[sustran] DELFT LOW-COST MOBILITY STATEMENT

jan herman koster jhk at ihe.nl
Fri Aug 11 17:51:23 JST 2000


>From 21st - 23d June 2000, the Expert Group Meeting on Low-Cost Mobility
was
held in Delft, The Netherlands. The meeting was organised by IHE Delft,
on
behalf of the World Bank, as a parrallel event to VeloMondial 2000. The
proceedings of the Meeting are currently being prepared, and will in due
course be available through IHE. In addition, the Meeting produced the
below
'Delft Low-Cost Mobility Statement'. For more information contact Mrs T.
van der
Klis: phone +31.15.2151896; fax +31.15.2122921; e.mail kli at ihe.nl.

Jan H. Koster
Chair, Organising Committee
Head, Dept. of Transport and Road Engineering
IHE Delft

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THE DELFT LOW-COST MOBILITY STATEMENT

>From 21-23 June 2000, some 80 experts gathered at IHE Delft, The
Netherlands, to participate in the World Bank/Velomondial2000/IHE Delft
Expert Group Meeting on Low-Cost Mobility in African Cities . The group
consisted of politicians, administrators and professionals from African
national, provincial and local government levels, NGO representatives,
staff from External Support Agencies (ESA's), researchers, consultants
and other independent experts.
The background materials, presented papers as well as the outcomes of
the working group sessions conducted during the Meeting, have been
reflected in the proceedings of the Meeting . Those proceedings also
contain the below 'Delft Low-Cost Mobility Statement', to which the
participants in the Meeting have agreed and committed themselves .


We, the participants in the Expert Group Meeting on Low-Cost Mobility in
African Cities,

Recognising the importance of personal mobility for economic and social
development, and convinced that affordable mobility is on the critical
path to sound economic and social development in Sub-Saharan African
Cities, which must include rather than exclude the poor;

Concerned that the already low levels of mobility of the urban poor in
African cities will decline further with the rapid rate of urbanisation
and prevailing urban mobility policies which tend to ignore  the
mobility needs of the poor;

Recognising the dominant role of walking and (the potential role of)
cycling within African towns and cities;

Convinced that more efficient and safer walking and cycling positively
contribute to poverty alleviation, economic development, health
improvement and environmental protection;

Referring to Article 150 of the Habitat II Global Plan for Action, which
reads:
'Non-motorised transport is a major mode of mobility, particularly for
low-income, vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. One structural measure
to counteract the socio-economic marginalization of these groups is to
foster their mobility by promoting these affordable, efficient and
energy-saving modes of transport';

Also referring to article 7.53.c of Agenda 21, which commits governments
to 'encourage non-motorised modes of transport by providing safe
cycle-ways and foot-ways in urban and suburban centres in countries, as
appropriate';

Recognising that these modes have been marginalized in planning,
infrastructure provision and traffic management in many African towns
and cities, which has resulted in economic losses due to inefficiences,
in economic and social exclusion, and in high economic costs and human
suffering as a result of traffic accidents;

Having taken note of the important findings of the Sub-Sahara Africa
Transport Programme's Pilot Project on Non-Motorised Transport
(SSATP/NMT), which, in summary, are that the mobility and traffic safety
of the majority of urban inhabitants can be enhanced substantially
through the application of a menu of low-cost and straightforward
interventions which yield high investment cost/benefit ratio;

Call upon African national, provincial and local governments, civil
society and all other relevant parties, including ESA's , to support and
implement the following actions:


ACTIONS AT NATIONAL AND LOCAL LEVELS

1. Awareness raising
A major stumbling block in realising efficient and affordable mobility
in African cities is the lack of awareness amongst politicians,
administrators and professionals at national and local levels of the
benefits of low-cost mobility options. In order to restore a balance in,
and increase the efficiency of the urban transport systems, national
awareness raising strategies will need to be developed and implemented.
These should target politicians, administrators and professionals at the
national and local level, and aim at raising their awareness of the
economic and social importance of mobility, of the major role of walking
and (the potential for) cycling, of the current inefficiencies of the
urban transport systems as regards these modes, and of the ways and
means to enhance low-cost mobility.

2. Mainstreaming low-cost mobility
Low-cost mobility has a direct relationship with, amongst others,
poverty alleviation, economic and social development, employment
generation, urban upgrading and development, and environmental
protection. Rather than developing stand-alone low-cost mobility
policies, national and local governments are urged to integrate low-cost
mobility in policies, strategies, programmes, plans and projects that
address these issues.
As walking and cycling are an important part of the wider urban
transport systems, they should be treated as such. For this reason,
national and local governments are urged to include these modes into
mainstream urban transport policies, strategies, programmes, plans and
infrastructure investment projects. In addition, the requirements for
efficient and safe walking and cycling should be included in national
urban roads design standards. The draft document ' Productive and
Liveable African Cities: Guideline for Pedestrian and Bicycle Traffic'
includes relevant proposals for such standards.

