[sustran] Re: Regional focus for sustran-discuss: Asia or the global South?

[Sujit Patwardhan]

I agree with Carlos. I hope more of the silent ones will contribute to the
discussions when they have something to say. I have found the SUSTRAN list
most useful in broadening my understanding, and I've considered Paul to be a
great resource ever since I saw his book "Taking Steps", and had the
pleasure of meeting him in Delhi in 2004?? Actually if he could update that
book it will be really great.
--
Sujit




On Sat, Jun 6, 2009 at 6:11 PM, Carlosfelipe Pardo
<carlosfpardo at gmail.com>wrote:

> Paul and everyone,
>
> The discussions on geographical focus and participation are very useful
> for Sustran. I'll comment briefly on both:
>
> - Regarding participation, I think it's lacking due to a bit of shyness
> from members of the group. I've met with many people when we did various
> training courses in Asia that would have great ideas and examples on
> these topics that would be extremely useful for places such as sustran.
> However, many of these people say they are "silent readers" of sustran.
> I guess what some people feel is that they aren't knowledgeable enough
> to give some input here, but everyone should take part! I invite all
> participants to think about a topic that they've always wondered about
> regarding sustainable transport and post it on sustran to see what other
> people think. It doesn't matter if we've discussed it already or if it's
> obvious, because many people will be reading about it for the first
> time. Also, I think the essence of sustran and these discussion groups
> is that you can be as informal as you want (though respectful), as long
> as you're making a contribution! Go ahead, everyone, tell us what you're
> thinking.
>
> - Regarding geographical focus, I think it's very useful to have
> broadened it to "the Global South". Problems in Asia, Latin America and
> Africa are pretty similar (they differ mostly in degree, but not in
> nature). So I'd say we should keep it global, also because many of us
> have interesting news to give from any of these regions and feel that
> they are relevant for people in other regions. Otherwise, why would we
> promote stuff from Bogotá in Jakarta, and it works? I would even go as
> far as to say that information from "the North" would also be useful
> here, either as contrast or good or bad example.
>
> Actually, one true obstacle between geographical regions is language.
> Asia is relatively "fluent" in English, while Latin America is mostly a
> Spanish-speaking country and many people don't speak or understand
> English. This is why we've also promoted the use of some discussion
> groups in Spanish (predominantly, sustranlac , sutp-lac and
> cities-for-mobility , all in yahoogroups) and they seem to work. Many
> non-English speaking professionals from those regions are most thankful
> for having developed these discussion spaces.
>
> Finally, thanks to Paul for moderating the group and for being part of
> its creation and development.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Carlos.
>
>
> Paul Barter wrote:
> >
> > Dear sustran-discussers
> >
> > There is a suggestion to rethink the geographical focus of this forum,
> > sustran-discuss.
> >
> > *I want your views on which regional focus would be best for
> > sustran-discuss:*
> >
> > A. Should we be clearer about our regional focus in order to keep the
> > discussions more focused and consistently “on topic”?
> >
> > B. If you said yes to A above, then which of the following do you prefer?
> >
> > 1. Keep things as they are: we say in our blurb that our focus is on
> > developing countries
> >
> > 2. Revert to the original focus on “Asia” (rich and poor alike)
> >
> > 3. Other ways to define our regional focus? (I am open to suggestions)
> >
> > *WHY BOTHER THINKING ABOUT A CHANGE?*
> >
> > * We started with an Asia focus, which we mostly still have, even
> > though the list description says we focus on the ‘global South’
> > (developing countries).
> >
> > So, in practice, 2 probably reflects the discussions here more
> > accurately than 1. So maybe switching to “Asia” would be clearer?
> > High-income Asian cities (Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese, HK and
> > Singapore) often come up and they certainly feel relevant enough even
> > if they are not in developing countries.
> >
> > * In practice, we don’t really get much material here on Africa, Latin
> > America, south-western Asia or Eastern Europe anyway.
> >
> > * Also in practice, we get a bit TOO much discussion on issues in the
> > West (Europe, North America, Australia/NZ) and we often need to remind
> > everyone that there are various other forums better suited to such
> > material.
> >
> > Your views?
> >
> > Paul
> >
> > Paul A. Barter | Assistant Professor | LKY School of Public Policy
> > National University of Singapore | 469C Bukit Timah Road | Singapore
> > 259772 | Tel: +65-6516 3324 | Fax: +65-6778 1020 |
> > paulbarter at nus.edu.sg <mailto:paulbarter at nus.edu.sg> |
> > http://www.spp.nus.edu.sg/Faculty_Paul_Barter.aspx
> > http://reinventingtransport.blogspot.com/
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------
> > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit
> > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------
> > If you get sustran-discuss via YAHOOGROUPS, please go to
> http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real
> sustran-discuss and get full membership rights.
> >
> > ================================================================
> > SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred,
> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries
> (the 'Global South').
> --------------------------------------------------------
> To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit
> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss
>
> --------------------------------------------------------
> If you get sustran-discuss via YAHOOGROUPS, please go to
> http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real
> sustran-discuss and get full membership rights.
>
> ================================================================
> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred,
> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries
> (the 'Global South').
>



-- 
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“..each million we invest into urban motorways is an investment
to destroy the city“

Mayor Hans Joachim Vogel
Munich 1970

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Sujit Patwardhan
patwardhan.sujit at gmail.com
sujitjp at gmail.com
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