Thursday, September 04, 2008

We and Our Environment

We and Our Environment !!!

          Our environment is perhaps now at greater risk than at any other time in recent history.

Climate change, pollution and increased population and industrialisation are just some of the factors that are threatening human health, biodiversity and the landscape, as well as the environment we live and work in.

Posted by Touraj Amini at 16:49:25 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Monday, September 01, 2008

A Question :

What Kind of Urban Development and what land -use  planning supports sustainable transport ?
Posted by Touraj Amini at 23:17:34 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Transport, energy, and the Environment


Transport, energy, and the environment:

•Transport is a major use of energy. Most transport burns hydrocarbons. If partially burned, these create pollution. Though vehicles in the Metropolitan have been getting cleaner because of environmental regulations, this has been offset by more vehicles and more use of each vehicle.
Posted by Touraj Amini at 20:10:37 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Book Review3
Book Review
       Environmental Land Use Planning and Management (Hardcover)
by John Randolph (Author)





Posted by Touraj Amini at 21:56:26 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |

Friday, April 04, 2008

Sustainable Urban Transport

Posted by Touraj Amini at 20:39:33 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Theory of Land-Use Transport Interaction


Theory of Land-Use Transport Interaction

Theories on the two-way interaction between urban land use and transport address the locational and mobility responses of private actors (households and firms, traveller) to changes in the urban land use and transport system at the urban-regional level.

That urban land use and transport are closely inter-linked is common wisdom among planners and the public. That the spatial separation of human activities creates the need for travel and goods transport is the underlying principle of transport analysis and forecasting. Following this principle, it is easily understood that the suburbanisation of cities is connected with increasing spatial division of labour, and hence with ever increasing mobility.

However, the reverse impact from transport to land use, is less well known. There is some vague understanding that the evolution from the dense urban fabric of medieval cities, where almost all daily mobility was on foot, to the vast expansion of modern metropolitan areas with their massive volumes of intraregional traffic would not have been possible without the development of first the railway and in particular the private automobile, which has made every corner of the metropolitan area almost equally suitable as a place to live or work. However, exactly how the development of the transport system influences the location decisions of landlords, investors, firms and households is not clearly understood even by many urban planners.

The recognition that trip and location decisions co-determine each other and that therefore transport and land-use planning needed to be co-ordinated led to the notion of the 'land-use transport feedback cycle'. The set of relationships implied by this term can be briefly summarised as follows (see Figure 1):

- The distribution of land uses, such as residential, industrial or commercial, over the urban

area determines the locations of human activities such as living, working, shopping, education or leisure.

- The distribution of human activities in space requires spatial interactions or trips in the transport system to overcome the distance between the locations of activities.

- The distribution of infrastructure in the transport system creates opportunities for spatial interactions and can be measured as accessibility.

- The distribution of accessibility in space co-determines location decisions and so results in changes of the land-use system.

The major theoretical approaches to explain this two-way interaction of land use and transport in metropolitan areas include technical theories (urban mobility systems), economic theories (cities as markets) and social theories (society and urban space).


Figure 1. The 'land-use transport feedback cycle'.

Source: Michael Wegener, Franz Fürst ,Land-Use Transport Interaction:

State of the Art- Dortmund, November 1999





Posted by Touraj Amini at 19:27:38 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

BRT Planning Guide


BRT Planning Guide
Posted by Touraj Amini at 02:49:53 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Distinguishing between accessibility and mobility

Distinguishing between accessibility and mobility
Understanding the distinction between accessibility and mobility is a crticial aspect in creating a sound and sustainable transportation policy.

  • 'Traffic': in this perspective vehicle movement and speed are beneficial; congestion or inadequate roads are seen as the problem. The old roads-focussed approaches in rural transport could be seen as analogous to a traffic focus.
  • 'Mobility': in this perspective it is the efficient movement of people and goods that is seen as beneficial or as they key aim of policy. This is much wiser than a traffic focus because at least it helps move attention to more efficient ways of moving people and goods. This would put a high priority on collective modes of transport (eg buses, rail).
  • 'Accessibility' or an 'access focus': In this perspective it is the ability to REACH opportunities that is beneficial, not movement itself. In remote rural contexts gaining access to services, goods and contacts will often require a lot of mobility. However, in many urban contexts accessibility might involve very short trips. And in places like suburban USA policy to enhance accessibility might actually require that we reduce traffic or even reduce the need to travel (or reduce mobility).
In the rural transport context, an example would be non-transport interventions such as efforts to bring water supply and fuel supply to houses (instead of forcing people - especially women - to walk long distances for them). This is an excellent example of an effort to increase accessibility of services without the need to increase mobility.

With an accessibility perspective, both traffic and mobility are obviously still important. But they are seen as 'means' not 'ends in themselves'. Other ways to enhance accessibility would include planning for proximity, improved communications systems, bringing services closer, etc.

Source: Paul Barter in the SUSTRAN mailing list.

Posted by Touraj Amini at 12:42:07 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Monday, March 31, 2008

book review2



Book Review:

· Environmental Planning Handbook: For Sustainable Communities and Regions (Hardcover)
by Tom Daniels and Katherine Daniels



Posted by Touraj Amini at 02:26:54 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Guiding principle for sustainable Transportation

GUIDING PRINCIPLES
for Sustainable Transportation

Principle #1: Access

People are entitled to reasonable access to other people, places, goods and services.

Principle #2: Equity

Nation states and the transportation community must strive to ensure social, interregional and inter-generational equity, meeting the basic transportation-related needs of all people including women, the poor, the rural, and the disabled.

Principle #3: Health and Safety

Transportation systems should be designed and operated in a way that protects the health (physical, mental and social well-being) and safety of all people, and enhances the quality of life in communities.

Principle #4: Individual Responsibility

All individuals have a responsibility to act as stewards of the natural environment, undertaking to make sustainable choices with regard to personal movement and consumption.

Principle #5: Integrated Planning

Transportation decision makers have a responsibility to pursue more integrated approaches to planning.

Principle #6: Pollution Prevention

Transportation needs must be met without generating emissions that threaten public health, global climate, biological diversity or the integrity of essential ecological processes.

Principle #7: Land and Resource Use

Transportation systems must make efficient use of land and other natural resources while ensuring the preservation of vital habitats and other requirements for maintaining biodiversity

Principle #8: Fuller Cost Accounting

Transportation decision makers must move as expeditiously as possible toward fuller cost accounting, reflecting the true social, economic and environmental costs, in order to ensure users pay an equitable share of costs

Source: OECD International Conference, Vancouver Canada, 24-27 March 1996

Posted by Touraj Amini at 11:34:11 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |