<html> <head> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 10 (filtered)"> <style>  </style> </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> Dear Friends,   I would like to invite those of us here at Sustran who have a feel for this sort of thing to have a look at and provide some guiding comments on the nascent collection of a few more than fifty video clips on the topic of, we are calling it, Global South Mobility. As you will see below it is one of three informal video libraries that we have just pulled together on an experimental basis to see if this might in fact be a useful additional tool in our as yet far to limited set of tools and strategies for dealing with the – we think very special – problems of mobility, environment and the economy in the cities of the global south.   Since I approach this with some trepidation, while at the same time being convinced that something along these lines is very definitely called for, I would like to invite views and suggestions on this topic here. For the purposes of getting the ball rolling, I will start here with a set of bullet points concerning which you may wish to comment. My hope here is that this process of exchange and group consultation will make all this more useful (if indeed it deserves to exist at all, which is maybe something else that you might wish to share your views on.)   <ol start=1 type=1> <li class=MsoNormal style='color:black;line-height:120%'>Global South differentness: Those fifty plus videos – especially if you view them in the context provided by the other two libraries indicated below — certainly make it clear that the mobility problems of our cities in the developing world are very very different from the experience of, let’s call it, the Old World ;-). </li> <li class=MsoNormal style='color:black;line-height:120%'>Uses: Despite the fact that these have all been contributed by amateurs, and in most cases visitors (and often very naīve visitors), to me these views of the city and its traffic have to have considerable usefulness. If only for students and as a stark reminder to anyone who has not lived and tried to get around in places like Quito, Lagos, Saigon, Manila and the long list goes on. And for transport professionals, the media and even those organizations who are trying to do something about these conditions. What is it that they say about the value of a picture . . . ? </li> <li class=MsoNormal style='color:black;line-height:120%'>Organization: Let’s bear in mind that if this is what we managed to find by fishing for a first day around the web for clips that could easily be incorporated here (and mainly via YouTube), and as such should be viewed as a quick first cut. We can do better if we put our heads together on this. Moreover, by creating such an open library, we can make this better known and invite more structured and complete views of what is going on. (And as you are aware there are alternatives to YouTube in this fast developing slice of the web, including <a href="http://www.google.video/">www.google.video</a>, http://www.ifilm.com/, <a href="http://creative.gettyimages.com/">http://creative.gettyimages.com/</a>, and others. After having a quick look at the lot, we decided to work with YouTube for at least this first round. You may have other ideas on this, and if so please do let us know.) </li> <li class=MsoNormal style='color:black;line-height:120%'>Content: And if thus far most of what you see here underscores the problems and chaos of traffic in these cities, an important part of this library will in time also be to provide a central place for exposing good ideas, new programs and remedial approaches which are coming out of the Global South. It is my hope that this is going to prove a rich and highly useful reference. The first things we will doubtless see here will be views of some of the new BRT projects which are springing up all over the place. But I am sure that we will see a lot more as we get together to build up this new public resource. </li> <li class=MsoNormal style='color:black;line-height:120%'>Openness: What is it that they say is the best way to destroy a good idea? To organize it? To my mind that is the challenge here. The idea should be not to impose all kinds of structure and attitudes, as invariably happens when something along these lines is carried out by a government organization with a specified mandate and higher-ups to satisfy -- what we want to do here is to create an evocative, attractive, varied and useful framework for people to add to and use for their own purposes. </li> <li class=MsoNormal style='color:black;line-height:120%'>Internal Structure: I am trying to communicate a few thoughts on how we can have a more easily accessible site to the YouTube people. And if you have your own suggestions for them, if you let me know I can try to put them into the pipeline. </li> <li class=MsoNormal style='color:black;line-height:120%'>Bottom line? To my mind I have long been convinced that the two most important differentiating and shaping phenomena in these cities of the South are (a) the massive issues surrounding two/three wheel vehicles, and especially those with motors; and (b) small vehicle, usually entrepreneurial transport (such as colectivos, small buses, share taxis, etc.). Neither really has had a ;place in the transportation curricula of most of our specialized institutions and agencies, and both are treated either in a mainly negative fashion or, more often, not at all (at least from a strategic perspective). </li> <li class=MsoNormal style='color:black;line-height:120%'>Guidelines: Might it be useful for us to get together to assemble some rough guidelines to help those who may wish to prepare their own videos along these lines? Think of it from your personal perspective, If you were to go out on the street to take shots of carry out interviews in an attempt to make your point, might it be helpful for you to have a couple of pages of technical counsel to help you do this better? Let us know and we can see what can be offered. </li> </ol> There is more to it than that of course, but I hope that these first thoughts will be of some use and stimulate your comments and suggestions. That after all is why we are here.   Eric Britton   PS When are we going to see your first video?     <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellpadding=0> <tr> <td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/group/NewMobilityAgenda"><img border=0 width=130 height=97 src="cid:image001.jpg@01C6A808.6BAD44C0" class=vimg></a> </td> <td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/group/NewMobilityAgenda">New Mobility Agenda</a> What you have here is for now what we call a thinking exercise. The idea is to play with the site a bit and see if in good order we can create a useful video library in support of the New Mobility Agenda at http://www.newmobility.org and its associated collaborative programs. My thought was to begin by plugging in a first set of films, and then to What you have here is for now what we call a thinking exercise. The idea is to play with the site a bit and see if in good order we can create a useful video library in support of the New Mobility Agenda at http://www.newmobility.org and its associated collaborative programs. My thought was to begin by plugging in a first set of films, and then to think together about the internal organization of the site so that people will have rapid access to the topic areas of particular interest to them (examples, carsharing, economic instruments, cycle support, public spaces, etc.) And then only when we are confident that this is going to be easy to use and useful, should we take it public. Your reactions? Related New Mobility Video Library Groups: * New Mobility Agenda – http://www.youtube.com/group/NewMob ilityAgenda * World Carshare Consortium - http://www.youtube.com/group/carsha re * Old Mobility - http://www.youtube.com/group/oldmob ility * Global South Mobility - http://www.youtube.com/group/global south ... (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/groups_my" onclick="showInline('RemainvidDescBzzrJgy7bMk'); hideInline('MorevidDescBzzrJgy7bMk'); hideInline('BeginvidDescBzzrJgy7bMk'); showInline('LessvidDescBzzrJgy7bMk'); return false;">more</a>) (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/groups_my" onclick="hideInline('RemainvidDescBzzrJgy7bMk'); hideInline('LessvidDescBzzrJgy7bMk'); showInline('BeginvidDescBzzrJgy7bMk'); showInline('MorevidDescBzzrJgy7bMk'); return false;">less</a>) Tags: Sustainable transport, cities, walk, cycle, public space Status: Public Created: July 12, 2006, 08:23 AM </td> </tr> <tr> <td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'>   </td>  <td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'>   </td> </tr> </table>    <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellpadding=0> <tr> <td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/group/oldmobility"><img border=0 width=130 height=97 src="cid:image002.jpg@01C6A808.6BAD44C0" class=vimg></a> </td> <td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/group/oldmobility">Old Mobility (Oops)</a> This is intended to work as a supporting subset of the New Mobility Agenda video library site here and the full NMA program at http://www.newmobility.org. (If you are not sure as to what “old mobility” means in this context, we can refer you to http://www.ecoplan.org/briefs/general/old-mobility.htm from the New Mobility Advisory/Briefs program This is intended to work as a supporting subset of the New Mobility Agenda video library site here and the full NMA program at http://www.newmobility.org. (If you are not sure as to what “old mobility” means in this context, we can refer you to http://www.ecoplan.org/briefs/gener al/old-mobility.htm from the New Mobility Advisory/Briefs program at http://www.newmobilityadvisory.org. In the following we are still very much at the play and think stage here. And as with the other sub-sets here (including till now: Old Mobility, New Mobility, and World Carshare) part of our challenge is not only to seek striking examples of both problems and solutions, but also to lay the whole thing out in a way that makes it easy to navigate, view and learn from. For now this is begin organized as a collegial invitation-only activity during the development or “thinking exercise” stage. Once we have something worthy in hand, we can see what we will do next. Related video library Groups: * New Mobility Agenda – http://www.youtube.com/group/NewMob ilityAgenda • World Carshare Consortium - http://www.youtube.com/group/carsha re * Old Mobility - http://www.youtube.com/group/oldmob ility * Global South Mobility - http://www.youtube.com/group/global south ... (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/groups_my" onclick="showInline('RemainvidDescVnZU-J_fViY'); hideInline('MorevidDescVnZU-J_fViY'); hideInline('BeginvidDescVnZU-J_fViY'); showInline('LessvidDescVnZU-J_fViY'); return false;">more</a>) (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/groups_my" onclick="hideInline('RemainvidDescVnZU-J_fViY'); hideInline('LessvidDescVnZU-J_fViY'); showInline('BeginvidDescVnZU-J_fViY'); showInline('MorevidDescVnZU-J_fViY'); return false;">less</a>) Tags: traffic, congestion, accidents, pollution, global warming, Status: Public Created: July 13, 2006, 02:34 AM </td> </tr> <tr> <td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/group/globalsouth"><img border=0 width=130 height=97 src="cid:image003.jpg@01C6A808.6BAD44C0" class=vimg></a> </td> <td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/group/globalsouth">Global South Mobility</a> This “Global South Mobility” section of the New Mobility Agenda video collection provides a collection of private views of both the problems (most of which based on the results of the imported car-based, “old mobility” model from the North) and the Global South’s search for new and often original and surprising solutions. And as with the This “Global South Mobility” section of the New Mobility Agenda video collection provides a collection of private views of both the problems (most of which based on the results of the imported car-based, “old mobility” model from the North) and the Global South’s search for new and often original and surprising solutions. And as with the other sub-sets here (including till now: Old Mobility, New Mobility, and World Carshare) part of our challenge is not only to seek striking examples of both problems and solutions, but also to lay the whole thing out in a way that makes it easy to navigate, view and learn from. For now this is begin organized as a private invitation-only activity during the development stage. Once we have something worthy in hand, we can see what we will do next. Related video library Groups: * New Mobility Agenda – http://www.youtube.com/group/NewMob ilityAgenda * World Carshare Consortium - http://www.youtube.com/group/carsha re * Old Mobility - http://www.youtube.com/group/oldmob ility * Global South Mobility - http://www.youtube.com/group/global south ... (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/groups_my" onclick="showInline('RemainvidDescdCYuR6HUsJ8'); hideInline('MorevidDescdCYuR6HUsJ8'); hideInline('BeginvidDescdCYuR6HUsJ8'); showInline('LessvidDescdCYuR6HUsJ8'); return false;">more</a>) (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/groups_my" onclick="hideInline('RemainvidDescdCYuR6HUsJ8'); hideInline('LessvidDescdCYuR6HUsJ8'); showInline('BeginvidDescdCYuR6HUsJ8'); showInline('MorevidDescdCYuR6HUsJ8'); return false;">less</a>) Tags: traffic, congestion, accidents, pollution, global warming, Status: Public Created: July 13, 2006, 02:47 AM </td> </tr> </table>   </div> </body> </html>