[sustran] First Partnership Call for a New Mobility 20/20 Target Initiative for Your City

[EcoPlan, Paris]

Dear Sustran Friends and Colleagues,
 
After a period of long and careful preparation, replete with the
advantage of extensive in-place testing and public reactions to this
project as a first stage test case in Toronto in the last week of
September, I think we are ready to move ahead in our search for
international partners to see if we can now start to put this high
intensity remedial approach to work in one or more cities. It would in
fact be ideal if we were to be able to set up a small cluster of
projects complete with good internal sharing of results and efficient
cross-learning mechanisms, so that these pioneering projects could
reinforce each other as they move ahead in their own city. 
 
We are not talking about one more research project but an active
implementation of an integrated skill set in specific places and without
further delay in a context that can only be called of high urgency.
There is thus a certain impatience in all this, bearing in mind that the
problems are out there, huge and howling at our cities every day -- and
in the meantime if the smartest thing we can think of is to do more
research, well we somehow are less than responsible.  It is - and I know
that many of you agree with me on this - time to act. We know enough to
begin now, and we are smart enough to observe, listen, learn and adjust
as we go along.  
 
To be quite frank, I am not at all clear on the process that will be
best to follow at this point to move ahead on the agenda in concrete
ways. We have on the one hand quite a good toolkit and overall master
plan, and with the members of this group we have some fine local
partners. What is needed at this point is to find some city leaders and
support/financing sources willing to back one or several "beta tests" of
this new and we think very promising approach. Indeed, it would probably
be easier all around if we could find some source of finance and support
ready to work with us on this, which would make it much easier for the
first city partners to step forward and make their decision to get
involved.  But who might that be? Your candidates?
 
With this by way of first introduction, this is to invite you to get in
touch so that we can have a look together to see how this might be put
to work in practical terms in one or more specific contexts.  Of course
if you wish more background or details on how all this works, this is
the right place to turn.  The following and the two web sites offer a
fair amount of background in support of these ideas, but they are
incomplete and in any event it is creative interaction in each specific
context which is needed to move this closer to reality.
 
Do no hesitate to get in touch if you have ideas for us and want to get
involved.  It will be hard work, but quite possibly among the most
satisfying challenges you have taken on in your professional life. 
 
With all good wishes,
 
Eric Britton
 
The New Mobility Agenda is at http://newmobility.org 
And Toronto's New Mobility 20/20 Initiative at
http://ecoplan.org/toronto 
 
The Commons: Open Society Sustainability Initiative 
Le Frene, 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, France
T: +331 4326 1323              M: +336 7321 5868
IP Videoconference: 81.57.233.192      F: +331 5301 2896
E: postmaster @ ecoplan.org - Outgoing mail certified Virus Free. 
 
 
Reference: First Call for New Mobility 20/20 Target Partnership
Initiative for Your City 
 
Subject: A phased city-wide collaborative program to achieve a 20%
area-wide reduction in traffic and associated public health impacts
(CO2, accidents, etc.) in a target period of 20 months
 
Introduction: This note is to put before you a first outline of an
innovative public policy initiative still in its early stages of
development, but which we believe has real potential in the until now
hopelessly unequal struggle to move our cites toward something much
closer to sustainable mobility.   What is useful about this concept is
that it is at once far-reaching, affordable and realistic. No less
important, it targets highly ambitious near term efficiency and visible
environmental improvements without requiring massive injections of hard
earned taxpayer money.  It also, with the right kind of preparatory work
and support, can offer a very powerful political tool for mayors and
city counsels who want to offer a better, safer, cleaner and more
affordable city to their electorate.
 
Why you? Why are we contacting you on this today? Well, because we know
from past experience that projects such as this require highly
qualified, energetic, well placed local partners who know the issues and
the trade-offs well and have the technical capacities and networks to
tailor and make this approach work in their city.  We are looking for
such partners in a first handful of cities to move ahead on these ideas.
Might that be you?
 
