tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109392812012-01-29T21:38:06.286+01:00<b>Heavy traffic on the way to sustainable cities and sustainable lives. . .</b>Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5671100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-6003886714687137252010-09-27T19:01:00.003+02:002010-09-27T19:09:23.015+02:00

http://worldstreets.wordpress.com/Start hereWelcome to the new home of World Streets, the planet’s only sustainable transport daily newspaper. You will come in to our second operating platform for the journal, after a year and a half working with Blogger at http://newmobilityagenda.blogspot.com/. blogger gave us a great starting point, but as we moved ahead we found that it does not have the

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-23655244101873813102010-08-22T13:32:00.011+02:002010-08-23T16:51:26.839+02:00

As of late June, we started to test and develop another -- and we believe considerably improved -- website and software platform for World Streets which you can now access freely at http://worldstreets.wordpress.com/. For all these weeks and until such time that we were completely satisfied with advantages of the new structure, we maintained the two in rough parallel. But as of today we now are

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-661394550850780542010-08-12T15:23:00.000+02:002010-08-12T11:59:20.099+02:00

Dr. Samuel Johnson reminded us some time back that "When a man proclaims his honor loudly at the table, it's time to count the spoons". Which is what our guest editorials Alan Atkisson is going for us today as he comments on loudly proclaimed sustainability initiatives from Europe and America. Oops. Something appears to be missing here.Sustainability under assault Reading the news has not been

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-85476936177652611622010-08-11T04:59:00.002+02:002010-08-11T07:40:29.088+02:00

If you click today to the home page of the 2010 Kaohsiung Conference of the World Share/Transport Forum at www.kaohsiung.sharetransport.org, you will see that the organizers have just this morning added the first of an intended new cycle of “1-minute movies” by way of livening up the conference preparations, and as a quick introduction to the concepts of sharing in transport as a sustainability

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-49336912241447094212010-08-10T16:57:00.002+02:002010-08-10T17:07:57.802+02:00

Bravo! Bravissimo!!! I love this golden sentence (says he gritting his teeth). Solutions, solutions. It's a wonderful world. If you recall you heard from us last week concerning the wondrous “Straddling bus" project that so surprisingly popped in from an ambitious (?!?) entrepreneur in China -- but not about to be undone by the competition to the north, here you have some comments coming from

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-48525367374458336112010-08-04T12:42:00.002+02:002010-08-04T12:44:47.176+02:00

Share/transport -- the largely uncharted middle ground of low-carbon, high-impact, available-now mobility options that span the broad range that runs between the long dominant poles of "private transport" (albeit on public roads) and "mass transport" (scheduled, fixed-route, usually deficit-financed public services) at the two extremes. The third way of getting around in cities? Come to Kaohsiung

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-55366457851437127522010-08-02T14:57:00.002+02:002010-08-04T15:02:17.819+02:00

Politicians are reluctant to confront the economic and environmental costs of transport. The task: to reduce the demand for mobility. I probably don't write about transport as much as I ought to, and that was brought home to me at an event on The Future of Transport in Leuven in Belgium, at which I was also a speaker. There's a case for regarding transport as a climate emergency, given that it

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-72797619636699569622010-07-28T17:44:00.002+02:002010-07-29T17:47:59.970+02:00

Climate and climate policy are more than moderately complicated issues, as we all are well aware. But at the end of the day we know too there are a certain >number of basic underlying truths that shape these issues and outcomes, which one either grasps or one does not. And in this regard, there can be little doubt that the most single powerful single lever available for slowing down climate

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-35348569139985999812010-07-26T17:29:00.005+02:002010-07-29T17:42:12.702+02:00

- by Paul Barter, National University of SingaporeWhat competition do cars have in your city? I don't mean competition between Toyota, Ford or Hyundai. I don't even mean competition between cars and public transport for this morning's work trips. I am talking about competition between a car-owning lifestyle and a set of alternatives that add up to a whole lifestyle, creating a complete '

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-68085957005245974432010-07-22T17:55:00.003+02:002010-07-23T18:12:09.136+02:00

The consistent two-punch theme of World Streets is that (a) we are losing the sustainability wars (no argument there, eh?) because (b) we are quite simply not very bright. Look, how complicated can it be? When it comes to the issues of sustainable transport we really do know what to do (i.e., get our act together and start to rip carbon out of the system, and do it now). But we are somehow not

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-63384552266610163322010-07-21T18:47:00.007+02:002010-07-21T19:01:12.641+02:00

Today's piece by Alex Berthelsen of Planka.nu, Sweden's largest public transport NGO, is part of World Streets wide-open international brainstorming series on "free public transport". The most recent article in this series appeared here last week under the title " Why Free Public Transport is a bad idea", inviting our readers to share their critical thoughts on this important, contentious but

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-78823843860773394162010-07-20T14:32:00.004+02:002010-07-20T14:39:42.402+02:00

In the context of the start-up of London's long-awaited public bicycle project next week, the British daily, The Guardian, sent reporter Leo Hickman to meet with the London start-up team, and then arranged for him to spend  a day with us in Paris asking about and riding the Vélib'. It just so happened that his visit corresponded with the third anniversary of Vélib', so you editor was pleased to

