energy, transport, & the environment || sustainable urban mobility
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Sustainable Urban Mobility
Debra Lam and Peter Head
Abstract For many cities, traditional transport comprises a sizeable percentage oftotal carbon emissions. It also contributes to air pollution, poorer health, andresource inefficiencies in the form of higher oil prices, traffic jams, etc. Often citypolicy-makers do not account for climate change impacts and natural disasters orconsider alternative transport options and networks. It does not have to be like this.Cities can continue to develop and grow, attracting industry, high-skilled workers,tourists with sustainable urban design, and mobility. With walking, cycling, greenpublic transport, and shared vehicle use taking the lead, and supported by ICT,cities can become less reliant on traditional and personal transport. Instead, citypolicy-makers can aim to increase accessibility and convenience to their residentsand visitors alike, including rapid and safe mobility in times of emergency. Thiscan be done with good urban design, behaviour change, advance technology,supportive policies, economic incentives, and city engagement and leadership.
1 Introduction
Sustainable urban mobility is about the ease, convenience, affordability, andaccessibility of travelling to one’s destination with minimal impact on the envi-ronment and others. Travel should be safe, at optimal speeds, and by the mostdirect routes. Options, with real-time information should be readily available fortravellers to chose based on time, costs, distance, and other factors. For example,for a short trip, a student may prefer biking, whereas an elderly person might
D. Lam � P. Head (&)13 Fitzroy Street, London W1T 4BQ, UKe-mail: [email protected]
D. Lame-mail: [email protected]
O. Inderwildi and Sir David King (eds.), Energy, Transport, & the Environment,DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4471-2717-8_19, � Springer-Verlag London 2012
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choose a clean bus. For longer trips, a family with a pet may choose to hire anelectric vehicle from a car club, whereas a businesswoman elects riding rail.
Options should not be exclusive. They can be connected to provide the bestroute. Consumers can choose to walk or bike before riding public transport.Workers can park their vehicles before joining car pools. These options are aidedby improved transport and communications technology, higher density livingaround cities, and changing the business model to provide increased frequency andchoices of travel modes.
This chapter will highlight the three main drivers that are pushing sustainableurban mobility away from dominant private vehicles, and describe strategies tohelp support it in that direction. Sustainable urban mobility cannot be achievedovernight, nor is it a constant state. Rather, it is a process that will help guidestakeholders in improving overall travel and choices.
2 Drivers of Sustainable Urban Mobility
Mobility, economic and social development are very much interlinked. Mobility isessential for development and growth, as we seek comparative advantages in tradeand obtain resources. And as we continue to develop, we require and expectgreater mobility. In turn, mobility enables more and diverse access to goods andservices, wider personal contacts, and greater awareness of the world.
But as we increase the frequency of travel, the traditional means of transportbecome a burden to our development and quality of life. We can no longer con-tinue to depend on oil consuming, personal vehicles as our main transport means.We need alternative ways to support our growing mobility and development,without the devastating consequences. Mobility will not decrease, but it canchange to a more sustainable option.
Personal vehicles have been an important travel means. They have increasedour independence, and access. However, their traditional use is now in doubt anddriven by three main factors:
• Climate Change—rising transport-related carbon driven by oil dependence, andclimate change impacts
• Environment and Health—resulting in poorer air quality, congestion, and healtheffects
• Economic—rising fuel and congestion costs, wasted time, and resources
3 Climate Change Driver
Transport is currently responsible for 19% of global energy use and 23% ofenergy-related carbon dioxide emissions. This is expected to rise substantially.Transport-related CO2 emissions are to increase by nearly 50% by 2030 and over
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80% by 2050, more than other sector emission [1]. What are ways to decreasetransport-related carbon emissions? How can we reduce our reliance on oil?
Changing transport will be critical if the global community is to decreasecarbon emissions, and address climate change impacts. Tackling transport is seento be more effective as climate change negotiations at the international andnational level continue to stall and vary. This is especially true for cities, which arebuilt for high-density and extensive travel plans and networks, but have limited sayin the international climate change talks.
The other half of the climate change push from decreasing transport-relatedcarbon emissions is addressing the inevitable climate change impacts with moresustainable transport. Climate change impacts, such as snowstorms, typhoons, andother extreme natural disasters will be more severe and frequent in the comingyears [2]. For instance, China’s huge snowstorm in 2008 left millions stranded intrain stations. Is the transport network prepared to withstand climate changeimpacts? Is the transport network equipped with emergency transport routes thatare publicly known? Is there real-time information accessible to show the latesttransport route changes and status?
4 Environment Driver
The second driver for sustainable urban mobility is around the decreasing envi-ronmental quality spurred by greater car use. Private car ownership is correlatedwith rising income, especially in emerging economies. Consumers begin buyingcars as necessities when a country’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP)reaches USD 1,000 [3]. While on a per capita basis, it is still small, China’s carmarket is the second largest in the world, and is expected to overtake the US withina generation [4].
