Comments (0)

By viv, 24 January, 2011 3:57 pm

Last week the government released their Local Transport White Paper entitled ‘Creating Growth, Cutting Carbon – Making Sustainable Local Transport Happen’ in which it announces its vision is for a transport system that helps create growth in the economy, and tackles climate change by cutting our carbon emissions.

The paper states:

• Two-thirds of all journeys are under five miles – many of these trips could be easily cycled, walked or undertaken by public transport. We want to make travelling on foot, by bike or on public transport more attractive.
• We recognise that it is simply not possible for public transport, walking or cycling to represent a viable alternative to the private car for all journeys, particularly in rural areas and for some longer or multi-leg journeys. Therefore the Government is committed to making car travel greener by supporting the development of the early market in electric and other ultra-low emission vehicles.

The paper also prioritises spending on key rail projects such as high-speed rail and rail electrification, to provide travellers with options to the plane and the car.

It states it will simplify local transport funding into 4 main streams.  One of which is the Local Sustainable Transport Fund. This will make £560 million capital and revenue funding available over four years and encourage bids that deliver solutions to encourage the uptake of more sustainable modes of transport at local level.  Bids will be particularly welcome from local transport authorities who demonstrate support from, and the involvement of, the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, and that have the support of local businesses.

So, do you think this will help us to improve transport in Britain?  Could this help develop your ideas?   As well as a chance to win a slice of £150 000 in innovation funding from Ideas in Transit there is up to £10 000 for the best use of OS OpenData,  so get geovating and enter your ideas now!

Comments (0)

By viv, 10 December, 2010 9:08 am

Stackable electric cars, a website where you can rent out your vehicle when you’re not using it, lifelike ‘telepresence’ screens which let you talk to people in different countries, these are just some of today’s innovations which hint at what life may be like in 2040, according to a new report from Forum for the Future.

Below Ivana Gazibara of Forum for the Future introduces us to Megacities on the move with scenarios and solutions which may help you think of geography related ideas to enter the ‘How can we improve transport in Britain? GeoVation Challenge.

Time to start work on the urban mobility systems of 2040

In 1898, the world’s first international urban planning conference took place in New York. The topic of the day?

Horse manure.

Experts estimated that by 1950 every street in cities like London and New York would be buried nine feet deep in horse manure. A massive public health and sanitation crisis loomed, yet there was no obvious solution: the horse had been the dominant mode of transport for thousands of years. Stumped by the challenge, the conference broke up without a resolution.

The rest, as they say, is history…

This story comes to mind today as we launch Megacities on the move, a scenario planning tool-kit designed to help governments, businesses and civil society organisations understand the key challenges that cities will face in the next decades, and start planning for more sustainable mobility solutions.

For our future is urban. In 2040, throughout the world two in three people will live in cities. This will bring new opportunities, but also challenges – from enormous pressure on resources, to congestion on roads, and unsustainable levels of transport-related CO2 emissions. The number of cars on the road is currently forecast to double to more than two billion in the next decade alone.

We will need to find radical new solutions to mobility in our cities in the future – disruptive innovations which will transform our lives in the way the car did in the 20th century, albeit in a much more sustainable way. We need to go beyond transport to ICT, urban design and many other areas.

And we need these solutions now. Urban infrastructure is typically developed over long periods and built to last decades, so we are already planning for the world of 2040. And unless we take action now on major challenges – on climate change, water scarcity and availability of key natural resources, for example – we risk a bleak future.

We have created four scenarios to help organisations plan for the future and develop sustainable mobility products and services. They paint vivid, challenging pictures of 2040 and mobility in our cities, exploring the way key trends may play out over the next 30 years. We have also brought them to life in a set of animations.

Megacities on the Move also proposes six solutions to guide action. These are approaches we must take if we are to create sustainable mobility systems in our cities, and they are illustrated with existing innovations from around the world.

1. Integrate, integrate, integrate. Cities need to consider transport, urban planning, business, public services, energy and food supply as part of the same system. Good mobility solutions will offer easy access, choice, and smooth connectivity.
2. Make the poor a priority. Most population growth in the future will take place in developing world cities, where people on low incomes are in the majority. Future urban mobility systems must be accessible and affordable to all.
3. Go beyond the car. Current growth rates in car ownership are simply unsustainable. Cities need to be designed for people, not cars, and promote alternative forms of transport.
4. Switch on to IT networks. Information technology can create more integrated transport systems, and offer virtual mobility solutions which avoid the need for travel altogether.
5. Refuel our vehicles. Climate change and volatile oil prices mean we need to radically increase the energy efficiency of transport, and shift the way we power our vehicles from petrol to renewable, low-carbon fuel sources.
6. Change people’s behaviour. Better infrastructure and technology are not enough. We need to create new social norms that encourage more sustainable, low-carbon lifestyles.

We want to help you take action by providing a useful, practical planning tool. Use the six solutions to guide your actions now. Use the written scenarios and scenario films to plan your future strategy: they can help you understand the way major sustainability trends may shape our future, and explore the key mobility risks and opportunities for your organisation, city or region.

We’ve also provided materials you can use in workshops to begin developing more sustainable mobility systems. The full tool-kit can be downloaded here

Ivana Gazibara

Forum for the Future is the UK’s leading sustainable development NGO. It works internationally with government, business and public service providers, helping them to develop strategies to achieve success through sustainability, to deliver products and services which enhance people’s lives and are better for the environment, and to lead the way to a better world. www.forumforthefuture.org

Comments (0)

By viv, 29 October, 2010 9:21 am

Nat is approaching the final week of his ‘mega trek’ around Britain’s coast.  Catch up with him and this thoughts on litter:

So I am on the home straight, but unlike a marathon I am feeling fresher than ever, my body, I think, believes this is normal. This will clearly cause me problems when I stop, I will not be walking 25 miles each day for fun, but for now I will give thanks that life is a little easier.

Nat in Kent

It occurred to me that this whole way round there has been one thing that has shocked and disappointed me in equal measure: the ever-present companion of litter.

In the busier places or near the cities, you would expect to see detritus washing up onto the beaches or littering the promenades and indeed you don’t have to look far to find it. It’s annoying and you wish people would be more careful, but it appears to be an accepted evil of coastal towns and cities.

Where it gets shocking is when you are miles from anywhere and you walk along a beach hardly trodden and every few yards you find yourself looking at plastic bottles, packaging or bags. Even in the remotest parts of Scotland a plastic bottle would be sitting on the shoreline, a constant reminder of commercial exploits far removed from the scenery.

Clearly, the sea is its transport, which makes things a whole lot worse. I was fortunate enough to see the otters, dolphins and sea eagles that have made these remote spots their homes, away from that dangerous predator the human. But the human impact still reaches them through the rubbish.

There are so many beautiful bits of coastline in Britain but they are in danger of being eclipsed by the blight of rubbish. I had no idea of the scale of the problem before I started this walk.

I must appear to grumble quite a lot in these blogs but I have actually really enjoyed the whole walk – I just felt that when I saw issues like this arise I should try and bring them to people’s attention so they can be fixed!

I will be finishing on 5 November back in Portsmouth, so if you are about and want to come and say hello, you are more than welcome to come down. See my website for more details.

Nat Severs

If you’ve been inspired by Nat’s Big Walk you can find further details and information on the charities he’s fund-raising for on his website