Cross-sector policy research: insights from the UK energy and transport sectors

Abstract

Following established traditions in anthropology and sociology, where cross-border research helps to identify important themes which benefit from comparative study, this dissertation introduces cross-sector policy research as a new methodology for generating useful insights about public policy. The cross-sector method is applied to the study of the UK energy and transport sectors.

A range of generic policy developments in the energy sector are identified including: the development of efficiency indicators, scenario analysis, and the establishment of energy efficiency programmes. Such developments have not, as yet, occurred in the transport sector.

A structural analogy between energy and transport is developed which is used to generate a range of innovations for transport policy including: gross mass movements and intensities as indicators of the efficiency with which the economy uses transport; the projection of a quantitative scenario of sustainable mobility; and the outline of a transport efficiency programme.

The insights from the analogy are generalised to consider the benefits of a wider application of cross-sector policy research to other policy areas.