[sustran] Slow transport?

[Carlosfelipe Pardo]

Hi,

Does anyone know of any research or theory of urban planning or 
transport planning that takes *speed* as a factor to be taken into 
account? I have been searching for this and haven't found anything.
I thought about this because I've seen that transport planning normally 
takes land use, modes, infrastructure and other factors into account, 
but it doesn't seem to take speed as a component in its own right.

The only explicit reference I could find was Le Corbusier, who 
emphasizes the role of high speeds in a city, and plans around those 
high speeds (elevated highways, etc). Should we think about slowness as 
a *positive* characteristic of transport? Should we propose slow 
transport as one solution to the problem?

I think slowness should be promoted not just for reasons of road safety 
but for issues of sustainability in shorter distances traveled (slower 
speeds means longer travel times, so people would try to reduce their 
travel distances) and thus lower energy expenditures and emissions. Of 
course, this would need us to think about strategies to reduce speeds, 
which would include what we're normally promoting (bicycles, pedestrian 
areas, 30km/h speed limits, etc).

Comments on this are most welcome.

Ah, and happy new year!

Best regards,

-- 
Carlosfelipe Pardo