Identify the key issues for sustainable transport and a critical evaluation of ‘Building sustainable transport into new developments’- 26006795 Introduction The UN World Commission on Environment and Development states that sustainable development is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Kumar, 2014). However, as development takes place and urban areas continue to grow, traffic congestion increases. To combat this, sustainable transport is key. This can be defined as “transport that satisfies the current mobility needs without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet these needs” (Kumar, 2014). This definition does not, however, indicate what those ‘needs’ are and for how many generations it must be sustainable for. Key Issues A successful and sustainable transport model consists of a number of key factors; financial health; carbon efficiency; health and safety; future prosperity and the availability of local choices and local solutions. For transport to be truly sustainable, all of these areas must work successfully side by side. A significant obstacle when creating a sustainable transport model is financial constraints. Creating new transport systems is expensive and often the funding required to invest in and develop a fully sustainable transport infrastructure is not readily available. Whilst the funding for the implementation and maintenance of new systems is often sourced from both private investors and the government, the budget constraints at local authority level means that difficult financial choices need to be made by the public sector and this can often lead to sustainable transport plans being scaled back. This issue can be resolved by either denationalising transport systems completely to private organisations or gaining funding from the European Union (EU). For example, the Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 of the EU set out the Common Provision Regulations which allows funding to be used to introduce new strategies (Wolny, Ogryzek, & Zrobek, 2017).However, it should be noted that the current political landscape and the uncertainty that Brexit brings to our future financial health and investment portfolios means that alternative funding for our future greener transport systems must be sort. A successful and viable sustainable transport model must have a strategy to tackle carbon emissions by using alternative fuel sources or electrification. The availability of the greener materials that are used in the production of fuels with low carbon emissions is a limiting factor. Fuel sources such as maize, potato, sugar cane and wood require engineering and manufacturing systems in place for research, development and production of these alternative greener fuel sources. Furthermore, new types of fuel would need investment in storage and distribution centres. All of this comes at an extremely high financial and carbon cost which could potentially outweigh the benefits of using greener fuel sources in sustainable transport models. There would need to be a significant demand for green fuel and electrification for the development infrastructure to be worth the costs. In terms of biofuels, the need for tropical deforestation for production cannot guarantee the life span of the fuel. Furthermore, there is the argument of energy return on investment; energy is consumed to produce energy. Therefore, the net energy must be high enough in order to warrant the production
of the alternative fuel (Fridley, 2010). Countries such as the UK and France have begun to implement higher road taxes on private vehicles which are fuelled by diesel. This is a financial incentive to road users to invest in vehicles that are fuelled by alternative greener fuels, or to use public transport (Yacobucci, 2013). An underlying dependence on the use of private vehicles is a key issue that is faced when trying to implement and encourage the use of sustainable transport. All planners try to reduce private vehicle usage due to the detrimental impact on congestion, road safety and the environment. However, private vehicle users argue that their benefits far outweigh the impacts that they cause. They also argue that technical improvement such as electric or hybrid cars and the introduction of emission testing means that they can continue to use their vehicles with a clear environmental conscious. However, these factors do not reduce congestion, noise pollution and road safety and do not reduce the amount of single occupancy journeys. Furthermore, people argue that the investment in private vehicles is needed to provide economic growth. Whilst this is true to a certain extent, excessive use past an optimal level can actually have negative effects both economically and environmentally (Litman, 2006). In order to reduce the amount of people opting to use private vehicles and to encourage the use of sustainable transport several modifications must be put in place: -
Reduce the amount of available urban parking and increase parking prices; Introduce road tolls and/or congestion charges on major roads in big cities or areas which experience high levels of private vehicle journeys; Provide good quality and alternative modes of transport such as buses, trams and trains as well as providing safe and effective routes for walking and cycling; Reduce the ticket prices on public transport and introduce smart tickets for end to end journeys; Inform and educate people, make healthier choices the default choice;
Case Study Chengdu in China is a fast growing urban area which is expanding year on year due to its rapidly developing economy. As a result of this, traffic congestion is becoming a major issue. Chengdu is now implementing a sustainable transport system to encourage the reduction of private vehicle use. Chengdu is aiming to create a better city for its residents by creating an integrated transport system, designing rapid transit networks and developing the infrastructure needed for sustainable transport as well as moving all logistics away from the city centre to reduce the amount of heavy vehicles in the area. However, there are many issues that the city is facing and the development of a sustainable transport model will be key to alleviating the problems that the city is currently facing . There are currently only two metro lines under operation in the city, meaning that a high number of journeys continue to be made by public bus or private car. There are currently 3.5million private cars in the city, with 10 million journeys being made each day. However, the road network in Chengdu is not sufficient for the number of vehicles and facilities such as bus station are few and far between. Furthermore, due to high land prices, there is a severe lack of parking in Chengdu, causing further congestion as people are forced to park on streets (Wang, 2016). Critical Evaluation Integrated planning is a key factor in the creation of a new transport plan. The Transport, Health and Environment Pan-European Programme are making a conscious effort to work with planners to ensure that issues are managed successfully in new developments (Schiller & Kenworthy, 2017).
