta otydliga vad gäller vad som ingår eller inte. Vad gäller klimatmålen, exempelvis, är det ofta otydligt huruvida utsläpp från handel är inkluderade eller ej och vilket referensår en viss utsläppsminskning baseras på. Sådana avgränsningar bör synliggöras och helst diskuteras med avseende på hur de kan påverka till exempel andra länders utsläppsminskningar. Det finns också ett behov att skilja mål från medel för att uppnå målen, eftersom det gör det möjligt att formulera mål som kan uppnås på olika sätt. Ekonomisk tillväxt ses ofta som ett mål i sig, såsom i FN:s nya hållbarhetsmål (SDGs). Tillväxt borde dock betraktas som ett rent verktyg för att uppnå egentliga mål rörande, exempelvis, välbefinnande. Mål är också normativa och återspeglar både olika kulturella och etiska perspektiv på vad en god hälso- och sjukvård eller bostadsstandard bör vara. De underliggande värdena bör därför också synliggöras och ifrågasättas. Både inter- och intragenerationella rättviseperspektiv bör göras mer konkreta och tydliga så att sådana frågor kan följas upp. En bra start kan vara att förutom ett territoriellt perspektiv börja använda ett konsumtionsperspektiv vid upprättandet av klimat-eller markanvändningsmål, då effekten av vår konsumtion på andra länders miljö och hälsa har ökat under de senaste årtiondena. / <p>QC 20160901</p> / Beyond GDP Growth

The overall aim of this thesis is to present a model for rational goal-setting and to illustrate how it can be applied in evaluations of public policies, in particular policies concerning sustainable development and environmental quality. The contents of the thesis are divided into two sections: a theoretical section (Papers I-IV) and an empirical section (Papers V-VII). Paper I identifies a set of rationality criteria for single goals and discusses them in relation to the typical function of goals. It is argued that goals are typically set to enhance goal achievement. A goal that successfully furthers its achievement is “achievement-inducing”. It holds for each of the identified criteria that, ceteris paribus, improved satisfaction of a criterion makes a goal better in the achievement-inducing sense.Paper II contains an analysis of the notion of goal system coherence. It is argued that the coherence of a goal system is determined by the relations that hold among the goals in the system, in particular the relations of operationalization, means and ends, support, and conflict. Paper III investigates the rationality of utopian goals. The paper analyzes four arguments that support the normative criterion of attainability: that utopian goals are (1) too imprecise and (2) too far-reaching to guide action effectively, (3) counterproductive, and (4) morally objectionable. A tentative defence of utopian goal-setting is built on counter-arguments that can be put forward to weaken each of the four objections. Paper IV investigates the nature of self-defeating goals. The paper identifies three types of situations in which self-defeating mechanisms obstruct goal achievement: (1) situations in which the goal itself carries the seeds of its own non-fulfilment (self-defeating goals), (2) situations in which the activity of goal-setting contributes to goal failure (self-defeating goal-setting), and (3) situations in which disclosure of the goal interferes with progress (self-defeating goal disclosure). Paper V provides a brief description of the Swedish system of environmental objectives and a preliminary inventory of the management difficulties that attach to this goal system.Paper VI contains an investigation into the rationality of five Swedish environmental objectives through an application of the rationality criteria identified in Papers I-II. The paper identifies and discusses some difficulties that are associated with management by objectives and the use of goals in environmental policy. Paper VII analyses the rationality of the Swedish environmental quality objective A good built environment. Among the conclusions drawn in the paper are that some of the sub-goals to the objective are formulated in terms that are unnecessarily vague from an action-guiding standpoint and that others are problematic from the viewpoint of evaluability. / QC 20100715