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Greater numbers of traditional fuel vehicles result in greater congestion andworsen air quality. Heavy congestion is now a daily part of many commuters’ life.According to the US Census Bureau, the average American spends almost 50 mincommuting a day [5].
More time in cars and more cars on the road worsen air quality. Many me-gacities have some of the worse air quality in the world, greatly exceeding WorldHealth Organization recommendations. The numbers of premature deaths andasthma rates, especially in children, have increased as a result. Preliminaryassessments indicate that diseases related to the air pollution caused by roadtransport affect tens of thousands of people in the WHO European Region eachyear [6]. There should be a better way to travel than sitting in traffic and breathingin poor air.
5 Economic
The final driver is around the economics. Consumers are demanding faster accessto goods and services, businesses want to improve ways to communicate andconduct work, and tourists aim to see more places. They all demand that it be cost-efficient. Traditional travel, dependent on personal vehicles, is becoming moreexpensive especially if you account for the externalities. The 2010 Urban MobilityReport, published by the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University,
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paints the most accurate picture yet of traffic congestion in the 439 U.S. urbanareas. According to the report, congestion costs have risen from $24 billion in1982 to $115 billion in 2009. The total amount of wasted fuel in 2009 topped3.9 billion gallons [7].
Moreover, the supply of the world’s main transport fuel, oil, is unlikely to meetincreasing demand and is increasing in price. Whether oil has peaked or not, mostenergy analysts have concluded that the age of oil dominance and cheap prices areover. While technology has improved, it is getting harder to extract unknown andknown supplies of oil. Environmental catastrophes as seen in the recent BP spill inthe Gulf of Mexico or geopolitical concerns cast further doubt on the stability ofsupply and prices. The limited and inconsistent oil supply is expected to increaseoil prices to over USD 200/barrel by 2035 [8]. The UK Industry Taskforce on peakoil and energy security, to which Arup has contributed, found that oil shortages,insecurity of supply, and price volatility could potentially destabilise economic,political, and social activity by 2015 [9]. It will be increasingly difficult to rely onoil as the main travel fuel.
6 Strategies for Sustainable Urban Mobility
With such drivers pushing sustainable urban mobility, we propose the followingstrategies for cities to lead:
• Integrated urban planning and design• Expanding eco-vehicle use• Enact behavioural change• Low emissions policy
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We have seen these strategies implemented at various scales and degrees byother cities, such as London and Hong Kong. They have shown to decrease carbonemissions, improve environmental quality, and serve greater economic and socialvalue. Cities, with their growing populations, economic weight, governanceability, and density, are the places to enact such strategies and pursue sustainableurban mobility. Local governments will play a major role in setting targets andpassing legislation but must create the right conditions that allow market forces tooperate and business to take advantage of opportunities that arise from improvingtransport.
7 Integrated Urban Planning and Design
Integrated urban planning and design should promote high density, compactdevelopment around major, clean public transportation nodes, green networks, andbusiness links. Travel should be done if necessary, supported by a strong com-munications system to decrease the need to travel. A strong communicationssystem would allow city policy-makers and residents greater precision in travelchoices, speeds, and times. Like travel costs, they can also determine the amountof energy and resources consumed with their choices.
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‘‘Tram-stops, bus-stops and train stations are ‘informationally-rich’ spaces. Byoffering real-time location-based information they will provide users with a betterservice, and provide city leadership with data on mobility patterns, occupancyrates and interaction. Users can make informed decisions about journeys, and thecity can more effectively adapt the transport network to fit usage patterns’’ [10].
If travel is needed, it should be tiered, first with walking and cycling, then witheco-public transportation. Private vehicles should be the last option and seldomused. The urban plan would encourage such tiered travel through its integrateddesign, supporting communications and logistics system, and inter-cityconnections.
One of the largest differentiators in the ecological footprint of cities is therelationship between urban density and transport energy use. An average urbandweller in the United States consumes about 24 times more energy annually inprivate transport than a Chinese urban resident [11]. There is a sweet spot of urbandensity of 75 persons/hectare in which transport energy use is reduced through theeconomic provision of public transport and there is still ample room for urbanparks and gardens [12].
A green corridor with some pedestrian-only streets and dedicated bike lanesshould be heavily used and connected to city’s overall transport network. Bikelocking and parking infrastructure would be widely distributed and convenient.The green corridor would include parks, urban gardens, and ample open space toencourage outdoor activities and community interaction.
Public transport, fuelled by renewable and alternative energy, would also beheavily embedded into the urban design. Public transport investment, aided byincreases in urban density, in rail, metro, bus, and tram and better informationsystems will enable more journeys to be taken by efficient public transport. Rel-atively low cost bus systems in dedicated lanes have been very successful in placeslike Curitiba, Brazil [13]. Replacing selected roads with green networks willprovide more direct walking and cycling access to work, schools, shops, and publicfacilities (Fig. 1).
