From ‘I’ to ‘we’: an exploration of how theories of cooperation might inform policymaking around sustainable travel behaviour

Donegan, Brendan; Gold, Natalie; Dyson, Pete; Bartle, Caroline · 2023 · Crossref

DOI: 10.1332/204378921x16886283502537

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Summary

This paper explores how theories of social cooperation can inform policymaking aimed at shifting travel behaviors toward sustainable outcomes, particularly by reducing private car use. The authors argue that traditional economic models, which focus on selfish individual incentives, are insufficient for addressing collective action problems in transport. Instead, they propose a framework that incorporates social norms, group identity, and cooperative decision-making. The study is motivated by the need to bridge the gap between abstract theoretical models of cooperation and the practical realities of policymaking and lived experience. By examining how individuals care about the actions of others and identify with groups, the paper seeks to identify policy levers that can foster cooperative travel behaviors. The authors employ a theoretical analysis grounded in game theory, contrasting the "prisoner’s dilemma" with "stag hunt" scenarios to illustrate how social preferences and team reasoning can alter individual incentives. They introduce the concept of "team reasoning," where individuals act from a group perspective ("we") rather than an individual one ("I"), potentially resolving equilibrium selection problems in cooperative games. To apply these theories, the authors analyze four empirical "use cases": lift sharing and car clubs, site-based travel planning, safe cycle storage, and peer-to-peer information sharing. These cases are categorized into "bottom-up" emergent social phenomena and "top-down" policy initiatives, allowing the authors to examine how different interventions can facilitate cooperation. The findings indicate that cooperation already exists naturally within the travel-behavior policy space, but there are significant opportunities for policy to enhance and sustain it. For instance, lift sharing relies heavily on active individual cooperation and can be supported by infrastructure like dedicated lanes or digital matching platforms. Site-based travel plans, such as workplace mobility management, succeed when they combine social measures (e.g., bike-buddying schemes) with material interventions (e.g., improved cycle storage), fostering a shared group identity among employees. The case of safe cycle storage highlights the complex interdependencies between material context and social coordination; installing bike hangars requires individuals to mobilize neighbors and justify costs, demonstrating how policy can create conditions for cooperation to flourish. The authors conclude that policymakers can intervene by altering individual incentives, leveraging social preferences, or inducing group identification, thereby moving beyond simple economic nudges to foster genuine collective action. The significance of this research lies in its demonstration that social cooperation theories offer a robust framework for designing effective transport policies. By recognizing that travel behavior is often a collective action problem, policymakers can develop interventions that harness social norms and group identity. The paper suggests that successful behavior change requires a combination of material infrastructure and social facilitation, whether through bottom-up community initiatives or top-down policy mandates. This approach provides a more nuanced understanding of how to tackle the "tragedy of the streets," offering actionable insights for creating sustainable travel systems that rely on cooperative rather than purely individualistic decision-making.

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• eco driving