Strategic participation for sustainable transport Lake Sagaris, MSc., PhD (c) Planning and Community Development Ciudad Viva, Santiago, Chile. Transforming Transportation, Washington 2012 Overcoming the challenges of integrating urban transportation systems
The University of Life: It started with a march and... Ciudad Viva (Living City) was born in the fight of 25 community organizations against a major urban highway concession, Chile’s first, the Costanera Norte (1996-2000). We saved our neighbourhoods from destruction and voted to continue with new proposals.
...became citizen-led planning. Practical, realworld experience and the reflection and theoretical development of MSc. and PhD. studies (urban planning) Citizens and government celebrating procycling roundtable, Santiago 20072010.
What’s at stake?
Sustainable transport matters
Going from this
to some version of this...
New living systems require: A new equation: • Citizens x (widespread understanding + articulate demand) = political will to change. •
Academic knowledge: bridging across silos
Experiential knowledge: Recognition of value added
Participatory institutions for bridging: sustainable transport equivalent of Chambers of Commerce.
THE (FATAL) ATTRACTIONS OF AUTOMOBILITY... •100 •Main
years, billions of dollars in advertising… product (after mortgages) in the financial industry.
•For
users, cars (like cigarettes) promise “freedom”: door-to-door service, user-defined timing, ability to carry cargo (especially children and groceries)
HOW CAN WE CURB THE CAR?
Cycling advocacy exploding worldwide...
•Missing
to date:
•Citizens’
movements and advocacy in favour of all sustainable transport, including public transport and BRT. •We
won’t get more sustainable cities without them...
Practicalities = Policies
Strategic participation 1. Fundamental 1: Making PARTICIPATION strategic 2. Fundamental 2: POLICY STREAMS AND ENTREPRENEURS 3. Fundamental 3: POLICY TRANSPLANTS 4. Planning and implementation: starting from people 5. Putting it together, sustainable transport as part of new systems for living
Fundamental 1: Strategic participation
Well-planned, well-integrated participation builds connections among disparate groups and players, tuning individual voices by providing them with information and incentives to sing out, but above all connecting them, so they function with all the power, inspiration and effectiveness of a welltrained choir.
Mobilizing “ecologies of actors” (or “policy entrepreneurs”)
Involve
much
Co-operate
Partners
Influence
Opponents
Fans little
Outsiders
positive
Utilise
Attitude on the issue
negative
Inform
Source: Tom Godefrooij, ICE/Brabant planners, The Netherlands
TIME is an issue: the onetwo rule of policy innovation •20-
to 30-year cycle for significant policy change, •roughly
four stages.
1. Small innovations, often erroneous and/or imperfect 2. Contagion: problem-solution-crisis 3. “Sexy city”, crisis, or other catalyst 4. Exponential growth, often from one-city level to national policy
The one-two rule: maintain the movement 2/3
Experts (technical staff, academics, NGOs, operators, others)
create pro’s, to counter the contras 3/3 The one-two rule:
CREDIBILITY DEPENDS ON Knowledge Skills Connections Independence
Individuals are good, organizations better Continuity beyond government turnover Independent monitoring and evaluation that other people value, credibility Instant data, which can replace, supplement or complement expensive studies Optimal conditions for successful pilots Accumulate: Skills, knowledge, capacity, relationships, networks.
Fundamental 2: Policy streams and entrepreneurs
Policy not “rationaltechnical� Reflects framing and agenda setting (Kingdon)
Connecting PROBLEM and POLICY streams How can we resolve
Who’s asking?
Congestion, road safety
City and regional governments, citizens
Air pollution
Governments at all levels, especially regional (metropolitan), CSOs, health actors
Obesity/sedentarism, non-communicable diseases, social determinants of health
Governments, WHO (urban, transport and education systems highly relevant)
Inclusion: access to the city’s benefits (jobs, culture, education, etc.)
International agencies, policy makers, individuals, families and neighbourhoods
Improvement to public spaces, children
Cities, neighbourhoods, people, especially children (nowhere to play), public health especially US)
Social justice -- human, social, economic, environmental rights
Women, disabled, elderly, children, full inclusion -- international agencies, policymakers, citizens.
