Ambitions towards sustainable mobility (London) - Transport Climate Change and the City - page 95

Table 3.1 UK - World Development Indicators

Indicator 1990 2000 2005 2008 2009

Population, total 57,247,586 58,892,514 60,226,500 61,406,928 61,838,154

Population growth (annual %) 0.3 0.4 0.6 0.7 0.7

GDP per capita (current US$) 17,688 25,089 37,859 43,361 35,165

GDP growth (annual %) 0.8 3.9 2.2 0.5 4.9

Life expectancy at birth, 75.9 77.9 79.1 79.9 -

total (years)
Fertility rate, total 1.8 1.6 1.8 1.9 -

(births per woman)
Energy use (kg of oil equivalent 3,619 3,803 3,699 - -

per capita)
CO2 emissions (metric tons 10.0 9.2 9.0 - -

per capita)
Motor vehicles (per 1,000 people) - - 517 - -

Mobile cellular subscriptions 1.9 73.8 108.7 126.0 -

(per 100 people)
Internet users (per 100 people) 0.1 26.8 66.4 76.0 -

Source : World Bank, 2010a.

transport CO2 emissions, followed by different images of the future to 2025 and 2050. The
impacts of different policy packages and strategies are modelled, using a simulation model
of the city that was developed during the VIBAT-London work. The analysis highlights the
extreme difficulties - even in a city such as London - in meeting strategic transport CO2
reduction targets using the current policy tools. This is an issue much underestimated by
policy-makers and politicians. Reducing surface transport emissions is the main focus of the
analysis, but when international air travel is also considered it provides an almost insoluble
problem in a city with relatively high incomes. Focusing on seemingly low per capita transport
emissions in surface transport often ignores a large problem in international air emissions
(Holden and Linnerud, 2011).

The 'world city' context
London has globalised networks, an international 'world city' reputation (Sassen, 2000), as
well as acting as the capital city in the United Kingdom (UK); many businesses and residents
have strong ties with overseas. London has a strong tradition of utilising strategic urban
planning to address the concerns of the day. Examples range from the Royal Commission on
the Housing of the Working Classes (1885), which was concerned with the problems of the
Victorian slum, to the development of the Garden Suburbs (including, for example, Bedford
Park, built in 1876; Brentham, 1901; and Hampstead Garden Suburb, 1907), which were early
attempts to design sustainable suburbs; and the post-war rebuilding of London under the
Abercrombie Plan (1944), 2 as realised in the 1950s and 1960s at Alton West, Roehampton,
and elsewhere. The Garden Cities and New Towns beyond the London urban boundary were
also very significant attempts to improve the quality of urban life for London residents (Hall,
1988; URBED, TCPA, 2002). Though some of these city planning efforts are 'expressions of
their age' and have faded in quality, they do highlight the intention and capacity to tackle
strategic planning issues. Much of the development of London was, of course, incremental
and not the result of large-scale planning; and many of the plans of the day have not been