Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Any significant progress towards sustainable lifestyles and travel behaviour is proving difficult
to achieve, and many of the options discussed may seem undesirable in the sense that they
require substantial change. Even where efforts are being made, significant reductions in GHG
and CO2 emissions have not been delivered. Actions can usually only be described as ineffective
at best, but perhaps also in terms of 'greenwash' 18 and even strategic misrepresentation in the
case of decision-making and investment in particular large infrastructure projects (Flyvbjerg
et al., 2002; Flyvbjerg et al., 2003). The lack of progress in delivering implementation
programmes, transport systems and travel behaviours that match the rhetoric is startling, but
seems to be overlooked. Most urban areas, beyond a few central parts of selected cities and
towns, remain wedded to very high car mode shares. Transport CO2 emissions remain high
and are projected to grow across almost all cities. Actions need to be much more progressive
in policy development terms and much more successful in terms of implementation. Funding,
of course, plays a major role here; investment and application in walking, cycling and public
transport, and restructuring of urban form, all very rarely matching the conjecture of the politics.
The time between the leaders and the laggards in particular policy areas appears lengthy, and
there are many 'false starts' along the way. Again this is an area that is overlooked - even if
we have the ideas, and even if the good practice is beginning to emerge in terms of low carbon
transport, transferring this to the mainstream involves significant lead times and considerable
obstacles.
Articulating an appropriate level of response to the transport and climate change problem
hence appears hugely problematic, in the sense that the solutions are perceived to be politically
unpopular, and consequently either no action or weak action is taken. This is the major theme
within implementation, that of 'muddling through' (Lindblom, 1979). The political window
is often very short (4-5 years), and issues concerning the global environment appear a long
way down the list of priorities at the local level, so delay and inaction proves inevitable.
Decisions made now will have significant effects (both positive and negative in terms of
CO2 reductions) for many years to come, so there need to be approaches that can encompass
the longer term perspective. Perhaps global practice is, however, converging post-2010 in the
development of sustainable transport options; at least there appears to be some emerging
consensus in the policy approach. But the problem remains that the issues of the environment
and climate change need to go beyond politics and the conventional policy-making perspective.
These do not seem to be amenable to making substantial commitments to addressing longer
term global issues. This topic considers these difficult issues and explores our potential path-
ways towards achieving sustainable transport at the city level. Although the policy-making
has developed, it is still the conventional transport paradigm that is dominant, with the primary
focus on increasing traffic volume, in throughput and speed, and investment largely justified
in terms of saving travel time. In parallel, the business model is to sell more vehicle units at
the highest possible margin, hence the aggressive marketing of the higher end, larger vehicles
with many add-ons in terms of comfort, equipment and style. The consumption of resources
follows, and this results in more and more energy being used for transport.
Increasing mobility has, however, become a very dated objective - for societal needs at
least - with the quality of the social interaction (the destination) and the journey (the potential
for 'productive' travel) now becoming much more important together with the environmental
and social impacts. Some authors describe the potential large difficulties in reducing road
traffic volumes and congestion. Stopher (2004), for example, suggests there is a need for
'a reality check'. He argues that even massive increases in public transport are unlikely to
lead to much reduction in traffic volumes and congestion because of the large market share
of the car. And, further, that:
 
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