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“We can't do everything ourselves.” - Why Swedish municipalities deliberately promote intermediation in governing the mobility transition

Halbwachs, Max LU orcid ; Gustafsson, Sara and Perez Vico, Eugenia LU (2025) In Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 56.
Abstract

Literature on intermediation in transitions has emphasised the importance of publicly promoting intermediation. To understand what drives authorities to financially promote intermediation, we conducted an exploratory study of 16 Swedish municipalities promoting an intermediary actor in the mobility transition, applying the framework of drivers of collaborative governance. The results highlight drivers common to most municipalities, including among others administrators’ awareness of collaboration challenges, or their inability to conduct intermediary activities on their own. However, the results also reveal diversity and context dependency of the drivers, leading to municipalities voicing diverse and partly conflicting expectations... (More)

Literature on intermediation in transitions has emphasised the importance of publicly promoting intermediation. To understand what drives authorities to financially promote intermediation, we conducted an exploratory study of 16 Swedish municipalities promoting an intermediary actor in the mobility transition, applying the framework of drivers of collaborative governance. The results highlight drivers common to most municipalities, including among others administrators’ awareness of collaboration challenges, or their inability to conduct intermediary activities on their own. However, the results also reveal diversity and context dependency of the drivers, leading to municipalities voicing diverse and partly conflicting expectations towards the intermediary. These findings underline the importance of understanding the promotion of intermediation through municipalities as a transactional and personal relationship between administrators and intermediaries. They also underline the relevance of “affective work” to mitigating conflicts caused by the diversity of expectations facing intermediaries, and the importance of municipalities in shaping local ecologies of intermediation.

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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Collaborative governance, Ecologies of intermediation, Intermediation, Mobility management, Transition governance
in
Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions
volume
56
article number
100998
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:105002792113
ISSN
2210-4224
DOI
10.1016/j.eist.2025.100998
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
38e67b2c-d168-4cd8-a882-01a3f6f87998
date added to LUP
2025-08-07 11:56:48
date last changed
2025-08-07 11:57:32
@article{38e67b2c-d168-4cd8-a882-01a3f6f87998,
  abstract     = {{<p>Literature on intermediation in transitions has emphasised the importance of publicly promoting intermediation. To understand what drives authorities to financially promote intermediation, we conducted an exploratory study of 16 Swedish municipalities promoting an intermediary actor in the mobility transition, applying the framework of drivers of collaborative governance. The results highlight drivers common to most municipalities, including among others administrators’ awareness of collaboration challenges, or their inability to conduct intermediary activities on their own. However, the results also reveal diversity and context dependency of the drivers, leading to municipalities voicing diverse and partly conflicting expectations towards the intermediary. These findings underline the importance of understanding the promotion of intermediation through municipalities as a transactional and personal relationship between administrators and intermediaries. They also underline the relevance of “affective work” to mitigating conflicts caused by the diversity of expectations facing intermediaries, and the importance of municipalities in shaping local ecologies of intermediation.</p>}},
  author       = {{Halbwachs, Max and Gustafsson, Sara and Perez Vico, Eugenia}},
  issn         = {{2210-4224}},
  keywords     = {{Collaborative governance; Ecologies of intermediation; Intermediation; Mobility management; Transition governance}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions}},
  title        = {{“We can't do everything ourselves.” - Why Swedish municipalities deliberately promote intermediation in governing the mobility transition}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2025.100998}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.eist.2025.100998}},
  volume       = {{56}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}