The social construction of sustainable urban mobility: transportation issues in Quebec City
In 2011, the City of Quebec published its Sustainable Mobility Plan with a view to adapting its transport system to sustainable development principles. Even though the Plan was the subject of several consultations and public hearings, it did not receive unanimous support from the public. In this article, after contextualizing sustainable mobility in a socio-constructivist theoretical framework, I analyze the debate surrounding the implementation of this Plan. I identify three distinct narratives on sustainable urban mobility, each related to three coalitions of actors. In Quebec City, where sustainable mobility does enjoy overall support, the stakeholders nevertheless do not agree on the main objectives and conditions for its realization, attributing different ideas and values to the concept.