[sustran] Re: Old Mobility rules - 5 kinds of cities

[Lize Jennings]

Cape Town, South Africa probably falls within category 2 and 3. Although
there are some people in the local government who wish to implement measures
to improve the situation, particularly in addressing the problem of
congestion, there is still the problem of traditional thinking and planning
who believe that expanding roadways are probably the only way to go.  In
many cases the traditional (old-school) thinkers and those with the money.  

The interventions that are planned to be implemented are on a very small
scale and are usually run as pilot projects, which once tested, stop because
funding runs out.  

South Africa is hosting the 2010 Soccer World Cup and we are currently
experiencing major congestion problems, particularly in the centre of town
(where the main stadium will the built), so we can't image what it will be
like once the large number of visitors arrive in the country.  

There are however, some organizations that are working with governments to
change their thinking and planning methods and hopefully make a difference.


We'll just have to wait and see. 

Regards
Lize 

		-----Original Message-----
		From:
sustran-discuss-bounces+lize=sustainable.org.za at list.jca.apc.org
[mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+lize=sustainable.org.za at list.jca.apc.org] 
		Sent: 24 January 2007 11:22 PM
		To: Sustran-discuss at jca.apc.org
		Subject: [sustran] Old Mobility rules - 5 kinds of cities

		I should like to propose to you a thinking exercise. It
works like this.

		Looking at them from a sustainability or Old/New Mobility
perspective, I would propose that there are basically five gross categories
of cities in the world today. Moreover, it's my guess that as you work your
way down this list you find that the number of cities in each progressive
category grows much smaller. 

		Here it is in a nutshell, with "worse" of course meaning
more traffic, more CO2 et al each year.

		Category 1.	Those cities who are doing nothing, getting
worse fast, and don't seem to care 

		Category 2.	Those doing nothing, getting worse. . .  but
who are starting to worry. And who just don't know what to do about it.

		Category 3.	Those who overall are continuing to do worse
(i.e., who continue to have growing traffic, more CO2, etc.), but have
started to do a few better things - examples, building some
pedestrianization, cycling paths, buying more buses, improved intermodal
links, traffic engineering to smooth flows and provide most consistent
speeds.  And above all talking a lot about it. But who from the bottom line
are still spending their money in the wrong (old) way, such that the only
real impact of all this is to provide a cover for not really attacking the
problem at the root.

		Category 4.	Those who have decided explicitly to break
with past practices and are starting to do long lists of good things. About
these there are three important things to be said: First that they are an
extremely small minority. Second, in every case I know, the basic bottom
line traffic and environmental indicators continue to move in the wrong
direction.  And finally when you look at the budgets they are still at the
end of the day spending more on roads and parking than on the rest. 

		Category 5.	Cities how have bought into the New Mobility
Agenda and have adopted an aggressive integrated retrofit strategy for the
sector with clearly defined, publicly available benchmarks and indicators of
both micro and macro progress.  Who have radically revised their budgets in
the transport and related sectors, and are spending more on the new measures
and programs than on road building, etc. 

		To close with three questions/requests. 

*	First to invite your comments, corrections, critical remarks,
refinements etc on the above. 
*	Second, to ask you where in this rough ranking you would put the
city or cities you know best.
*	And finally, to ask if you can tell me one single city in the world
who have made it to the final level --  one in which the move to
sustainability is currently on track and, in being so, able to provide a
shining example for the rest. (Though we have some great examples of cities
that are real trying to dig in at Cat. 4, and that already is a wonderful
start. After all, it's a big shift and we have to start somewhere.).

		Kind thanks. 

				Eric Britton
				
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