From institutional competition to cooperation: framing transport and mobility decision making in the Brussels Metropolitan Area

The high level of decentralisation of transport and mobility competences that results from the Belgian political structure poses challenges for transport and mobility planning in the Brussels Metropolitan Area. As many projects cross administrative borders, concordance is needed among a multitude of institutional actors. ‘Institutional cooperation’ is an often-heard adage, but logically, each territorial authority experiences different benefits and costs regarding the project in question. The subsequent divergence in priorities results in arduous negotiations, which seriously jeopardises progress in inter-regional projects such as the Regional Express Network (RER/GEN).
The aim of the present research is to provide a framework for inter-institutional decision making in transport and mobility. To this end, the MAMCA (multi actor multi criteria analysis) (Macharis, 2004) decision-making tool is extended into a Competence-based Multi Criteria Analysis which takes into account the institutional differentiation of transport and mobility actors.
For supporting the decision-making framework, a thorough evaluation of mobility and transport policy measures and their subsequent scenarios is required. For this purpose, the MUSTI transport model for the Brussels Metropolitan Area is refined with data gathered for the FRETURB freight transport model.
The resulting framework will enable policy makers to assess the impact of possible measures, to determine their desirability of those measures according to their own priorities, but also to assess the level of support among crucial stakeholders, and could therefore function as an important foundation for inter-institutional negotiations.