Exploring governance challenges of sustainable infrastructure development on the nexus between energy and mobility

The development of infrastructure can create synergies across multiple sectors, yet the governance and decision-making processes that drive such transformations often receive insufficient attention. This study aims to highlight key challenges in decision-making associated with the ‘infrastructural turn’ at the intersection of energy and mobility. The case focuses on a public transport provider’s initiative to leverage its metro power grid for the development of public charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. We trace how the collaborative decision-making process navigated through various configurations. The initiative challenged established organizational roles and pervasive silo mentalities and ultimately reached two significant milestones after nearly a decade. The findings suggest that harnessing potential synergies requires developing more integrative thinking and allowing sufficient space for joint goal-setting across sectors. We advocate for more research on informal organization and unintended consequences to better understand governance challenges of sustainable infrastructure development.