This is a very big challenge in the United States, where transport is extremelyenergy intensive due to car dependency and the spread of suburban development.Los Angeles is trialling the replacement of low-density single use city blocks withhigh-density mixed use and this is proving commercially successful. Removingmajor freeway infrastructure from urban areas would free up valuable land,remove the burden of huge maintenance costs, and provide funding for publictransport. Vancouver has demonstrated how well a city works without beingdependent on freeways. It comes high up the list of the most liveable cities in theworld and has relatively low carbon emissions. High-quality higher densitydevelopments are now being built in the city centre rather than extending thesuburbs.
• Logistics and communicationsEnergy consumed in goods distribution in urban areas can be minimised by theuse of consolidation centres around the city perimeter which are accessed by
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intercity rail and road links. Distribution from these centres can be made usinga fleet of zero emissions vehicles on an organised basis to minimise traveldistances and congestion. Delivery reliability can also be improved. Use ofconsolidation centres around the city perimeter for goods delivery will alsoimprove delivery and energy efficiency.A strong communications infrastructure would enable industries and residents towork and obtain information, services, or goods online. Commuters can easilyaccess real-time information on bus and rail routes, including delays, alternativeroutes, and its capacity.
• High-speed railThe energy efficiency of inter-city travel is likely to be achieved through acombination of investment in a high-speed rail passenger networks (eventuallyrunning on renewable energy), using bus and car share priority on motorways,improved information and traffic management systems, and improved vehicleand fuel technology. Now that there is a viable high-speed rail network weunderstand that, where available, high-speed rail is a more attractive option thanregional air travel for distances of up to 600 km. When high-speed rail wasintroduced, rail user numbers doubled and on some routes, such as the 300 kmParis–Brussels route, air travel dropped to a negligible level. This experiencehas also been confirmed in Japan. High-speed railway investment needs toinclude the capacity for rail freight movement with links built directly to cityedge consolidation centres. This is the area of ecological footprint reduction thatwill be difficult until renewable fuel supply-powered road vehicles are availableat competitive prices for long distance passenger and freight use. This may,however, be the case in the future.
Fig. 1 Transport and urban density [12]
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• Air travelGrowth in air travel from airports is still accelerating because the demand forleisure flights has increased, with decreasing costs (and frills) from budget carriers.If this level of usage continues without any technology changes, then emissionsfrom air travel will become the single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissionsby 2050 [14]. Construction of a comprehensive European high-speed rail networkconnected to all UK regions and airports such as Heathrow and Charles De Gaullewill be important, as will finding a renewable source of aircraft fuel by 2050.New airports should be focused on travel over 600 km and they should be locatedon high-speed rail routes and connected into local urban areas with mass transitsystems. Also, high-speed rail investment should have equal priority with roads.The major challenge in USA is to follow these principles and consider putting inplace a high-speed rail network that serves urban centres within 600 km of eachother and connects to airports.
8 Expanding Eco-Vehicle Use
Personal transportation is one of the areas most in need of change. For all their illeffects, it is unrealistic to abolish private vehicles. Rather, private vehicle useshould be the last resort, and connected with other travel modes. Car clubs, hybrid,and/or electric vehicles should be encouraged. Car clubs will enable people to hirevehicles when they need them. Their use is growing quickly in many cities likeLondon. Research has shown that users drive 64% less distance after joining a cluband that each club vehicle replaces, on average, 20 privately owned cars [15].
Electric or hybrid private vehicles can be seen as one of the many transportchoices, and selected only when walking, cycling, public transport, and rail are notattractive options.
Battery- and hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles for private, public, and goodsdelivery use will be part of the mix with hydrogen sourced from natural gas orother sources. Electric vehicles are seen to have a big advantage in terms ofmanagement of intermittent renewable energy supply by increasing the storagecapacity of the grid. Vehicles become mobile storage system, controlled withsmart network technology.
From the Chevrolet Volt to Nissan Leaf, most major car manufacturers havehybrid or electric cars on the road or in development. Increased research andresources devoted to these types of cars has improved selection, design and prices.While ever-higher demand is expected to drive up the market share of hybrid andelectric vehicles. Chinese manufacturers such as Geely have been successful atproducing modest, low-priced electric vehicles, while Lexus has dominated thepremium market. Expensive and unreliable batteries are becoming less of an issuewith improved technology, supporting infrastructure, and changing businessmodels (Fig. 2).
