[sustran] "I am a little concerned that discussions may become dominated by North...

Paul Barter tkpb at barter.pc.my
Thu May 15 12:39:27 JST 1997


Dear all

Eric Britton wrote:
>With ref to your "I am a little concerned that discussions may become
>dominated by North
>American (and to some extent European) issues, concerns and viewpoints",
......
>It might possibly be a very big mistake indeed for you to attempt to reign
>in the proceedings with too much vigor for a number of reasons.  This is
>not to say that this whole lot cannot do with constant kind  reminders as
>to your ultimate geographic focus. But given your worthy objectives,  it
>would be a great pity for you to reduce your available brainpower....
...........
>For better or worse the leading edge in alternative transportation thinking
>and practice, with pitifully few exceptions, is what we might well call the
>Old World (of SOA Transportation), I.E. North America and Europe.

Thanks very much Eric, for your carefully thought out comments. I agree
that we need to take the best ideas wherever they come from.  And I am
certainly aware of the many innovative new things which are happening in
many places throughout the "North". Some examples, which spring to mind
include, Zurich, Delft, Stockholm, Toronto, even Los Angeles (emissions
reduciton, innovative incentives schemes, new ways of funding
infrastructure).  Japan also has some interesting innovations, such as
their bicycle parking solutions (to solve the problem of "bicycle
pollution" at railway stations).

You trigger an interesting thought.  I wonder if various places in the
South may also spring up new innovations, which are at the cutting edge too
- the main reason is that "necessity is the mother of invention" (sorry for
the cliche) and in the South there are many places where the "necessity"
for imporvement is extremely acute.  Some examples of unprecedented
predicaments which may spring up new solutions not seen elsewhere:

Bangkok:  its problems seem to be of a magnitude not seen before. Some of
the private and individual responses to this may prove to be new and maybe
replicable/marketable?

Taiwan: has more motorcycles per capita than anywhere else on earth (and
pollution to match). They  are now at the cutting edge in motorbike
emissions control and in developing electric scooters (or so I hear).

Seoul, Hong Kong, Bombay and Cairo are some of the highest density cities
in the world (all have at least 5 times the density of London). I expect
that they will be forced to use demand management techniques not
contemplated elsewhere (Hong Kong already is). They may also do some
unprecedented things in an attempt to squeeze cars in (unfortunately)....
:-(

In South Asia and Africa (and throughout the South) I think we can still
expect to see many more new innovations which address the imperative to
find productive and efficient modes of accessibility at the lowest possible
cost.  Some of these solutions may be high not low technology.  An example,
outside of transport is that some regions in Africa are finding that
cellular phone technology is going in before ordinary phone lines have ever
been installed).

How China deals with its current battle for road and urban space between
bicycles, buses and cars will be worth watching.  They may well come up
with something new, innovative and worth emulating?  (or sadly they may
follow a well-known and disastrous path.....).

A. Rahman Paul Barter
Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia & the Pacific (SUSTRAN)
c/- AP2000,  PO Box 12544,  50782 Kuala Lumpur,  Malaysia.
Fax: +60 3 253 2361,  E-mail: tkpb at barter.pc.my



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