To Transport or Not to Transport: Post‐Growth Avenues for Transport Infrastructure Planning

Post‐growth literature has recently raised attention to the role of transport infrastructure planning in relation to global sustainability challenges and human wellbeing. Transport infrastructure can be a major obstacle to change, due to sunk costs, material intensity, and historical path dependencies. At the same time, it is a foundation for quality‐of‐life, basic services, and fulfilling human needs. At the crossroads of major societal, spatial, and economic transformations, it is timely to explore what post‐growth perspectives offer to transport infrastructure planning. We develop six propositions that we identify as crucial to connect post‐growth thought with transport infrastructure planning more effectively. Concluding from the six propositions, we underline the need for open political discussions about crucial trade‐offs and the strategic and integrative interfaces between sustainability, socio‐spatial transformations, and transport infrastructures.