ABSTRACT
Investment in transport infrastructure plays a fundamental role in supporting economic success and people’s quality of life. In urban areas a transport system that provides journey time reliability, network coverage, comfort, safety and security is valued as a key characteristic/driver for economic growth (Sager, 1999; Eddington, 2006; Naess, 2007). Travel time and cost are seen as positively related with a recent study predicting that “a 5 per cent reduction in travel time for all business and freight travel on the roads could generate around £2.5 billion of cost savings – some 0.2 per cent of GDP” (Eddington, 2006: 5). The perceived contribution of transport infrastructure to securing these microeconomic drivers needs to be balanced with increasing evidence of the impact of human behaviour on climate change (IPCC, 2007). The geo-political implications of climate change herald the need to factor in environmental and social equity, and the consequences of travel choice and behaviour. Transport contributes around 25 per cent of the European Union (EU)
emissions of greenhouse gases and the 2006 Stern Report shows that transport is the only sector where end-user emissions are growing (Stern, 2006: Annex 7). The environmental impacts from transport can cause multiple direct (and indirect) impacts, from the emissions of air, noise, light and heat pollution, to long-term global warming effects from carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Human exposure to this pollution and the intrusion of expanding transport infrastructure (roads, parking spaces, railways and airports) in the urban and rural environment compromise the liveability and the social sustainability of activities, particularly at the local level (Banister, 2002). The Stern review (2006) argues that to stabilise greenhouse gas concen-
tration levels at the agreed “safe” limit of 550ppm CO2 equivalent, a 25 per
cent reduction in total emissions is needed by 2050. Stern calls for policy action on three fronts:
• prices – polluters should be faced with a carbon price; • technological innovations, for example, new clean technologies; and • promoting behavioural change, for example, through information
policies.