In brief: The 20/20 policy consists of a very large, coordinated complex
of time-phased 'carrots and sticks', all of which are geared to making
more efficient use of the existing transport infrastructure of the city.
In a sophisticated city like Toronto (and surely yours) many of these
measures are well known, but not all of them. It is the combination of
new measures, new ways of applying and coordinating known ones, and the
creation of an overall coordinating framework with strong and extensive
public commitment and corresponding technical competence that lies at
the heart of this approach.
 
Hmm.  At first glance this sounds a bit unlikely, at least for our city
("we are different") but is it.
1.	Desirable? Something that seems to you and the voters in your
city consider to be desirable?  Or is it so far off the political screen
as to merit no attention?
2.	Realistic? Is it an impossible goal for your city? We would
certainly expect that your initial reaction should be at the very least
skeptical. But hold on. Are you all that sure? Might it not be a good
idea to have at least a closer look?
3.	Divisive? Is it a policy that is going to divide your population
into two divisive groups and involve many negative, anti-car measures?
Well, we think not, but this is certainly something that needs to be
kept in mind as you move head in preparing any eventual program in this
often conflict-ridden area of public policy and private practice. 
4.	Costly? Is it going to require major increases in the amount of
money available to the sector?  The answer is, quite simply: No!
 
Some References: These are of course critical questions, and the purpose
of this note is to at least start to address them. To get you going, you
can find further general background information on the approach on the
New Mobility Agenda site at http://newmobility.org
<http://newmobility.org/> .  And for a specific city application (in
process), you may wish to have a look at the Toronto New Mobility
Initiative at http://ecoplan.org/toronto.  But once you have worked your
way through these materials certainly the best way to begin to deepen
your understanding will be by getting in touch for direct discussions
and exchanges.
 
The Four Keys: (1) Clear, understandable, meetable targets. (2) Strong
commitment of local leaders from the top, at least to take this through
the first Blueprint Go/No-Go phase. (3) A very broad base of public
support and participation. (4) A highly committed local implementation
partner with the technical virtuosity needed to get the job planned
carefully, executed and then consistently fine-tuned, and the open
community spirit and orientation needed to get the job done.
 
How to get this done? The answer is: very carefully. The 20/20 program
requires strong leadership and communications skills, because behind
there must be a broad based public/private/community partnership that
will bring together and integrate the active participation of a far
broader number and range of groups and interests than traditionally
involved in the planning and implementation process. The preparatory and
planning process - which we advise should be carried out in an
intensive, broad-based 3 month "Blueprint Go/No Go Decision" effort -
must be highly inclusive and carried out in an Open Society initiative.
It should target to bring into the process not only those groups that
traditionally favor environmental initiatives, but also those who have
their doubts, including groups and interests who traditionally have
opposed anything other than the now suddenly old-mobility process (i.e.
and in brief, build and spend your way out of the problem).
 
The Downside:  It is our firm belief that if you approach this with the
energy and commitment needed, there is no downside.  It may turn out
that you will elect different objectives and levels of ambition, but who
can criticize a city for taking this challenge seriously and spending a
relatively small amount of money and time to see if they can get on the
right path?
 
Variations: It may be that after the careful Blueprint Implementation
plan is completed, a rather different set of targets will emerge. One
distinct possibility is that a consensus that 20/20 per se is simply too
ambitious for their city. Fair enough.  They might propose instead 10/20
or even 5/20.  Would that be a problem? We don't think so. Even if "all"
the city were to target and achieve would be a 5% reductions over twice
as many months, they would still be inching toward what we call "Kyoto
Compliance".  Indeed, such a performance would be notable and offer
great improvements which would mark your city apart form the rest who
are simply and passively submitting to what they believe to be their
destiny.
 
Please note: We are well aware that in many cities there is a lot
already going on to make specific point improvements and if the city is
lucky many qualified citizen groups and associations that are getting
involved and trying to make their contribution both in terms of steering
policy in the direction of being more sustainable, and in terms of
specific actions on their part to make this happen. The objective of the
New Mobility Initiative is not to get in their way or supplant their
efforts in any way, but rather to reinforce them and define a consistent
and supportive overall structure within which their energies and
projects can be better supported and coordinated.
 
