European Community Personal Transport: The Need for a More Integrated Approach

Panel: Panel 6: Transportation, Urban Planning and Land Use

Author:
Joanne Wade, Environmental Change Unit, University of Oxford

Abstract

Historically, transport pohcy has focused on providing unlimited mobility via the use of increasingly sophisticated technology. Where environmental constraints have been recognised, the policy response has concentrated largely on a technological solution to a narrowly defined problem. In many cases this response has resulted in solutions of a temporary nature, and often the concentration on a particular problem has led to a neglect of other important issues.

The use of planning, in combination with other policy instruments, has the potential to produce more comprehensive, sustainable solutions to the present day failings of personal transport, delivering a system which provides accessibility rather than mobility, and a better quality of life for the population as a whole. This paper defines a methodology for policy assessment which encourages a wider view of the situation, and which promotes a more integrated approach to transport policy, including technology, fiscal mechanisms and planning in appropriate combinations. The criteria for policy assessment include: impact on emissions of a range of pollutants; economic efficiency; and improvements in social equity. Examples of policies currently being suggested for the reduction of transport sector carbondioxide emissions are assessed using the methodology. This assessment demonstrates the more comprehensive and sustainable nature of the benefits delivered by urban planning.