ABSTRACT

The planning of new infrastructure, including major infrastructure projects over $1 billion in value and many projects of smaller scale, has become critical to the development of many cities internationally, including London. The concept of sustainable development was developed as a mainstream reaction to the radical environmental movement of the 1970s, almost as a 'conservative' reaction to the limits-to-growth literature. This chapter considers the issues, drawing on some of the literature from the early radical environmental movement in the 1970s, when there was much scepticism about the desirability of economic growth from an environmental perspective. It explores the various definitions of sustainability and how the application of the triple bottom line model has led to many problems in project appraisal and implementation. The chapter presents a case study of the London Infrastructure Plan, arguing that a different conception of sustainability- relating back to the ideas of 'limits' and the 'steady state'- would help transport planning to become more sustainable.