What next?  Well that is the purpose of this note to you.  We are
looking for a few leading organizations, groups and cities that want to
have a closer look at this to see how it might be tailored and applied
in one or more cities.  Efforts are already underway in Toronto, but it
is our view that other cities should not wait.  We know enough and the
problems are grave enough to begin now.
 
 
The New Mobility 20/20 Target  Initiative in Brief
 
1.	Sustainable transportation will, should not wait? The cost of
the inefficiencies of today's dysfunctional transportation arrangements
in environmental, life quality and economic terms has already
outstripped the carrying capacity of many cities and the planet as a
while.  
2.	Probably the most effective way of understanding the full extent
of this dysfunctionality is as a broad based 'public health' problem. To
get a feel for how this works click "The
<http://www.ecoplan.org/toronto/general/health.htm>  Doctor's Bill" at
http://www.ecoplan.org/toronto/general/health.htm.
3.	Your city can, if it decides, make major near term inroads in
congestion, pollution and life quality on its streets, without waiting
for more international treaties to be signed, new technologies to appear
from heaven, or large piles of government funding to build new roads,
intersections, metros, LRT or fund costly, deficitory public
transportation operations.
4.	Sustainable mobility at the level of a city or region - which is
what this is all about - can be achieved in far less time than you ever
thought through a (a) targeted, (b) aggressive, (c) locally-driven, (d)
coordinated, (e) now-oriented pattern-break commitment on the part of
local government and all concerned with the transport sector and its
extensions and their impact on your city.  
5.	This is possible, there is a prudent process by which its
ambitious aims can be cheeked for consistency and do-ability, and which
lends itself, indeed depends on very specific local tailoring and
participation.  But any eventual remedial action program along these
lines that is going to yield results has to be accompanied ("sold") by a
clear target and process that the voters and public can understand, want
to work toward, and which they are confident will yield visible
near-term results.
6.	The 20/20 Target Initiative has been set out with this in view.
The four essential pillars that make it work are: (a) understandable
meetable targets, (b) effective leadership, (c) broad public support and
participation, and (d) the technical virtuosity needed to get the job
planned carefully, executed and then consistently fine-tuned.
7.	Does this imply 20% new money on top of everything in process?
No! But it does require rethinking, redeploying and repackaging, and
yes, a certain number of new synergistic initiatives as well 
8.	Is this to suggest that the entire content of the 20/20 program
must be new? Not at all. It is recognized that in many cities there are
already projects and programs that are moving in this direction, or at
least many elements of it. However the contribution of the 20/20 program
is that it provides a broader underlying structure, higher visibility
and a sense of urgency and support which has thus far been lacking.
9.	The planning period to develop a 20/20 program blueprint? We
propose an intense 3 months, but with major backing by and commitment of
local government and the volunteer sector.  Also requires considerable
technical expertise on the part of transport planners and energetic
entrepreneurship from both public and private sector actors in the city,
to allow us to use their expanding toolkit to better understand and
provide for the impact on the streets of the many changes that together
constitute the New Mobility Agenda for the city.
10.	This is not to say that there is no place for long term thinking
and action in the New Mobility Agenda, but rather the level of urgency
of the problems in most places requires immediate remedial action. Thus,
all longer term programs and thrust must be supported by aggressive and
broadly supported near term actions, for which the scope is in fact very
large.  (Which by the way should not do you a great deal of harm if you
happen to be mayor or councilman with an election in the wings).
 
We are now discussing a first round of 20/20 projects with local teams
in a first handful of cities and concerned organizations world-wide, so
why not with you?
 
The New Mobility Agenda is at http://newmobility.org 
And Toronto's New Mobility 20/20 Initiative at
http://ecoplan.org/toronto 
 
The Commons: Open Society Sustainability Initiative 
Le Frene, 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, France
T: +331 4326 1323              M: +336 7321 5868
IP Videoconference: 81.57.233.192      F: +331 5301 2896
E: postmaster @ ecoplan.org 
 
 
 
]
 
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/private/sustran-discuss/attachments/20041022/dc5efb48/attachment-0001.html