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-50182606650907664242010-07-16T12:53:00.006+02:002010-07-16T13:07:21.683+02:00

We here at World Streets always have problems with "cities of the future" visions, not so much because they are almost always consistently wacky in some totally wierd unreal-world way, but because they tend to project things so far into the distant, almost always thoroughly magical future, that they get us off the hook for doing anything about it TODAY. So sit back and relax, dear citizens

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-19820519208642329002010-07-09T19:25:00.002+02:002010-07-10T19:28:30.278+02:00

We do not often provide coverage of conferences and their output, however World Streets is strongly  committed to the concept of taking women's needs as the prime target, the defining metric of transport policy and practice in cities and in rural areas.  (If you click to http://worldstreets.wordpress.com/category/women/ you will be taken to other articles in this W/S series and campaign.)The

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-11920428389204347852010-07-09T12:29:00.000+02:002010-07-10T14:22:34.659+02:00

There are a number of proponents around the world for the idea that public transport should be free. And if we here at World Streets have some thoughts of our own on the subject, we also think it is always very important to check out both sides of the issues. Just below, you will find four short statements setting out arguments against FPT, and we are interested in hearing from our readers and

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-28185456253156215082010-07-08T18:27:00.001+02:002010-07-08T18:27:24.197+02:00

Again and we have to ask you to believe us dear readers, we're definitely not anti-car -- but sometimes a low-IQ high car-favoring project proposal pops up that puts the case in such flagrant terms that it just screams for attention. Which we are now if not exactly pleased at least prepared to share with you. In this short and surely most well-intentioned video you can view a proposal for a

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-43181855883474803322010-07-07T18:28:00.000+02:002010-07-08T18:32:53.023+02:00

We need to be quite frank about this. World Streets is not, even if it may at times appear to be the case, an anti-car journal. To the contrary! There are many reasons for this, one of them being the sheer good sense of understanding that it's going to be kind of hard to get rid of something like one billion of them with a simple swing of righteous rhetoric. And not to forget that cars really

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-33130362572939535362010-07-06T18:33:00.003+02:002010-07-08T18:39:31.721+02:00

September 22 is an important date to remember – it’s World Carfree Day (WCD). Celebrated in towns and cities all over the world, it’s a day when streets are closed to cars and open for pedestrians, pedalers, parties and pleasure. Eric Britton, a sustainability activist, international adviser and consultant on sustainable transportation, is recognised for his work promoting and propelling WCD

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-30802187219191774542010-06-25T14:36:00.005+02:002010-06-25T14:46:42.994+02:00

One of the amazing/complicating things about the world of mobility in cities is that it is one of those slices of daily life where everything touches something else and then something else again. Nothing ever obliges us by standing stand still so what we can solve it once and for all. It's all about process. So here is a report from today's New York Times on a pretty exciting waterfront  project

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-56791479853237749492010-06-24T09:46:00.003+02:002010-06-24T09:51:05.724+02:00

World Streets is pleased to announce publication in the weeks ahead of  a series of articles and other media to investigate this idea in-depth in these pages.  We would ask our readers to bear in mind that there is a great deal more to this idea, approach than may at first meet the eye. So let's see what we get when we stretch our minds together on this perhaps surprisingly important and

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-1196889599038886642010-06-23T07:36:00.000+02:002010-06-24T07:38:04.377+02:00

Here is a map showing the locations of the last eighty readers who checked into World Streets this morning. It is typical of what we see day after day in this collaborative international forum. Hmm. Where is Africa on this map? It would not be a big deal if either (a) the matters covered by W/S were only of interest and use to the countries that consult the site as you can see here, or if (b)

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-71179362997379535452010-06-22T07:31:00.000+02:002010-06-24T07:33:44.837+02:00

Strong environment reporting from the UK.(From the editor)To move to sustainable transport, we need to create a strong citizen consensus for change, a new mindset, which turns out to be a tough call since the issues and necessary remedial approaches tend to be quite complex and unfamiliar to many of us who are so accustomed to what we see out on the street every day that it effectively tends to

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-28543049881716993722010-06-21T07:33:00.002+02:002010-06-24T07:35:21.867+02:00

From Morten Lange, Reykjavík on his way to VeloCity 2010.Tomorrow, Tuesday 22 June, the 2010 Velo-City Global Conference opens in Copenhagen, and will last for 4 days. I can warmly recommend taking a look at the program and abstracts available at the web-site, www.velo-city2010.com I trust that also for people not attending the conference, the programme and abstracts can supply useful pointers to

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-63778326436768650372010-06-18T20:30:00.003+02:002010-06-18T20:35:17.971+02:00

Transportation modeling provides us with a means for examining different futures. But is it . . . science or art? Robert Bain asked this question to a British transport list (UTSG) last week and got some interesting responses which he has written up with a very nice analysis and commentary. He added to his invitation: [...]* Read more of this post* Add a comment to this post

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-21076518854438013132010-06-17T12:06:00.000+02:002010-06-17T12:07:46.683+02:00

