On the importance of “sustainable development”

In the context of the seminar that I am in the process of completing for a class of graduate MBA students of the Institut Supérieur de Gestion, I have just this morning sent them the following small questionnaire that I hope they will be able to whip through in 5 minutes or so. (Also if you would like to share your views on any of this, that would be terrific. I can then try to factor them also into the final round.) Sustainable Development, Ente … Read More

via Sustainable Development, Enterprise & Society

SLOWTH: Or why it is so very important (and so very easy) to slow down traffic in cities

It is the consistent position of this journal that much of what is wrong with our current transportation arrangements in cities could be greatly alleviated if we can find ways just to slow down. It is very powerful — and it's just not that hard to do.  Get comfortable and have a look. On "slowth": The use of a strange not to say rather ugly word like "slowth" in an attempt to draw attention to the importance of slowing traffic in cities, and why … Read More

via World Streets: A New Mobility Agenda

Cities for Mobility World Congress 3-6 July 2011. “Urban Mobility and the Social Space Challenge”

For those of you  interested in the topics under discussion in this year's  Fifth Annual  Cities for Mobility Congress  that just concluded in  Stuttgart, World Streets is pleased to offer a selection of the working papers and discussions which we think will be of most interest to our readers. The theme this year was "urban mobility and social space", an angle, a way of viewing  the sector which we believe opens up s … Read More

via World Streets: A New Mobility Agenda

Best transport research database we have ever seen.

The overflowing inbox this morning brought a reminder of a tool to which in this age of info-overload we had not given much thought of late – the expanded and honed TRID database. This is not just a good database and handy resource —  it is an EXCELLENT tool for planners, policy makers,  academics, and quite possibly you. If you are not already using it, at the very least check  out the quick presentation here. We shall shortly publish a more co … Read More

via World Streets: The New Mobility Agenda

Going down? Newman and Kenworthy on Peak Car Use

This is an important article. It  appears simultaneously in the Summer of 2011 edition of our sister publication, the Journal of World Transport Policy and Practice. With a view to ensuring its broadest international readership we are posting it here with pleasure, and with permission of the authors. We do this with particular interest on the grounds that their central thesis — that is, our faster than one might have expected evolving attitudes … Read More

via World Streets: The New Mobility Agenda

World Transport Policy & Practice – Vol. 17, No. 2

The Journal of World Transport Policy and Practice is the long-standing idea and print partner of World Streets and the New Mobility Agenda since 1995. The Summer 2011 edition appears with articles by Bruce Appleyard, Joshua Hart and Graham Parkhurst, and Peter Newman and Jeff Kenworthy. In the article that follows you will find the lead editorial by founding editor John Whitelegg. (For a more complete introduction to World Transport click here.) … Read More

via World Streets: The New Mobility Agenda

Women2Drive: A Day to be remembered in The Kingdom and beyond. (via World Streets: The New Mobility Agenda)

It is a rare day that World Streets comes out in favor of cars in cities. But even that of course is not quite true. At best there will be plenty of cars in our cities, but they will not be parked and they will be chauffeuring not just their drivers but offering affordable services to flexible groups of people safely and efficiently. Great way to get around when you get it right. And getting it right is the theme of the day today in the Kingdom o … Read More

via World Streets: The New Mobility Agenda

World Streets This Week: Edition of 2 May 2011

– – – > Click here to download Weekly Edition of 2 May 2011  Another busy week on World Streets, with contributions coming in from the StreetFilms media group in  New York on parking strategies, on city cycling and empowerment of women in Dhaka, and on to the pressing matter of rethinking the finances of our entire operation so that we can continue to act as the world’s only fully independent, collaborative, worldwide sustainable transport dai … Read More

via World Streets (Time out while we regroup)

Editorial: Will the real PRT please stand up (via World Streets (Time out while we regroup))

Somebody wake me up on this please  on this discussion. (See references at end). 1. If we look on the streets of any city in the Global South, we see de facto PRT, personal rapid transport, all over the place. 2. In the form of cheap motorized two wheelers with pretty energy-efficient engines, enough road space to get the trip done, and free parking right next to where you want to go. 3. There is no way that the old mid-20th century PRT Pod … Read More

via World Streets (Time out while we regroup)

PRT proposal for Delhi convinces Chief Minister (But does it convince you? See poll results) (via World Streets (Time out while we regroup))

It all started innocently enough with this newspaper article that appeared in the Press Trust of India on April 26. But when posted to the Sustran Global South peer forum for comment, the floodgates opened. For full background on this vigorously discussed, even polemic proposal, we invite you to check out the discussions at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sustran-discuss/message/6637 After Metro, now Pod Cars for Delhi? Source: http://www.ndtv.com/ … Read More

via World Streets (Time out while we regroup)

Hangzhou – View from the saddle of one of China’s most liveable cities. (via World Streets)

While Paris and London hog the world’s media attention with Boris’ Bikes and the Velib, by some accounts the Chinese city of Hangzhou now boasts the world’s largest and most used public shared bicycle system. Rory McMullan, contributing editor, reports on his impressions of the city, its transport network and the public bike system from an on-street carbon-free visit during the Chinese New Year. Hangzhou has a lot going for it; the spectacular We … Read More

via World Streets

Swedish government looks to virtual meetings as an environmental (and efficiency) strategy (via World Streets)

The Swedish government's annual instructions to the national Transport Administration now include a mission to support and improve conditions for virtual meetings across the country. The goal is to find practical ways to harness "Green IT" as an efficient travel substitute as well as to provide both more efficient management and reduced environmental impacts. The core proposal is based on a “ten step method” which the Administration released last … Read More

via World Streets

Delhi Metro – A Transport Planner’s Perspective

I wonder about this Walter.

What if the idea of a Metro/BRT link is used as a tactic, fool’s bait to get the metro built? Makes sense as a business strategy for the winners, since the money coming to the metro project will way outweigh the BRT share. So in such a case we would be getting ourselves used for a greater bad.

For now in most parts of the world, at least in places where there is hyper-limited money around to fund mobility improvements, don’t we have to wave the red flag for every metro project that raises its ugly head?

Or do I have this wrong?

Once again and as we have been reminded recently. Gandhi’s: “Doing more, for less, for more.” Is the only way to go.

Eric Britton