The Exploding City Region: Should It, Can It, Be Reversed?

Introduction The title of this chapter is deliberately provocative. It sets out to question the conventional wisdom that the trend of exploding city regions has unsustainable travel consequences and should therefore be reversed. In the UK, this view is enshrined in PPG 13 - the planning policy guidance on transport issued by Central Government to local planning authorities (DoE and DoT, 1994). This advocates a combination of land use and transport policies aimed at reducing the need to travel and increasing the choice of non-car modes.