[sustran] FW: Re: comments on WBCSD Mobility 21 Report

Paul Barter geobpa at nus.edu.sg
Wed Nov 14 18:09:23 JST 2001


Subject: BOUNCE sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org: Non-member submission
from ["John Whitelegg" <j_whitelegg at hotmail.com>] 


From: "John Whitelegg" <j_whitelegg at hotmail.com>
To: sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org
Subject: Re: [sustran] comments on WBCSD Mobility 21 Report
Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 09:04:55 +0000

Dear Sustran colleagues,

Just a very brief comment on the WBC sustainability process rather than the 
content.  There is currently a great deal of effort globally on the part of 
large corporations, groups that represent businesses and public interest 
groups in sustainable mobility.  If all this effort and cash is to turn out 
good results it is imperative that the process reflects all stakeholder 
interests and not just buinesses, transport professionals, NGOs etc.

I would like to make a very specific suggestion.  Those of us involved in 
transport and mobility work anywhere in the world should request that all 
projects of this kind (eg the WBC project) should be managed by a steering 
committee drawn from the following groups:



retired/aged over 60
those with mobility difficulties
women with young children
victims of road traffic crashes
those who do not drive
regular cyclists
those who walk to work
those involved in small scale farming/food production
those who live in rural areas
those who live in large cities
those who live in medium sized towns
those who live near airports and high speed rail lines
those who are without work
those who are in part time work
children
those who live on heavily trafficked streets on on routes across the Alps

Other suggestions would be most welcome.


The world of sustainable mobility has a great deal to offer to policy makers

and others concerned with charting paths out of mobility addiction but it 
does not automatically bring with it a people centred, accessibility based 
modesty.  It has the potential to make as many mistakes as the paradigm it 
is attempting to replace and it should (I suggest) be re-centred in a 
people-oriented context.

What do you think?




John Whitelegg
Roskilde University, Denmark


and Editor, World transport Policy and Practice



>From: mobility <mobility at igc.org>
>Reply-To: sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org
>To: sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org
>Subject: [sustran] comments on WBCSD Mobility 21 Report
>Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 14:32:33 -0500
>
>Dear Sustran members, etc.
>
>We will send some collective comments to the World Business Council for
>Sustainable Development reacting to their Mobility 2001 report.  Please
>send your comments to us by Friday, November 16 and we will circulate a
>draft letter and ask anyone who wants to to co-sign.
>
>Evidently, only $1.5 or so million was spent on the study and some
>workshops, not the $10 million that I mentioned earlier.  This means
>that there is still some $8 million in funds that the WBCSD may be
>spending on sustainable transport related activities.
>
>For this reason it might be worth considering, as well as critiquing
>their report, some suggestions as to how best they could spend this
>money.  Arguably, wasting the entirety of the money on more research
>might not be the worst thing, given the source of the funding, (big oil
>and big auto) and possible alternative uses of that money.  However, I
>am persuaded by more moderate voices that there is a possibility we
>could persuade them to use this money in a truly constructive way.
>
>Please get any thoughts sent to us by this friday and we'll incorporate
>them in a draft letter to send to the WBCSD.
>
>thanks, best
>walter hook
>


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