Governing sustainable mobility : modes of governance in infrastructure development for electric vehicles

The climate crisis has increased the need to develop sustainable mobility infrastructure, such as public AC-charging stations for electric vehicles. German municipalities approach this task in many different ways, involving different actor roles and responsibilities. The objectives of this research are to examine the ’polity’ and ’politics’ structure in the three Germany cities and classify their governance modes all the while leveraging Elinor Ostrom’s IAD-framework as a guide for conducting this examination. Within a descriptive case study design the mechanisms and the role of each actor within the arena will be identified by systematically analyzing formal municipal documents, which are collected via desk research. It became evident that the mode of governance is determined by the rules in place. Comparing the three cities ’polity’ and ’politics’ dimensions via the IAD-framework enabled academic important insights about how the dimensions influence each other and together determine the mode of governance. Moreover, it provides proof for polycentricity and argues against the idea that there is one best way to govern sustainability. It challenges the arguments of participatory governance, as it accounts for the key position that local government has in the action arena.