Putting Transport Planning In Its Place.
The underlying focus of transport planning is to increase mobility, and the profession as a whole has been very successful at this. Firstly by accommodating the motorcar and more recently by shifting the emphasis towards more sustainable modes (particularly walking, cycling and buses) the transport network in this country moves a huge number of people and vast quantities of goods highly effectively. Regardless of how it has been achieved, the belief has been that with increased mobility will come more choices, more opportunities and more growth. But the profession has become so engrossed in this mantra that, even now, the most enlightened transport planners are failing to see how the narrow objectives of their profession sit within a wider framework.
The vast majority of people want to be somewhere, and they especially want to be there if that somewhere is nice, whether it’s where you live, work or relax. Importantly, hardly anyone wants to be in-between these places, trying to get from one to the other. Its all about A and B, and not the ‘to’ in the middle. The role of transport planning is to support these places and, where it can, try to enhance them. Mobility must always be subservient to creating great places, for no amount of the former will ever compensate for a lack of the latter. This applies equally to the design of a busy traffic junction as it does to a tram stop or a cycle lane.
The most tragic and ironic outcome of the current fixation on mobility is that, in degrading those places that already exist, the demand for travel must increase as people try to get to the ever-dwindling number of successful places that remain. By focusing narrowly on mobility for mobility’s sake we have been moving people and goods around more and accomplishing less.
As a business plan it is pure genius. Build the infrastructure to increase mobility, to the detriment of the number and quality of places where people actually want to be, thereby increasing the desire for even more mobility. But as a way to improve our quality of life it is deeply flawed if its implications are not fully understood.
The starting point for the improvement of any street or public space must begin with making a place where people want to be, places that support vital local economies, healthy, safe, active lifestyles and strong communities. Only then should transport planners consider how mobility can support these places.
The vast majority of people want to be somewhere, and they especially want to be there if that somewhere is nice, whether it’s where you live, work or relax. Importantly, hardly anyone wants to be in-between these places, trying to get from one to the other. Its all about A and B, and not the ‘to’ in the middle. The role of transport planning is to support these places and, where it can, try to enhance them. Mobility must always be subservient to creating great places, for no amount of the former will ever compensate for a lack of the latter. This applies equally to the design of a busy traffic junction as it does to a tram stop or a cycle lane.
The most tragic and ironic outcome of the current fixation on mobility is that, in degrading those places that already exist, the demand for travel must increase as people try to get to the ever-dwindling number of successful places that remain. By focusing narrowly on mobility for mobility’s sake we have been moving people and goods around more and accomplishing less.
As a business plan it is pure genius. Build the infrastructure to increase mobility, to the detriment of the number and quality of places where people actually want to be, thereby increasing the desire for even more mobility. But as a way to improve our quality of life it is deeply flawed if its implications are not fully understood.
The starting point for the improvement of any street or public space must begin with making a place where people want to be, places that support vital local economies, healthy, safe, active lifestyles and strong communities. Only then should transport planners consider how mobility can support these places.