ABSTRACT
If there were any doubts concerning the importance of conserving natural resources and the negative effects of transport on climate change these should have been dispelled by the Stern Review reporting in 2006 and highlighting the exorbitant economic costs of failing to change behaviour and decision-making criteria. The examination of global greenhouse gas emission data in Chapter 1 found a steady increase in global emissions from transport in nearly all EU-27 member states since 1990 (See Table 1.1). Few member states have taken radical action to reverse these trends. This chapter, therefore, poses the question: Why has it taken so long for politicians and transport planners to acknowledge, and address, the cumulative negative environmental effects of transport use? Several commentators, including Ney (2001: 145), suggest that transport planners are in a ‘state of confusion’ concerning the centrality of transport to the debates on the long-term health and integrity of the planet. The focus is, therefore, on the concepts embedded in the tools used by transport planners to measure the ‘ease of reaching’ spatial opportunities. How do the tools in use help, or obscure, knowledge of the way individuals use the transport infrastructure available to them? How has research from the wider social sciences about how individuals choose travel options been incorporated into transport models? This chapter essentially focuses on institutional mindsets and taken-forgranted assumptions of relevance to transport planning. The concepts of ‘mobility’, ‘accessibility’, and ‘exergy’ are reviewed and contrasted. The first two concepts are ‘movement’ and ‘movement between places’ concepts, while the principles of ’exergy’ question the need to consume resources, to make that journey. The rationale for this chapter is to assess the potential for concepts and decision support tools to inform decision-takers on several societal concerns simultaneously and, therefore, have the potential to prioritise the objectives of reducing CO2 emissions from transport, improving health, reducing accidents, and enhancing the quality of life in urban areas in synergistic ways. This chapter has several objectives:
1 To understand the normative underpinnings of key concepts in transport planning and how these are being adapted to respond to the concerns of climate change and the quality of life in urban areas
2 To examine how research on individual travel behaviour has been incorporated into models of accessibility and transport policies more generally
3 To understand how ecological systems thinking can be incorporated into transport decision making to enhance the spatial integration of facilities and infrastructure
4 To examine the potential of spatial or territorial planning to achieve more sustainable transport futures.
