People need to get around. But how we do it has a huge impact on the communities we live in and the global climate. The types of transport we choose shape how clean will be the air that we breathe, how safe are the streets where children walk and play, how convivial our towns and cities are. Vitally, it also determines whether affordable, safe and clean mobility is available to everyone who needs it.
Globally, in recent decades, the resource-hungry and energy inefficient private car has been favoured by politicians and planners. High levels of street pollution, divided communities, and deaths and injuries have been the cost, not to mention the contribution to global warming.
Story of change
All aboard the electric bus – modern public transport powered by electricity is coming back quickly, to the benefit of people and the climateIn 2011, the electric-vehicle manufacturer BYD Auto unveiled an early model of an electric bus at an industry conference in Belgium. The head of BYD in Europe, Isbrand Ho, later recalled in an...
But attitudes to travel and transport show signs of turning a corner. Modern mass urban public transport is increasingly seen as an answer to congestion, poor air quality, and economic revival. And, where travel for tourism is concerned, interest in slow travel and the ‘staycation’ is changing attitudes. In the global North and South, cities are reinventing how we get around so that our choice of transport doesn’t drive us over a climate cliff.
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Story of change
When overnight, flying becomes impossible: the volcanic revelationAt the end of 2018 reported sightings of drones near a runway of the UK’s second most busy airport, Gatwick, led to the grounding or redirection of all...
Story of change
Unnecessary travel? The return of breathable air and rethinking transport in a crisisBowing, perhaps to inevitability, the group of scientists responsible for assessing ways to cut the pollution that causes global heating, working group...
Story of change
Transition Towns – the quiet, networked revolutionThe Transition Network began in 2006 in the small rural UK town of Totnes, Devon. It was initially a response to the twin threats of climate change and peak...
Story of change
The Rise of Brazil’s Sugarcane CarsBrazil today is home to the world’s largest fleet of cars that use ethanol derived from sugarcane as an alternative fuel to fossil fuel based petroleum....
Story of change
The Medellin miracleIn the early 1990s Medellín, the second largest city in Colombia, was the most violent city in the world. The homicide rate reached an unprecedented and...
Story of change
The Great Staycation – how the coronavirus pandemic could push a rapid transition to creative domestic holidaysIn the Northern hemisphere, summer is arriving and many families are deciding what to do for their holidays; trying to balance concerns about their finances...
Resource
Sweat not oil: Why sports should drop advertising and sponsorship from high-carbon pollutersThe global sports industry was worth an estimated $471 billion in 2018. Corporate sponsorship in sport is a multi-million dollar business but do we really...
Story of change
Reducing roads can cause traffic to ‘Evaporate’In April 2019 a heavily-used bridge across the River Thames in London was closed indefinitely due to structural problems. Local media were full of alarm,...
Story of change
Reclaiming the streets: the increasing trend of pedestrianisation around the worldAs urban dwellers and city administrations become increasingly conscious of the corrosive effects cars and air pollution have on our lives and lungs, cities...