Three-step Executive Summary:1. Log into new World Streets/Open Edition via www.WorldStreets.org.2. On top right, you will see a To Subscribe box, where you plug in your email.3. Minutes later you will receive a welcoming email, offering you the following one-click choices• Email format – Select to receive in HTML or plain text.• Delivery window – Select daily or weekly delivery.From there on you

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-52793016229691138582010-06-15T21:47:00.003+02:002010-06-15T21:52:32.721+02:00

The mission of Africa Streets is to create an open public platform in support of sustainable transport and sustainable and fair communities across this great and needy continent. Unconstrained by bureaucracy, economic interests or schedules, Africa Streets is being launched as a wide open international platform for critical discussion and diverse forms of cross-border collaboration on the

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-1628986797976624022010-06-14T16:59:00.002+02:002010-06-14T17:00:56.482+02:00

This is one of the first postings to our collaborative Africa Streets project which is just getting underway, in part as a celebration of the first ever World Cup being held in Africa. A great deal of work remains to be done before it can claim to be a useful tool. You are invited to join in with comments and suggestions. It is a great and needy continent. We all are directly concerned.KNOOGLE (

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-42820059727487337272010-06-11T13:37:00.000+02:002010-06-10T22:28:37.814+02:00

As founder and editor of World Streets, I have three jobs. The first is to organize the production side of the journal and to find and work with collaborators around the world to produce challenging thinkpieces and articles which hew to the rigorous strategic lines we have set out to guide all our work (See Strategy ). The second is to contribute as editorialist and author. And the third

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-29557429900526710522010-06-10T11:39:00.002+02:002010-06-13T10:01:54.040+02:00

Editorial: Transportation vs. Access vs. (New) Mobility: This troubling triad has been around for a long time and continues to haunt many of us to this day. Even here at World Streets and the New Mobility Agenda, our puzzling over the rightful combination and interpretation of these three in many ways related concepts is a matter of several decades. Let's see if we can open up this important

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-82240542144836714072010-06-09T22:21:00.001+02:002010-06-11T08:17:37.594+02:00

This is supposed to be the ten day stretch during which your valiant editor is supposed to be out there pounding the pavement to find sources of finance so that we can keep World Streets going. But every day interesting ideas and proposals for projects keep slipping in over the transome, some of which are just too hard to resist. Here is today's slip in my firm resolution. Simply

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-68289410482600090842010-06-08T18:23:00.001+02:002010-06-09T18:38:23.770+02:00

Sell your car today, send the money to World Streets, and write an article telling the world your story. Seem like an impossible thing to do, for who you are and where you work, live, etc., and the world around you? Well, think again. Yes you can.And if you can think your way through it you should at least try. At the very least for think about getting rid of that second, third or fourth car

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-59380924382738782482010-06-07T18:06:00.000+02:002010-06-09T18:07:09.225+02:00

World Streets gives considerable time, space and thought to the whole complex tissue of the relationships that exist between people and cars. Auto-dependence and freedome of choice. People and the ways in which they access and use cars. Their reasons for owning a car. And when it comes up, people vs. cars. Robin Chase, one of the founders of Zipcar has given a lot of thought to this too, and

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-69087242333780256482010-06-04T08:11:00.000+02:002010-06-07T15:05:24.467+02:00

Step 1: Say good-bye to Old Mobility:"Plan Zero" - also known as "old mobility" - with its stress on supply, more vehicles and more infrastructure as the knee-jerk answer to our mobility problems, has been the favored path for decision-making and investment in the sector over the last 70 years. It is well-known and easy to see where it is leading. Aggressing the planet, costing us a bundle,

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-36658740008525083352010-06-03T07:58:00.001+02:002010-06-07T08:18:04.793+02:00

In order what needs to be done to create a healthier and better performing set of transportation arrangements, World Streets make a consistent distinction between what we call "old mobility" and "new mobility." The difference between the two is quite simple. And substantial.Old mobility was the form of transportation policy, practice and thinking that took its full shape and momentum

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-13967555861100675122010-06-02T15:08:00.004+02:002010-06-02T22:46:00.432+02:00

Outraged at BP are we? Disappointed that the United States government, the most powerful in the world, seems to be unable to handle the problems that are being created when one of some four thousand oil rigs currently operating in the Gulf of Mexico springs a leak? You're an environmentalist, and it is only natural that you get mad. But before you start to chew the carpet in the full bloom of

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-78793239086982842392010-06-01T10:58:00.009+02:002010-06-01T15:07:05.855+02:00

Courage. Not all that terribly hard actually, and certainly not impossible. The leading international edge of policy and practice in our field have over the last two decades developed the tools, experience and technical competence needed to cut fossil fuel dependence by 50% in one year. And if we can do that – if we can come even within shouting distance of this great and obtainable goal –

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-65337677278334943142010-05-31T19:17:00.001+02:002010-05-31T19:21:28.484+02:00

Density. Sprawl. Car-dependence as a result of car use's gradual reshaping of our cities. The unintended consequences of a no-policy transport and land use policy can be catastrophic for many, in many ways. And once the damage has been done(see the map of last week's piece contrasting two cities of the same population size: Atlanta and Barcelona)it is not easy task to get the toothpaste back