Global warming/climate change, especially heat island, transport energy
International agencies, lead cities, environmental and other citizens’ groups
Peak oil
Public policy makers, leading edge academics and thinkers (business, media)
Loss of biodiversity
International agencies, environmental groups, biologists
Water quality
International agencies, policy makers, lead cities, environmental and other citizens’ groups
Fundamental 3: Getting the most out of policy transplants
Leverage points Where change happens Level of action
Formal relations
Constitutional level (ground rules)
Legal systems
Policy area level Formal regulations (relations between governmental bodies) Operation level (daily Procedures activities) De Jong et al. The Theory and Practice of Institutional Transformation
Informal practices Value orientations Informal codes
Roles
Who does the leveraging? Our policy entrepreneurs (Kingdon), mavens, connectors (Gladwell and others), “owners�
Passive recipients vs...
Active policy entrepreneurs
A specific kind of communication needed
You have all these allies sitting out there on your buses, walking or riding alongside on their bikes, how to bring them on-board?
Communication
LARGE FORMAL SPACES
FORMAL SPACES LARGE AND SMALL
SMALL GROUPS, FORMAL AND INFORMAL SPACES
Communicationparticipation spectrum
4. Planning and implementation: starting with the right people (the choir director)
Bringing people together: deliberation Small groups and large Ongoing and one-off Multiple feedback mechanisms Genuine integration: of people into processes, of walking and cycling into public transport, of different transport layers within the city, with respect for public spaces.
Don’t call a vet when you need a doctor... Not communications, marketing, sociology... We need experts in URBAN SYSTEMS (the spatial dimension) and PEOPLE. INTERACTIONS and RELATIONSHIPS. DIVERSITY. INCLUSION. EMPOWERMENT. Wholistic, bridge-builders, strong participatory skills. Most common in NGOs and CSOs (civil society organizations), adult education, some health, urban planners (north), anthropologists, human geographers, mediation (law, women’s studies).
Civil society actors KEY Extensive networking, diverse relationships (internal, external), multiple skills. Horizontal relationships: governments set rules and give orders, the private sector sells, civil society educates and invites people to change. Low-risk experimentation, small-scale to mid- to large. CREDIBLE, autonomous, transparent, communicate Outsiders, effective innovators (Jane Jacobs: innovation comes from outside the system).
All over the world... Global CSOs sowing grassroots change: bottom up, but also middle out, and reaching through the top, down. Interface for Cycling Expertise, ITDP, Embarq...
5. Putting it together... by focusing on people
Remember that sustainable transport is the answer: what if the question is how to live happier, healthier, more socially inclusive lives?
WHO - Public health: new priorities everywhere Social determinants of health Obesity epidemic, under- and over-nutrition Mainstreaming health into every policy area WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, HEALTH NGOS AND HEALTH AUTHORITIES, EG. KENYA, CHILE, INDIA, US, CANADA.
Obesity epidemic, underand over-nutrition The main challenge in public health for the 21st century, in both developed and developing countries Associated with high-calorie, low-nutrient foods And car-based urban (not only transport) systems. EG. THE ACTIVE LIVING CENTER, US, FINANCING CIVIL SOCIETY AND RESEARCH, PUBLISHING URBAN DESIGN AND OTHER MANUALS TO FIGHT THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC.
OVERWEIGHT & OBESE ADULTS
38% HEALTHY ADULTS
62 %
ACTIVE LIVING RESOURCE CENTER
OBESITY RATES IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1989 LESS THAN 10% OBESE 10-14% OBESE
15-20% OBESE MORE THAN 20% OBESE
NO DATA
ACTIVE LIVING RESOURCE CENTER
OBESITY RATES IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1993 LESS THAN 10% OBESE 10-14% OBESE
15-20% OBESE MORE THAN 20% OBESE
NO DATA
ACTIVE LIVING RESOURCE CENTER
OBESITY RATES IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1997 LESS THAN 10% OBESE 10-14% OBESE
15-20% OBESE MORE THAN 20% OBESE
ACTIVE LIVING RESOURCE CENTER
OBESITY RATES IN THE UNITED STATES IN 2000 LESS THAN 10% OBESE 10-14% OBESE
15-20% OBESE MORE THAN 20% OBESE
ACTIVE LIVING RESOURCE CENTER
OBESITY RATES IN THE UNITED STATES IN 2001 LESS THAN 10% OBESE 10-14% OBESE
15-20% OBESE MORE THAN 20% OBESE MORE THAN 25% OBESE
ACTIVE LIVING RESOURCE CENTER
Developing countries too
SOBREPESO, OBESIDAD Y OBESIDAD MÓRBIDA
NACIONAL: 89.4% HOMBRES: 87.9% MUJERES: 90.8%
Sedentarismo en Chile Sobrepeso 43% > en Hombres Obesidad 25% > en Mujeres Ob.Mórbida 2.3% > en Mujeres FUENTE : ENCUESTA NACIONAL DE SALUD 2003
What about healthy transport?
