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.
Showing page 1 of 5
Commentary
World Car Free DayToday is World Car Free Day – a day where people all around the world get to experience the wonder, joy and freedom that comes with removing cars from our...
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...
Reset series
The staycation is here to stay
Holidays are sacred for many, and have long
been so. When Covid-19 began to spread, the
dramatic growth of global tourism, which had
gone unimpeded since...
Reset series
The starring new role of urban micro-mobilityFrom travel restrictions and border closures, to the pedestrianisation of roads and the creation of pop-up cycle lanes, our mobility has been forever...
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...
Reset series
The joy of slow travelOne of the clearest signs of the global pandemic disrupting the rhythm of everyday life was in changes to travel. As people largely stayed at home, they...