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-64093334301972680232010-05-31T09:26:00.002+02:002010-05-31T21:56:49.641+02:00

Until now we have been more than sparing when it comes to informing you about "coming events", as much as anything else because we are extremely jealous about the limited eyeball space on our pages, and your very limited available time. But we have just worked up what we believe is going to be an efficient way to draw to your attention what we regard as outstanding events, and for that you

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-79166985316494178542010-05-28T12:10:00.002+02:002010-05-28T12:49:41.411+02:00

Sustainable Transportation, New Mobility, Access, Green Transport and the long list of good and great names go on, but upon inspection they have three important things in common. They are all extremely well-intentioned; each is trying to get at a largely shared agenda; and, by whatever name, they are thus far losing the battle against the established interests and old and often quite bad ways

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-39954476963007813482010-05-27T12:02:00.000+02:002010-05-31T19:20:09.644+02:00

If it is your assumption that we are at present losing the war for sustainable transport and sustainable lives -- and that is very definitely our position here at World Streets -- and if it is your firm intention not to lose it -- as it is ours! -- then what do you do when the going gets tough? Well you look around and put to work every potentially promising tool you can lay your hands on. Now

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-82447946282556652062010-05-25T15:17:00.007+02:002010-05-25T16:00:15.506+02:00

When it comes to the performance and quality of our streets in cities around the world, the simple truth is that for now at least we are stuck with far more losers than winners. But that is only part of the story; and one of the tasks of World is to keep a weather eye out for projects and programs, tools and policies which open up the possibility of creating better streets and better cities.

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-12839046159255807212010-05-24T17:50:00.002+02:002010-06-01T15:07:05.862+02:00

Editor's introductory note: I have long maintained that the cost of driving one more car in a city is far greater than normally understood, with the result that the benefits to the city of getting one car off the street are very very considerable. My own working rule of thumb, admittedly crude and entirely unscientific, is that every time a mayor or her team figure out how to remove one car from

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-74338348253112799582010-05-21T17:11:00.001+02:002010-05-21T17:16:55.821+02:00

Parking facts and policies are a wonderful often mysterious component of both the Old and New Mobility Agendas. Dead (i.e., parked) cars gobble up a huge amount of valuable public space in and around in our cities, on average of three to four times the number of moving cars. And while it is an enormously powerful transport policy tool (potentially), most cities and administrations run scared

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-44921633720442326542010-05-20T16:14:00.008+02:002010-05-24T19:50:30.092+02:00

We invite our readers to write the words to the following "song": 150 words max please, signed with your name, email, affiliation if any, city, country, and URL if you wish. You may either place your contribution just below clicking the COMMENTS link, or by email to editor@newmobility.org. At one point a selection of these comments will be sorted and integrated into a collaborative piece on

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-45131661764101403032010-05-20T15:49:00.007+02:002010-06-01T15:07:05.869+02:00

What a great idea! Fresh from the ever-busy "You're kidding me, right?" Department" of World Streets, this title headlined an article appearing today in the "environment" section of a UK journal. No kidding! For the full text of this thoughtful piece, you may click to http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/the-environment/2010/05/19/

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-52882883187478161302010-05-19T20:09:00.000+02:002010-05-19T20:10:48.744+02:00

Donald Shoup has extensively studied parking as a key link between transportation and land use, with important consequences for cities, the economy, and the environment -- and that is exactly why World Streets is pleased to welcome this thought-provoking contribution on parking as an instrument for creating great streets and cities that at once offer quality of life and an economy that works.

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-23655292449747705002010-05-18T19:42:00.005+02:002010-05-19T15:52:10.023+02:00

John Whitelegg, Editor of World Transport Policy and Practice, offers up a lead editorial in the latest edition of the Journal which was published today and is freely available here. His proposal makes particular economic sense at a time of great economic uncertainty, and of course not only in the UK. His core recommendation: (a) Cancel systematically all public investments that do not pass the

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-62665324546114210282010-05-17T21:04:00.010+02:002010-05-19T09:29:41.518+02:00

Two or three times a year your editor sits down and does his best to compile a readable synopsis of some of the more important things going on in World Streets, then to be communicated in one magical shot to the close to four thousand friends and colleagues around the world who have been involved in some way in these dialogues and projects over the last several decades. Here you have today's

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-3929405788827841832010-05-14T19:05:00.007+02:002010-05-15T22:12:03.373+02:00

As most of our regular readers are well aware, World Streets is no friend of speed in cities. To the contrary, it is our firm position that a considerable number of the basic objectives associated with sustainable mobility and sustainable cities can be achieved if we do no more than to reduce top speeds in and around our cities in a strategic and carefully thought-out way. The great

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-44617531054421697962010-05-13T20:18:00.014+02:002010-05-15T19:26:01.788+02:00

We firmly believe that the move to sustainable lives is a very personal matter. For that reason every article that appears in World Streets is accompanied by a short bio note and photo identifying the author. We want you to know who they are and what they look like. These are not autonomous or institutional pieces; everything that appears here has a name and face behind it. Today we have