Health measures: Bans on pro-car advertising Health warnings on cars: “Driving causes cancer, obesity, heart attacks, diabetes 2 and other disabling and fatal conditions.” Ban on cars in “sensitive” areas:
•
congested, polluted, vulnerable population (residential, commercial)
•
needy population, especially children, desperate for places to play and move,
•
low-income and high-density living spaces...
Healthy transport-only roads and districts: Imagine the savings in infrastructure if ST has its own roads!
Not as crazy as you might think After all, as Peùalosa reminds us, we’re building our cities for a hundred years Some cities have already started, and They are succeeding with cigarettes...
Transport/land use/public space Take short trips OFF buses and metros and improve comfort Limit space on roads, discourage car use for short journeys, give whole roads to buses and active transport, improve walking and cycling access as part of projects Improve quality, expand catchment area: walking 1 km in 15 minutes, cycling or cycling-rickshaw-taxi 5 km, added comfort (loads), reduced costs (stations more spaced out) Add green: to corridors, bus-ways, access ways, roofs of stops and service buildings. Think water.
We are already seeing (relatively) isolated examples of these shifts. We need to mobilize them more often, more coherently, in more diverse spaces...
Arguments for reduced car use Increasingly cars are used for short trips (under 5 km) – from 41% (Santiago) to as much as 75% (New YorkManhattan). Drivers at high risk for heart attacks, road rage and other physical and mental health problems Children spend long hours being shunted from one place to another by car, limiting their physical, mental and social development
For “road diets” and “complete streets”
Arguments for Women Trip-chaining makes public transit expensive Multiple roles, particularly shopping and children, make public transit very uncomfortable for tasks involving cargo Double duties leave little time for health-related activities.
To foster cycle use Public transit as “back-up” for bad weather, ill health, cycle breakdown, getting over physical barriers (hills, highways). Saves money – makes car ownership unnecessary and can save on feeder services and station costs Multiple health benefits from both cycling and public transit use.
For Social Justice and Inclusion FOTO JOSÉ IGNACIO MOLINA
Learning to see the whole picture: Fitting the pieces together Walking and cycling: short distances from 07 km, including transport ingress and egress trips
Public transport: medium to long distances, medium to high density, concentrated destinations
Car: Long distances, low density
concept: Tom Godefrooij, I-CE.
•A
City
Hong Kong Santiago Amsterdam Sao Paulo New York Berlin Delhi Copenhagen London Toronto Stuttgart Chicago
Powerful Alliance is possible Modal share local trips in Selected Cities (%) Sustainable Pub. Tr. Walking Cycling Car/ mot, Transport (PT) (W) (C) cycle (PT + W + C)
84 73 67 66 62 61 57 51 50 44 40 12
46
38
0
16
33
37
3
27
15
26
26
34
29
37
0
34
54
8
0.4
32
25
26
10
39
42
n.d.
15
29
12
19
20
49
19
30
1
50
35
9
15
21
4
59
6
5
1
88
55
…and necessary
When will we see these kinds of movements advocating for public transport too?
When we work together! Walking, cycling, public transit are complementary modes. Better conditions for all three offer potential for strong, complementary effects – and better reviews from the public. Campaigning and design information from walking- and cycling-inclusive planners can significantly improve public transit’s image and facilities. Participation by active, well organized citizens and their organizations is a STRATEGIC NECESSITY
We live the city of our dreams, from the first moment we dare to dream and build it, together.