World Streets Short Takes: Stealing from pedestrians

"One of my great interests is time reallocation in an urban system. All I mean by this is that when I walk across parts of London which I do most weeks it is quite clear that the amount of time I stand still and do not move as traffic hurtles past is very large. I estimate it is about 50% of my journey time. That means that even in a congestion charge best practice world my time is being stolen to reward drivers with time savings. I want the theft halted and the system re-prioritised to reward pedestrians and cyclists."
- John Whitelegg, Editor, World Transport Policy and Practice


John Whitelegg is visiting Professor of Sustainable Transport at Liverpool John Moores University and Professor of Sustainable Development at University of York's Stockholm Environment Institute, and is founder and editor of the Journal of World Transport Policy and Practice. John is a local councillor in Lancaster, and Leader of the North West (of England) Green Party. He can be contacted via j.whitelegg@btinternet.com

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Some references by the author:
Critical Mass: Transport, Environment And Society In The 21st Century ISBN Number: 0745310834
* Chapter 5 "What time is this place"
* Chapter 6 "What place is this time"
* Chapter 9 "Transport and Equity"

Time Pollution, The Ecologist 23, 4, July/August 1993, pp 132-134. - www.eco-logica.co.uk/pdf/TimePollution.pdf

High Speed Trains: Fast tracks to the future, (Whitelegg, J. Hulten, S. and Flink, T. eds) Leading Edge Press, Hawes, North Yorkshire (239pp)

Short Takes is a new series from World Streets. One hundred or less well chosen words, putting before us a single soaring point well worth bearing in mind as we struggle toward more sustainable and livable cities.

Have a candidate for publication? Contact our editor via editor@newmobility.org

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