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-9460915700314255492010-05-12T16:46:00.002+02:002010-05-12T21:01:27.051+02:00

1. Start here: Italy, Italian and New Mobility. In June 2009, after four months of successful publication and an enthusiastic public reception in many parts of the world, the World Streets team found ourselves talking with an Italian colleague, the environmental activist Enrico Bonfatti who had been scanning the readership maps of World Streets and in the process noted that there were only one

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-46956378208769993262010-05-11T19:49:00.001+02:002010-05-11T12:13:14.690+02:00

The Colombian presidential elections will be held in less than three weeks on May 30. The campaign is all about ideas, leadership, and courage. And what could be more critical for a country or a city event to have these lined up together with a proven capacity to innovate, administrate, and to ensure that good policies and measures are continuously being scrutinized for performance and adapted

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-11249350336127535152010-05-10T11:58:00.007+02:002010-05-30T07:11:44.283+02:00

The concept of "organized carsharing", in which people join groups which allow them to put their own cars at their members' disposal for short-term rental, is one that has been around for decades and which has really taken off over the last dozen years. But of late we are seeing a new kind of carsharing paradigm emerge: in which people rent out their own vehicles on a flexible basis to anyone

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-27062638200275894382010-05-06T11:06:00.004+02:002010-05-06T12:03:56.700+02:00

We live in a time of not only ever greater problems and challenges before our sector but also one of fast evolving tools and other means of collaboration. each of the dozen-plus specialized fora and discussion areas that make up the New Mobility Agenda, and of course World Streets itself. We are obliged to work with the available free tools. Here is the latest addition to the lot - World

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-21058292553960328842010-05-05T15:43:00.004+02:002010-05-24T13:16:01.420+02:00

This is the second article in a series coming in from Nepal, showing how the combination of traffic restraint and the push toward the creation of pedestrian- friendly areas is giving results in their capital city. The reader should bear in mind that the traffic situation on most of the city streets is extremely chaotic and dangerous, above all as a result of the explosion of fast-moving two

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-64307396893542774162010-05-03T16:06:00.001+02:002010-05-03T12:29:04.711+02:00

In the pages of World Streets we lean heavily to giving attention to concepts and policies which promise near-term relief from the worst abuses of old mobility. But this does not mean turning our backs on longer-term thinking and strategies, as long as they do not contravene the basic sense of priorities which are needed for a consistent and effective sustainability policy. Here is a brief

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-87323675030775056892010-05-01T11:36:00.004+02:002010-05-01T15:14:18.771+02:00

All you have to do is check out these two maps which report the last eighty visitors (locations) to check into the World Carshare Consortium -- www.worldcarshare.com -- today and the pattern unfolds right before your eyes.Pictures telling stories:Worldwide:The world map leaves us once again with our nagging question: why are we not seeing carsharing in those broad white swaths, Latin America,

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-49498416080704736532010-04-30T16:56:00.003+02:002010-05-01T13:18:52.720+02:00

Robin Chase, widely known as one of the innovators behind Zipcar, has spent a number of years looking at different ways of sharing cars and offers this thoughtful article on her personal blog, Network Musings, which we are pleased to share with you this morning. I believe there is a strong tie between sharing and the ability to innovate. This post will walk you through the logic.Innovation is

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-29541758579723779712010-04-30T05:10:00.006+02:002010-05-01T13:16:31.116+02:00

Just to your left you will see a new section under this title, the goal of which is to permit our readers to follow with a single click progress and postings in the main specialised discussion and reporting fora, for now covering the collaborative working platforms on: the New Mobility Café, World Transport Forum, World Carshare Consortium, World City Bike Forum, Value Capture/Tax Reform, World

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-19708650528319881282010-04-29T11:26:00.012+02:002010-05-01T13:18:10.121+02:00

Here we have an unusually perceptive piece from a specialist in chaos theory who helps us make sense of the "alternative fuels" proposals and claims. It is good to have his hardheaded expert view on the potential of alternative fuels in our future transportation arrangements. But it is important too that we reflect on his dark bet on a pessimistic, high-technology future: in which he sees us as

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-34328259218141702502010-04-28T11:27:00.003+02:002010-04-28T11:47:19.635+02:00

If it is your firm belief that God is on our side (Gott mit uns) and that we are winning the battle of sustainable transport and sustainable lives, you will probably have little use for anything that might show up on a popular environmental site like TreeHugger. But hey! we are losing, so we need to be prepared to use every trick, talent and channel we can lay our hands on. Here is a

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-65622512039644155202010-04-27T19:40:00.010+02:002010-04-28T14:54:53.781+02:00

A bare five miles per hour over the speed limit on a city street, and . . .Editor's comment:It is the consistent position of this journal that much of what is wrong with our current transportation arrangements in cites could be greatly alleviated if we can find ways just to slow down. And it's not that hard. Stay tuned.(If you click here to http://newmobilityagenda.blogspot.com/search/label/

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-25874480658636064002010-04-26T14:19:00.005+02:002010-06-07T16:09:43.440+02:00

