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Cities looking to embark on more sustainable development pathways may need to evaluate the controversial but usually impactful measure of road pricing as a means of reducing their reliance on conventionally fuelled automobiles. Understanding the mechanisms determining the public acceptability of road pricing could be critical for its implementation. Studying the attitudes of older people is of particular significance because of their increasing demographic and political importance and vulnerability to transport-related social exclusion. Prior research identified that older people's social norms and pro-social values affect their attitudes to road pricing. The present paper extends this understanding based on the results of three focus groups conducted in Bristol, UK. According to these, there are three distinctive expressions of pro-sociality: pro-environmental values and generativity, which are mainly drivers of support for road pricing, and pro-equity values, which are mainly drivers of opposition. Social norms have two particular expressions: subjective norms (i.e. norms reflecting participants' immediate social environment) and norms about others and society in general. Furthermore, a theory-driven thematic analysis indicates that trust on the integrity of the concept and older age as a life stage associated with ageing, retirement, lower income, mobility barriers and deteriorating health are important in how attitudes reflecting and affecting public acceptability to road pricing form. Finally, the paper highlights the need for packaging road pricing with measures promoting its pro-social potential and the importance of peer-to-peer communication and accepting citizens as “social influencers”, tailored consultation, pro-social branding, pre-implementation trials, clear administrative roles, transparency, and “political patience”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Localism Agenda adopted by Coalition Government in 2010 reflected the rejection of the regional level and the ambition to rebalance national economy, by devolving economic and social responsibilities down to cities and local communities. The introduction of the Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) as joint local authority-business bodies in charge of better coordinating public and private investments in several areas of economic development, has remodelled the governance of British city regions towards their increased autonomy from central government. Among the most relevant spatial impacts of the new institutional arrangement the reshaping of a new relationship between cities and their rural hinterlands emerges. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the planning policies at local and city-regional level dealing with and affecting rural areas in the context of Bristol City Region. It demonstrates that most of the failings of planning in supporting the development of rural areas relate to the rigidity of its policies and to the poor attitude towards the innovation of its tools. The paper argues that a more proactive and integrated approach for planning is needed to re-build stronger agri-food relations and to achieve a more sustainable land use management at city regional level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]