Difficult Choices Ahead For America's Urban Transport Sector

Managing shifting socio-demographic, land-use and urbanization patterns will pose significant challenges in formulating sustainable transportation policies.

January 7, 2004, 1pm PST | Chris Steins | @urbaninsight

In a paper prepared for the second international conference on the Future of Urban Transport, Robert Cervero of the Department of City and Regional Planning in Berkeley argues that "the automobile is a powerful symbol of wealth and prosperity and no amount of sustainable transport policy and plan-making, however well intended, is going to change this." As developing countries aspire to modernize and to bring prosperity to their people, it is only natural that automobile ownership and motorization will be viewed as one of the primary attributes of affluence. At present, the United States is the world's most car-dependent society, and as such leaves a "gargantuan" ecological footprint on the planet. How America manages the complex relationship of transportation systems and advanced economies will have implications for land-use and travel patterns around the globe. [Editor's note: This link is to the full working paper in PDF format (860 KB).]

Thanks to Zvi Leve

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Coping with Complexity in America's Urban Transport Sector

Published on Saturday, August 23, 2003 in University Of California, Berkeley