How would you feel about World Streets if we organize a special edition on electric cars with the sponsorship of General Motors or any other a major automotive manufacturer or upstream supplier? I hope you would feel at least a bit puzzled or impatient. And hopefully actually disappointed that we tumbled into that facile trap. Sure, electric vehicles are to be part of our future. No problem

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-53311022331938703242010-04-23T18:32:00.001+02:002010-04-23T18:35:14.879+02:00

Several days ago Peter Newman of Infrastructure Australia and Professor of Sustainability at the Curtin University Sustainability Policy (CUSP) Institute was asked by the Sydney Morning Herald what the future for roads was going to look like in Australia in 2050. He gave them this:I think we will have roads with about 50% fewer cars on them in 2050 compared to today. The first signs are there

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-64559233833442231582010-04-22T19:32:00.002+02:002010-04-22T07:30:54.129+02:00

Engaging the battle to mitigate climate change is one of the fundamental driving principles behind World Streets, since we have taken it as our main metric for remedial action in the transport sector, which as you all know accounts for something like 20% +/-5% of all GHG emissions. By "metric" we mean that the climate emergency calls for sharp near-term reductions in emissions, and it just so

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-3579216380881436982010-04-21T09:24:00.002+02:002010-05-15T19:29:02.734+02:00

What is that old saw that goes something like "the definition of high intelligence is the ability to keep two contradictory ideas in mind at the same time without ones head exploding?" Well, whatever the exact wording there is no doubt that this is an imperative capability for making wise policy in terms of our transportation arrangements. Here is an exchange taken from several leading

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-82635056522850566032010-04-20T13:02:00.005+02:002010-04-20T13:29:56.708+02:00

We put in traffic lights and stop signs in order to make our streets safe. We convert from two-way streets to one-way streets in order to permit cars to move more rapidly down them. And in almost all cases these decisions are made not on the basis of a broader systemic understanding of the traffic network as a whole, nor from an explicit philosophy as to what the basic underlying values and

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-32056961122202726322010-04-19T10:47:00.013+02:002010-05-10T17:09:17.389+02:00

We are trying to get a better look at how sustainable transportation is coming along in Australia, as an example of one of the several handfuls of heavily motorized countries which have for decades concentrated on building (and in the process unknowingly locking themselves into) what is basically an all-car infrastructure. This is the second in what we intend to be a series of articles on this

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-27240417137876097482010-04-16T09:12:00.000+02:002010-04-16T09:13:40.433+02:00

Our reader maps, which are updated several times a day, reveal patterns that we think are worth at least a bit of inspection and thought from time to time. Here to get us started on this is one which reports the locations of the last 80 readers to check in to World Streets from North America this afternoon. Hmm. Does it tell us anything important? Let's have a look. The full picture for North

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-23557998936976633982010-04-15T09:23:00.002+02:002010-04-15T10:46:38.644+02:00

To follow up on yesterday's piece by Janice Turner on "dull cycling" in the UK, the ever-stylish biker April Streeter reports from Portland on a survey of why women in the US cycle, and why they do not. (And if you are a female cyclist and have views on why women cycle, or perhaps do not, in your country, let us hear from you too.)Sporty cyclists few in Amsterdam but individualized and stylish

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-41861310159152753122010-04-14T12:48:00.002+02:002010-04-28T14:46:56.161+02:00

" (Government) policy is not to make cycling safer but to encourage more people to be brave." The author, Janice Turner writing for the Times, puts her finger on one of the greater truths of public policy and cycling, which every city and every New Mobility activist will do well to bear in mind. In her words: "Cycling. . . should be banal. Because it is safe" Cycling should be dull, not an

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-83889730461452282322010-04-13T08:59:00.005+02:002010-04-19T15:32:56.196+02:00

When it comes to both old and new mobility, Australia offers an interesting case. Along with a group of countries that may seem surprisingly mixed at first glance, and which would include of course the perennial United States with the spacious Canada right in its footsteps, but which also a number of the Nordic countries and in particular Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland who have followed

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-20238434146317485262010-04-12T08:11:00.001+02:002010-04-15T10:47:52.046+02:00

Okay, dear reader. If you want to get to the bottom of this update on how Paris's famous Vélib's are being integrated into the city's mobility and land use plan at a fair level of detail, you will have to make your way through this largely untouched machine translation of an article just published by the Vélib team here in Paris. Courage! (If you want to know you will know. If you don't, you

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-74409551035881581992010-04-09T10:15:00.003+02:002010-04-09T10:47:46.560+02:00

"You can't not notice the horrid traffic in Chengdu. But it seemed authorities had turned a blind eye to the situation, hoping that the construction of pedestrian overpasses and the opening of the subway later this year would resolve the problem. In the meantime, traffic is only getting more backed up. Late last month, it was announced that the Chengdu government is drawing up plans to address

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-66023792611457322452010-04-08T16:18:00.003+02:002010-04-08T19:34:57.648+02:00

Urban Planet is a new information service of CNN.com offering active worldwide coverage of sustainability issues to which you may wish to lend an eye. You can pick it up today at http://edition.cnn.com/CNNI/Programs/urban.planet/. And while it is not exactly our cup of tea here at World Streets -- i.e., their coverage is much broader than ours (agriculture, water, energy, construction, etc.)

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-11709673225843045812010-04-07T16:42:00.005+02:002010-05-02T16:19:44.235+02:00

Fair enough. We all want choices. That is no more than human nature, But when it comes to transport policy and practice in the United States at the highest level, the idea of real choices is no less than a revolutionary statement. Right from the mouth of President Obama's Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, who continues to surprise and delight. (But now, vigilant citizens, let's see

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-25704352493061151742010-04-06T15:10:00.001+02:002010-04-09T07:56:43.195+02:00

Every once in a while sustainable transport and sustainable city planners get a break. Some of these are immediately recognizable as such, for example when your city has decided to host some important international event such as the Olympic Games, a World Expo, or some kind of international athletic, cultural or political event, all of which occasions which may provide the funding and vision

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-58520521989787168952010-04-05T17:35:00.001+02:002010-04-29T11:04:38.447+02:00

A book entitled "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information" by someone named Edward Tufte somehow landed on my desk in the middle 1980s and in a way it changed if not my whole life, at least a lot of my perceptions about the use of statistics and graphic images to convince, to propagandize, to beguile or simply to explain with balance and clarity what is really going on out there in the

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-42746473713790051212010-04-01T11:05:00.001+02:002010-04-02T11:10:41.971+02:00

We very much doubt that most of our busy readers have the time to check into World Streets on a daily basis. For that reason we make available to our subscribers and sponsors in addition to the daily edition, a monthly summary which brings together in one place all postings and comments in a manner in which the busy reader can scan the month's titles in a few lines and make a decision as to

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-88802232684274721512010-03-31T15:49:00.002+02:002010-03-31T16:12:19.899+02:00

Robert Moskowitz, who follows matters of transportation and public policy with interest from Los Angeles, and who periodically shares with World Streets information, clues and comments on matters of old and new mobility, poses the following for our consideration this morning: "I've noticed there's a whole infrastructure in our cities in charge of putting up stop signs, traffic lights, and the

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-35438619501184701402010-03-30T18:38:00.001+02:002010-05-04T11:43:55.524+02:00

The Sanskrit term Bodhisattva is the name given to anyone who, motivated by great compassion and wisdom, has generated bodhichitta, a spontaneous wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. What makes someone a Bodhisattva is her or his spontaneous and limitless dedication to the ultimate welfare of others.(May we suggest that you view this at least two times? Get

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-64531950858254810172010-03-29T19:23:00.000+02:002010-04-01T10:04:56.585+02:00

With this latest report from our Italian sister publication Nuova Mobilità, we put before you our second article on the growth and status of carsharing in Italy. Italy, as you will see here, has a very different development trajectory from most of the rest of Europe or North America. What else is new? La creatività italiana But this time we are not going to help out with an edited version of

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-72445188649646136472010-03-26T14:41:00.000+01:002010-04-01T10:03:51.311+02:00

Does anyone notice anything a bit strange in these two photos of traffic in Kathmandu Nepal on any typical day. To the left we have boiling Asia-style traffic propelling speeding high carbon males. While to the right we see a woman and a girl making their way as best they can by foot. Hmm.Status of Pedestrian Infrastructures in Kathmandu City- Charina Cabrido, Clean Air Initiatives for

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-7714325739323902322010-03-25T02:31:00.002+01:002010-03-25T08:35:41.423+01:00

A bit down on the resource column just to your left is an early warning system of sorts which calls up relevant articles from an eclectic collection of independent sources that publish regularly in areas related to our field. One of these is Planetizen, where yesterday we spotted this thoughtful interview we thought you might wish to check out. It's an old story, but good research helps us to get

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-81560176962701531372010-03-24T07:14:00.004+01:002010-03-24T07:26:50.159+01:00

Carsharing is one of those areas of sustainable transport where people really know what they are dong. There is plenty of theory behind it but to get the job done one needs to be on top of the details and active on the ground -- whether at the level of the operators or start-us, or for those rare public officials who understand their importance and get invovled, at the level of the city and more

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-43203201197677512412010-03-24T07:06:00.000+01:002010-03-26T19:05:29.166+01:00

Whatever it might be there seems to a lot of it apparently going on in various places around Europe -- or at least that is what this map seems to suggest. But what exactly is it? Where do you go to find more? Stay tuned. We will be looking at this in the days ahead together with the team that is drawing this map.Well here it is a bit larger so that at least you can start to read the legends. (

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-59772352069489012892010-03-23T16:30:00.023+01:002010-03-24T07:18:04.142+01:00

We started World Series last year not because we felt that we were going to tell you everything you need to know about sustainable transportation, but rather to offer you a lively independent platform with worldwide coverage in which all of those of us were concerned with these issues can exchange ideas and commentaries freely. Here is a good example of a shared learning process that does not

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-50032908737103525522010-03-22T08:57:00.003+01:002010-05-04T11:42:04.428+02:00

World Streets is, as you may have noticed, not only a daily newspaper sticking to its carefully selected topic, but also as a worldwide classroom, discussion space and shared library. And since we have our topic and our classroom, it makes sense to open it up to visiting speakers from different parts of the world for outstanding presentations that can help us better understand our tough topic.