Planning for introducing sustainable transport in to new developments must be completed before any infrastructure is built. Planners can use destination analysis software to predict travel behaviours in a new area and how these can change over time. This will provide future proof sustainable travel from the implementation of the development far in to the future, with the areas of growth already planned. Furthermore, the developers should encourage the choices of cycling, walking and public transport as the preferred mode of transport for new residents. This will help to create a modal shift from the use of private vehicles to more sustainable options. This will enable sustainable transport to be provided for future generations. Plans for roads in new developments should be put in place if they are to benefit the area economically, providing the best access for businesses as well as being designed to allow for capacity for change depending on the forecasts made from the destination analysis software. Also, new roads should be designed with the most sustainable forms of transport in mind; for example they should be designed with full length bus lanes. Finally, traffic calming measures should be in place at the point of implementation in the new development. However, if this planning does not take place prior to the construction of a new development, it is more difficult for any implemented transport system to be sustainable (Department for transport, 2008).
Figure 1 The hierarchy of importance for types of transport (Department for transport, 2008)
It is crucial that once the design has been implemented, that it is monitored throughout its lifespan to ensure that the modal share does not go over the desired amount such as more residents than desired using private vehicles rather than public transport. If this becomes the case, the relevant bodies should implement plans to solve the issues in force and these plans should already be in place as a precaution (Department for transport, 2008). Case Study Many new housing developments do not include sustainable transport planning and fail to provide adequate choices for a greener, healthier transport option which leads to residents living a carbased life. According to the group Transport for New Homes (TNH), developers are purchasing cheap rural land to meet national housebuilding targets before plans are put in place for sustainable transport systems. The group TNH say “building new homes in fields so remote from good public transport networks, major employment hubs and services, means that sustainable transport options are perceived as limited from the start and too difficultâ€? (Gayle, 2018). A new 2700 home development in Trowbridge, Wiltshire near Bath has been strategically completed next to the A350. The development has led to a ÂŁ25.75m investment in the A530 and not in sustainable transport options. The Transport for New Homes group state that this shows the detrimental effect that government housing targets have as they are encouraging developments which rely on private vehicles and do not incorporate any form of public transport (Gayle, 2018).
The TNH have completed twenty visits to similar developments across the country where they have discovered many residential areas which are severely lacking green space, with up to 40% of space given to roads, driveways, parking infrastructure and pathways. They came to the conclusion that these green space housing developments lack a sustainable transport infrastructure with some areas having no bus services at all (Gayle, 2018) In comparison to this, Houten is a development of 50,000 residents in the Netherlands. The new development in 1966 was planned to eventually accommodate 100,000 residents. Houten has managed to maintain extremely high amounts of journeys made by public transport, cycling and by foot. 40% of journeys under 4 miles are made by bike with 98% of households owning at least one bike (Campaign for Better Transport, 2015). Whilst the suburb still has a reasonably high number of vehicles, 415 per 1000 residents, the area is designed to give way to cyclists over vehicles, encouraging residents to chose bikes over cars. A ring road encircles the area for car traffic whilst within the ring, there is a network of smaller streets designed for people travelling by foot or bike, with 80 miles of bike paths. In residential areas, bikes and cars share the roads, however traffic calming procedures have been put in place to ensure the safety of cyclists, maintaining them as the main priority form of transport. This has been proven to be a huge success as it has led to 66% of journeys in Houten being made by alternative modes to private vehicles (Jaffe, 2015). Figure two shows the road layout of Houten, with the ring road in grey and cycle/pedestrian paths highlighted in red and yellow.
Figure 2 Road layout of Houten (Foletta, no date)
Conclusion There are many issues that are faced when trying to implement sustainable transport. These range from financial constraints, to environmental factors, with the underlying reliance on private vehicles being a major factor in the key performance of a successful transport model. Research suggests that several different strategies working side by side are the key to creating sustainable transport. Using these strategies will fulfil economic, environmental and social objectives which can be followed in the implementation and management of the transport system (Litman, 2006). However, there is still much debate over which strategies are the most successful.
Furthermore, it can be concluded that planning is key when implementing new developments and that sustainable transport must be incorporated in the initial planning process to ensure the viability of a future proof sustainable model that will fulfil the needs of the local community whilst still complying with the desired fiscal and environmental outcomes. Word Count: 2016
References Campaign for Better Transport. (2015). Getting there: How sustainable transport can support new developments. Department for transport. (2008). Building sustainable transport in to new developments: A menu of options for growth points and eco-towns. Foletta, N. (no date). Caste Study: Houtel Utrecht, The Netherlands. Fridley, D. (2010). Nine challenges of alternative energy. Gayle, D. (2018, October 24). Planning incentives 'lead to housing estates centred on car use'. Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/oct/24/housingdevelopments-planning-incentives-cars-new-homes-transport-report Jaffe, E. (2015, June 17). Citylab. Retrieved from https://www.citylab.com/solutions/2015/06/acase-study-in-bike-friendly-suburban-planning/396107/ Kumar, A. (2014). Sustainable Transport: Issues and Implementation, 27. Kumar, A. (2014). Sustainable Transport: Issues and Implementation, 28. Litman, T. (2006). Issues in sustaiable transportation. Schiller, P. L., & Kenworthy, J. (2017). An Introduction to Sustainable Transportation: Policy, Planning and Implementation. Wang, Q. (2016). Challenges of Developing a Sustainable Transport System in Chengdu, China. Wolny, A., Ogryzek, M., & Zrobek, R. (2017). Challenges, Opportunities and Barriers to Sustainable Transport Development in Functional Urban Areas. Yacobucci, B. D. (2013). Alternative Fuels and Advance Technlogy Vehicles: Issues in Congress.