[sustran] Re: [carfree_cities] Slow transport? (edited slightly - sorry)

[Simon Baddeley]

Try looking at Newman and Kenworthy (if you haven't already).

http://davidpritchard.org/sustrans/NewKen99/

These authors use a model of the pedestrian, the rapid transit and the
autodependent city - in which time is fixed. People seem willing to spend a
given amount of time commuting so you can imagine 30 minutes mainly on foot
producing what are now the small compact often 'heritage' old towns of most
autodependent cities. The rapid-transit city where people will do a 30
minute train, tram or bus journey into the centre. This produces a spider
pattern of lineal routes in and out with small settlements around rail
stations and other rapid transit stops. With cars the door-to-door
capability of the car means that in the same 30 minutes people will live
anywhere that is 30 minutes from their work and removes the need for
'centres' and 'places' containing premises for trading, for worship,
attending school, participating in government. 30  minutes remains the same
but the settlement patterns differ according to dominant means of transport.

What Adams also says is that drivers use up their extra safety on speed, and
use their 'enhanced' speed on distance - so that the 30 minute periphery of
the auto-city gets larger, especially if more roads are built. So time and
people's willingness to spend a given amount of it on travel is a very
significant parameter.

As an urban cyclist for the last 15 years I have valued cycling less for its
speed but for the amount of predictability that cycling introduces into the
planning of travel. It is often faster to get from A to B in a city by
cycle, but for me the greatest value is the way I can plan my day when
cycling between different meetings - sometimes combining this with tram, bus
or train travel, a combination made far better as more information about
rapid transit schedules becomes available.

Best wishes

S


Simon Baddeley
Inlogov, School of Public Policy
University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT
0121 554 9794
VoIP 0121 343 3614
mobile 07775 655842
Campus: Sue Platt 0121 414 5002
s.p.platt at bham.ac.uk
http://www.inlogov.bham.ac.uk/staff/Baddeley.shtml



> From: Carlosfelipe Pardo <carlosfpardo at gmail.com>
> Reply-To: <carfree_cities at yahoogroups.com>
> Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2007 10:14:31 -0500
> To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport <sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>,
> Newmobility Cafe <NewMobilityCafe at yahoogroups.com>,
> <carfree_cities at yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [carfree_cities] Slow transport?
> 
> 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
>