[sustran] Does sustainable transport need maverick thinking too?

[Eric Britton]

WORLD STREETS: Insights and contributions from leading thinkers &
practitioners around the world
 
Paris, Friday, 05 February, 2010
Dear World Friends and Colleagues,
 
If you have been enjoying the steady flow of articles, tools, op-ed pieces,
and lively discussions which have been appearing daily on the pages of World
Streets over the last eleven months, I would like to ask you to take ten
minutes of your valuable time this morning to have a close look at today's
lead article, which sets out our strategy for continuing publication.  This
is a critical moment for us and we need our allies and their counsel and
support. (Click
<http://newmobilityagenda.blogspot.com/2010/02/to-subscibe.html>  here to go
to article.)
 
Our goal from the beginning of this great adventure in the closing months of
2008 has been to make sure that an independent, informed, principled, always
readable and at times maverick voice for sustainability is widely and freely
available to all. Indeed more than a hundred of you have recently written in
to state publicly that we are succeeding in this quite admirably.  That is
very satisfying. 
 
But now we face a real moment of truth, and I am hoping that you will take
the time to have a good look at today's featured piece and share with us
your reactions, best thoughts and leads.  Our main challenge at this point
is to find ways to link and collaborate more creatively with the leading
national and international organizations working in the field, the
innovating cities, operators, entrepreneurs, universities, suppliers and
other people, groups and institutions who share our common objectives. All
this is set out in today's lead article.
 
The struggle for sustainable transportation, sustainable cities, and
sustainable lives is an uphill battle, and we are going to win it and change
things only to the extent to which we decide to do it together.  For now,
those of us who care deeply about these matters are still very much in a
minority position trying to bring change what is still in many ways an
all-but dysfunctional  "old mobility" culture ("problem solving" through
more cars, more roads, higher speeds and all that goes with it).  But we are
rapidly moving up our learning curve and we need at this point to start to
unite our voices and energies to establish a common agenda, and in this way
to become a real force in policy and investment decisions.  It is my sincere
belief that World Streets has a role to play in this process.

So please have a look and if you have any ideas let us hear from you. E.
editor at worldstreets.org   .  T. +331 7550 3788  .  Skype newmobility.  We
answer the phone.
 
With all good wishes,
 
Eric Britton
 
PS.  If you have questions here is a quick click-list of some of the
keystones that you may wish to check out. But above all Exhibit A is World
Streets itself.
1.     Four page/four minute summary - http://tinyurl.com/ws-sum 
2.     Plan A for Sustainable Transport  - http://tinyurl.com/ws-planA 
3.     Note entitled "The Next Ten Years" --
http://tinyurl.com/ws-next10years
4.     Summary presentation of World Streets January articles -
http://tinyurl.com/ws-jan2010 
5.     Reader comments on usefulness of World Streets -
http://tinyurl.com/ws-101
 
 
World Streets  .  www.worldstreets.org <http://www.worldstreets.org/>     
New Mobility Agenda  . www.newmobility.org <http://www.newmobility.org/>   
8/10, rue Jospeh Bara  .  Paris 75006 France
Tel. +331 7550 3788  .  Skype newmobility
eric.britton at newmobility.org  or fekbritton at gmail.org 
- New thinking & world-wide collaborative problem-solving . . . 
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