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-87820729551033226542010-03-19T14:20:00.002+01:002010-05-30T07:15:36.872+02:00

When we set out to lay the base for this journal in 2008, we never for a moment considered calling it "World Roads". Our focus was and is on the fact that if roads are for vehicles, streets are definitely for people. Let us have a look at what one young "lapsed engineer from India" has to say about this in the context of his home city of Mumbai, with lessons that ring just as true in places like

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-36426596739419594812010-03-18T08:22:00.004+01:002010-03-18T10:42:12.516+01:00

The transportation sector has around for a long long time. And over all those centuries and years of heavy hurtling dangerous traffic we have learned some lessons and done some things that, well if you really think about it, do not always add up. Here is one of those old ideas that Gary Lauder, co-creator of the Socrates Society at the Aspen Institute, takes four and a half speedy minutes to

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-56041180755982445032010-03-17T16:19:00.001+01:002010-03-17T16:21:46.699+01:00

"We’ll keep our cars thank you very much. And we shall park them where we want. And for as long as we choose to. If heritage is a barrier, let’s move it out of the way. And, by the way, what moral authority do you have to tell me otherwise?" - Simon Bishop, Delhi, India Climate Change is so serious explain the policy wonks that it is like a war. Did Gandhi then delay the salt march due to

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-5667982809435844882010-03-16T10:30:00.017+01:002010-03-22T11:14:17.991+01:00

World Streets has four main functions: (a) It is a specialized daily journal. (b) A collaborative international network. (c) An in-depth international resource. And finally (d) an active lobby for sustainable transportation, sustainable cities and sustainable lives, supporting projects and programs all over the world. Here we introduce the resource/research function which, as you will see,

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-64682573891945935762010-03-15T09:28:00.003+01:002010-03-15T17:57:08.381+01:00

You may have noticed that the first half of the title of this journal is the word "World", and that to us carries a real obligation. If we bear in mind that there are barely five hundred million of us who use English more or less easily as our daily working language, that leaves something like six billion who do not. Oops. So if we feel any commitment at all to be true to that first half of

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-77155216748790613762010-03-14T13:09:00.004+01:002010-04-19T11:54:49.270+02:00

Food for thought as we try to turn our great ideas into reality (at which most of us are not so hot. Present company included I am afraid.) Here is a think piece musing on our communications skills by our long-time colleague Keith Sutter from Australia. He takes us into "minds", "hearts", "gut", and then, since it is the weekend and we can deal with it, "reproductive organs". His source argues

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-22002844623578412942010-03-12T19:14:00.001+01:002010-06-01T15:07:05.876+02:00

Here we go again. Green power? A nice little electric car is a great way to get around in a city. I should know since I drove one in Paris for the better part of a decade (eyes right). Whether or not it is a good idea to multiply the kinds of cars that the main players have in mind (definitely not the one you see here) by say one billion or even some notable fraction of that is another matter.

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-31759921117248153422010-03-11T09:11:00.011+01:002010-04-28T14:46:56.164+02:00

Journal of World Transport Policy and Practice Volume 15, Number 1. March 2010 Editorial - John Whitelegg: This issue contains two articles that on first reading may appear totally unrelated. This is not the case. The Kinnersly article – "Transport and climate change on a planet near you " - is a comprehensive reflection on the links between economic growth, poor quality democracy, lack of

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-41070998429852563502010-03-10T14:33:00.013+01:002010-03-14T10:37:31.561+01:00

Some of us who have been working internationally on the tough challenges of sustainable transportation and sustainable cities have for some years made best possible use of machine translation tools as available on the web. For years this has required a heroic combination of great interest, enormous patience and some linguistic ingenuity to figure out what the contents of the original

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-21368657626186130672010-03-09T14:59:00.000+01:002010-03-09T15:01:08.426+01:00

As you are seeing in the other country reports in this series, the state of carsharing in 2010 is very much a different story in different places. To get a feel for the status of carsharing in Italy today, check out the latest article from our sister publication Nuova Mobilità, along with a choice: either the original article as it appears in Italian, or a machine translation into workable if

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-71878099149411112512010-03-08T18:47:00.007+01:002010-03-09T08:16:05.266+01:00

Today is the ninety-ninth anniversary of the first International Women's Day, a day well worth celebrating. And while we are at it a perfect occasion to remind ourselves of what we need to be thinking about and trying to do over the next twelve months to make sure that when 2011 and that important 100th anniversary roll around, we have made our own best effort for a better and brighter future

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10939281.post-64049677450719207492010-03-07T09:05:00.006+01:002010-05-04T11:43:55.528+02:00

All of us who show up here, well most of us anyway, have come to understand that we can't simply cut matters of "transport" with one snip away from the rest of the fabric of our daily lives. Which is why we continually keep repeating phrases like "sustainable cities and sustainable lives" (perhaps much to your annoyance, eh?). Which brings us on this early and cold Sunday morning in Paris to

Eric Brittonnoreply@blogger.com0