Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
cities improved (Wright, 2010; Hickman et al., 2011). The increasing speed of good practice
dissemination and knowledge transfer via the Internet offers new opportunities in terms of
speeding up the strategy development and implementation process in a wide number of cities.
In particular, the historical and discredited transport planning practices of the 1950s-1980s
(but still continuing in some contexts), based on the old road building agenda, including the
urban flyovers, increased road capacities, rapid motorisation and urban dispersal, can be
replaced with the sustainable mobility approach. In Delhi, a city with low income levels, BRT
and cycling in particular offer equitable and socially just travel options. The successful
implementation of vehicle efficiencies and alternative fuels to the mass market is also critical,
but this is currently not happening at the levels required. There are clear opportunities in
encouraging low emission, small size and low price vehicle technologies, potentially using
lean burn technologies. Financial incentives may be required here, including linking vehicle
import duty to emissions in the short term. Some technological policy measures appear to be
more limited in potential as they undergo closer examination (e.g. biofuels). There are wider
traffic demand management possibilities, which can also be debated and developed over time,
including pricing regimes (perhaps via a carbon tax or increased fuel duty), and travel planning
for particular cohorts of the population.
International air, shipping emissions and freight have not been included in the analysis, as
the focus has been on surface-based, passenger movements. The analysis has also looked at
the city 'in isolation' and not in terms of its linkages with the rest of the world through travel
(aviation), trade (shipping), and e-communications. The shorter distance travel within cities
makes it easier to creatively look at a range of different options, individually and in combination,
and it is possible under different scenarios to achieve substantial reductions in carbon emissions.
But, when the wider picture is examined, there are fewer options in terms of both the
technologies available and in the alternative means by which business and leisure trips can
be undertaken. The globalisation of the economy and the long supply chains needed to provide
food, energy, goods and materials for cities have not been considered here. These important
international CO2 emissions sources are outside of the international agreements at present,
but they still remain important sources of CO2. It is difficult to see how they can be included
as the scale of emissions, their spatial distribution and allocations, the monitoring of target
achievement and the individual responsibilities for action, all make the problems of sustainable
mobility in the city look a relatively easy problem to resolve. These long-distance travel modes
provide a real challenge for research over the coming years. It would then be important to
convince both politicians and the public that the options available to reduce carbon emissions
are acceptable and that strong levels of implementation are needed.
Institutional and funding issues will remain difficult for urban transport planning. However,
this only reinforces the need for a strategic, forward-looking, progressive, coordinated and
integrated policy approach, delivered at the city scale, and supported where necessary at the
national, pan-Asian and international scales. There are important issues concerning how the
necessary finance can be raised, and there will need to be changed governmental structures,
new regulations, clearer enforcement, new financial instruments, and huge commitment among
politicians, industry, communities and other individuals to deliver a sustainable transport
strategy for Delhi. The Delhi context is particularly interesting in demonstrating the importance
of grassroots organisations, civil society and NGOs in demanding a different transport future
for the city, with groups competing and struggling against each other to be heard, and govern-
mental action following, albeit often in an ad hoc and uncoordinated manner (Cox, 2010).
The current and immediate challenges are in providing an effective institutional framework
