The periodization of transport policy: three bus rapid transit cases through time

While the scholarship on policy mobilities shows how transport policy circulates across locations, it has paid less attention to how policy evolves over extended periods of time. This paper brings an in inter-temporal perspective to policy mobilities scholarship by examining how transport policies move through different periods in which they are (re-)assembled. We capture this dynamic through two complementary analytical lenses: durability, which identifies what persists over time and how, and, periodization, understood as extended moments of relative stability in policy discourse that shape the configuration of policy. Relying on a mixed-methods approach, we analyze the reimagination of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) policy through its implementation in Runcorn in the 1970s, Bogotá in the early 2000s, and Nairobi in the early 2020s. We identify three BRT periods, associated with state-led planning and Garden City ideals (Runcorn), ‘good governance’ and sustainable mobility agendas (Bogotá), and infrastructure-led investment linked to the energy transition (Nairobi). The analysis of durability draws attention to the production of endurance via narratives of success, which challenges interpretations of circulation based on cumulative learning. The concept of periodization underlines the deeply structuring effects of paradigmatic discourse, highlighting how the circulation of globally celebrated models reproduces uneven power relations.