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9 Enact Behavioural Change
Integrated urban design and planning and expanding eco-vehicles will certainlysupport sustainable urban mobility and steer consumers away from traditionalpersonal vehicles. Fundamentally, however, we need to understand why peoplegravitate to private vehicles in the first place and how to encourage them to usealternatives. We need to understand the factors that cause people to drive, howthey personalise their vehicle, and the status that it carries. We need to enactchange management so that consumers can see the benefits of their contributionand change their behaviours.
Owning a car is an important goal for many middle classes in emergingeconomies. It is a symbol of freedom, independence, and having ‘made it’. Weneed to show that other transport modes- walking, cycling, public transport, andeco-vehicles can provide the same level of convenience, accessibility, and freedomas the personal vehicle, without its negative effects.
Arup has begun to develop a wider transport understanding with its UK Cov-entry and Birmingham Low Emission Vehicle Demonstrator (CABLED) project.The project aims to increase the use of electric vehicles, through a diverse group ofstakeholders–vehicle manufacturers, local authorities, energy providers, and aca-demia—working together. Despite financial incentives, electric car use in the UKis currently low and concentrated in London. It is expected to increase, but for thatto happen smoothly, a greater understanding of its drivers and its use of cars needsto be established. The consortium team will trial 110 vehicles on the roads ofBirmingham and Coventry to understand driver behaviour. They will then developthe necessary infrastructure to support driver needs and encourage behaviouralchange.
Fig. 2 Increasing alternative vehicles [16]
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10 Low Emissions Strategy
A carbon footprint reduction can best be achieved through the formation of a lowemission strategy (LES) [17]. The primary aim of a LES is to accelerate the uptakeof low emission fuels and technologies in and around a development site. Thisusually takes the form of an area where some kind of enforcement is carried out toensure particular types of vehicles are restricted. Some UK authorities are alreadymaking effective use of LES. LES are secured through a combination of planningconditions and legal obligations. They may incorporate policy measures and/orrequire financial investments in and contributions to the delivery of low-emissiontransport projects and plans, including strategic monitoring and assessmentactivities.
LES provides a package of measures to help mitigate the transport impacts of adevelopment. Sample LES recommendations include:
• Develop a transportation demand management programme, with short- andlong-term strategies, that manages transport demand through limiting car use,increasing alternative travel options, and redistributing travel demand. Strategiesinclude congestion pricing for cars as seen in London or Singapore, or limitingcars in the city to those with certain license plate numbers on particular days asseen in Beijing. They also include better infrastructure for pedestrians, cyclists,and public transport users with improved street signs, designated paths andcrossings, parking and waiting areas, and subsidised costs.
• Establish supplier parks to minimise transport costs/times and potentially pro-mote synergies between supply chain members.
• Ensure that a strong education and communications platform is supporting LESso that residents and visitors alike support and are aware and know how to usethe transport system.
• Parking strategies. Reduce supply by changing requirements for residentialareas and employment centres, introduce shared parking facilities (entertain-ment-office-transit), limit free parking, and provide priority spaces for carpoolsand low-emission vehicles.
Rather than ad hoc, and isolated sustainable transport initiatives, local gov-ernments can adopt a holistic LES, where high transport standards are maintainedover a longer period of time, high polluting vehicles are controlled, and alltransport trips, including logistics, are made in the most sustainable way possible.The formation of a LES provides a package of measures to help mitigate thetransport impacts of a development, and provides further access and travel ease toindustries and people. A LES can make a city’s regional links more efficient andcarbon friendly, while remaining competitive in the transport and delivery ofpeople and goods. Improved transport links might incentivise tourists to visit andresidents to stay. Residential living can be improved through better live-work unitsand improved communications, reducing the need to travel so often.
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11 Conclusion: Integrated Strategies
Our overreliance on oil, increased carbon emissions, wasted resources, degradingenvironment, and increasing awareness of climate change is causing us to rethinkour transport options. Mobility will not decrease, rather it can become moresustainable with better urban design and planning, expanding use of eco-vehicles,shifting consumer behaviour and low emissions strategy.
While this chapter focuses on sustainable urban mobility, we recommend amore comprehensive approach in pushing for broader sustainable development. Itis impossible to implement one technical strategy, in this case, transport, in iso-lation. But other technical strategies can support the development of sustainableurban mobility and leverage its benefits. We call these linkages and connections‘‘virtuous cycles’’ to encourage more holistic thinking. A simple example is thatwith the use of quiet electric vehicles and pedestrian streets, there is less need fornoise attenuation, so the facades of buildings can be lighter and therefore consumefewer resources. Similarly, other technical strategies in water, waste, or energy canbring transport benefits for broader sustainable urban mobility. Virtuous Cyclesalso promote technical specialists or city agencies to work together. The TransportBureau can work with the energy specialist or the finance expert on what wasconsidered traditionally a ‘transport issue’. By connecting the dots or widerspheres of city operations, cities can move beyond singular issues into broadersustainability (Fig 3).
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Fig. 3 Arup’s virtuous cycle[18]
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