Transport and Risk Communication: Belgium, Portugal and the Netherlands

The process of transnationalization in Europe is reflected in the growth of transport flows and the rapid development of new infrastructure facilities. The highly transport sector confronts policy makers with pressing challenges because some major environmental problems are attached to transport. Decision making in the field of transport and the environment is very complicated because of the complexity of the infrastructures themselves and because of the involvement of local actors in the decision making process. The central task of this book is to show how regions and countries deal with this complexity and the new challenges, different ways in which three small European countries face the many uncertainties and controversies surrounding infrastructural policies. Economical constraints, institutional and cultural factors are shown to interfere with the debates on transport-issues and the environmental risks attached to them. Each case-study describes the national characteristics of the transport sector and analyses in some detail one of the major controversies which recently arised around infrastructural projects.