Policy packages and state engagement: Comparing car-use reduction policy in two Norwegian cities

•The Norwegian state involvement in local climate policy is different across cities.•The clearest responsibility to reduce car use was given the larger case city.•Governmental involvement increased locale climate ambitions.•Municipal policy must be understood in light of resources and institutional capacity.•Past policy for car-use reduction locally influences present policy-package content.

Policy packages are structures used to combine different policy measures and address multiple objectives. This paper links local-level policy packaging with national authorities’ environmental strategies. Applying a multilevel-governance perspective, it examines how state engagement influences the integration of car-use reduction strategies in local policy packages. Two policy packages are empirically compared, one from the larger Norwegian city of Trondheim and one from the mid-sized city of Bodø. While both policy packages reveal ambivalence in whether to facilitate or restrict car usage, the strategies employed in Trondheim to mitigate the effects of road building are stronger than those used in Bodø. In Trondheim, more resources are used for climate-friendly transport and stronger regulation is applied to integrate land-use and transport policy. In explaining this, different levels of state engagement are emphasised. The study reveals how, both financially and in the building of institutional capacity, the approach of national authorities prioritises the larger city.