Design-Policy Bidirectional Empowerment: The Synergistic Mechanism of Institutional Innovation in Healthy and Sustainable Transportation

Abstract

This research stands at the forefront of interdisciplinary studies, deeply exploring the core significance of design in the institutional innovation of healthy and sustainable transportation. Focusing on the transportation cases in the Greater Copenhagen Area, it constructs an analytical framework integrating design and policy. Theoretically, it elaborates on the positioning, description and prescription of design, as well as the hierarchical relationships, and reviews the research progress of sustainable transportation transformation, pointing out the deficiencies in transforming design concepts into practice. In terms of research methods, it comprehensively employs case analysis and experimental research, collecting data from official transportation, social surveys, and policy literature, and using various software tools to compare the experimental group (areas implementing design innovation and policy coordination) and the control group (areas with traditional transportation patterns). For example, the climate movement in North Zealand promoted road design changes, the redesign of Copenhagen reshaped the transportation context, and the analysis of transportation behavior and economics influenced policy formulation. These examples demonstrate the mechanism of design in the transportation system. The research shows that design has multiple impacts on sustainable transportation transformation, such as promoting the critical analysis of the existing transportation system, facilitating the interactive innovation of technologies, aiding social participation and cultural change, and guiding enterprise innovation and industrial development; combined with the multi-level perspective, it can deconstruct the existing system, support the development of sustainable subsystems and niche innovations, and reshape the vision of transportation indicators; there is a two-way interactive relationship between design and policy. This research provides theoretical and practical guidance for transportation planning and policy formulation. Although it has limitations, it lays a foundation for future research. It is expected that future research can improve these deficiencies and promote the healthy and sustainable development of global urban transportation.