3.	Stakeholder participation
As is the case in other sectors, stakeholder participation is crucial in
the preparation and implementation of sound and equitable policies,
strategies, programmes, plans, and projects. National and local
governments are urged to credibly involve, as a major group of
stakeholders, pedestrians and cyclists in any decision-making process
which directly or indirectly relates to their mobility and traffic
safety requirements. In doing this, they should pay particular attention
to the mobility needs of women, which are particularly affected by
inappropriate urban transport solutions.

4.	Demonstration projects
Although the validity and applicability of the findings of the SSATP/NMT
Pilot Project are beyond doubt, they are based on a limited number of
isolated engineering and cycling promotion pilot interventions. The
consistent application of the 'menu of interventions' as an output of
the pilot project at a large scale, and the monitoring and dissemination
of the results thereof, will greatly help in raising awareness of the
importance of efficient and safe walking and cycling, and in convincing
politicians, administrators and professionals at the national and local
levels, as well as the public at large, that this efficiency and safety
can be greatly increased at relatively limited costs. For this reason,
national and local governments are urged to plan and implement, at city
or district level, a number of such demonstration projects in a number
of countries, and to disseminate the results within Sub-Sahara Africa.

5. Local application 
Independently of, and in parallel with these demonstration projects,
local governments can and should make a start with addressing the
mobility and safety needs of pedestrians and cyclists, whenever and
wherever possible. In doing this, the guidelines produced under the
SSATP/NMT Pilot Project are a useful tool, as is the exchange of
experience through the network of experts on low-cost mobility.

6. Human resources capacity building
It is recognised that professional leadership capacities (urban planning
and management, transport planning and management) are well below what
is required, both in quality and in numbers, to prepare and implement
sound and equitable low-cost mobility policies for the fast growing
African towns and cities. This has undoubtedly contributed to the near
exclusion of the requirements of pedestrians and cyclists in urban
transport and land-use policies and infrastructure investments. National
governments are urged to redress this situation, by providing relevant
education and training opportunities, as well as attractive employment
conditions, for professionals involved in urban mobility at the national
and local levels.
In addition, current relevant university level curricula should be
upgraded to reflect current thinking about (low-cost) urban mobility, in
order to better prepare graduates for their tasks.


ACTIONS AT THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL

7. Mainstreaming low-cost mobility
ESA's are urged to integrate low-cost mobility in their current and
future aid policies and to promote its application in national and local
strategies, plans, programmes and projects which they support and which
aim at poverty alleviation, economic and social development, employment
generation, urban development and upgrading, and environmental
protection.
They are also urged to provide technical and financial support (both
grants and loans) to urban transport plans and projects only if these do
justice to the importance and major modal share of walking and (the
potential for) cycling in African cities.

8. Support to demonstration projects
The identification, preparation, execution and monitoring of local
demonstration projects (see 4. above) will require outside technical and
financial support. In this connection, the Low-Cost Urban Mobility
Demonstration Programme proposed under the UNCHS Sustainable Cities
Programme is a relevant initiative, which qualifies for support by
ESA's.

9. Support to human resources capacity building
As in many instances existing human resources at the professional level
are either very weak or non-existent, national governments will require
external support in building human resource capacities and in upgrading
relevant university curricula. In view of limited resources and in order
to promote regional networking and knowledge sharing, the establishment
of a regional 'Centre of Excellence' should be seriously considered.
Such a centre could develop and provide training of trainers courses,
post-graduate education modules and programmes and assistance to
universities in the upgrading of curricula, staff development and
strengthening of the related educational/training infrastructure.  This
Centre could also serve as the coordination unit for a Network of
Experts on Low-Cost Mobility which would disseminate experiences and
promote exchange amongst professionals working in this field.


10. Further pilot work and dissemination under SSATP.
The SSATP/NMT Pilot Project has delivered valuable lessons which are
applicable in a large number of situations. Nevertheless, more
coordinated pilots should be carried out.  The supporters of the SSATP
are urged to include a follow-up NMT Pilot Project for additional
interventions in its programme of activities.
The SSATP is also urged to put in place a programme for much wider
dissemination of the findings of the SSATP/NMT Pilot Project, as well as
those of follow-up pilot activities and the proposed demonstration
programmes.
In order to fulfil these activities and to do justice to the crucial
role of non-motorised transport in African cities, the SSATP is also
urged to ensure that low-cost urban mobility remains a recognisable
element within this important initiative.


As participants in the Expert Group Meeting, we commit ourselves to
promote the proposed actions, to actively strengthen the network that
the Meeting has helped to establish, to keep each other informed of
successes and failures in implementation activities, and to meet again
in the year 2005 to take stock of progress and to update the plan of
action.


Delft, The Netherlands
23d June 2000

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jan herman koster    http://www.ihe.nl    Phone: +31 (0)15 2151750  
	
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|International Institute | |_  _||_  _||_  ________| |      |
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