Achieving Sustainable Mobility

Sustainable mobility has become the new imperative for transport policy. There have been a number of policy attempts at sustainable mobility globally, such as the development of more efficient conventional transport technologies, the promotion of efficient and affordable public transport systems and the encouragement of environmental awareness. Such policies have so often been presented as prerequisites for sustainable mobility that they are now taken for granted. But are any of these policies really successful? To what extent do they actually contribute (or fail to contribute) to sustainable mobility? Why do some policies succeed and others fail? Using an interdisciplinary approach which brings together various theories and methodologies, this book tests each of these policies - or hypotheses, as the author sees them - with detailed empirical investigations. It also argues that leisure-time travel should be included in any sustainable mobility policies, as it now accounts for 50 per cent of all annual travel distance in developed countries. The book concludes by suggesting fourteen theses of sustainable mobility for the EU and a new model for future best practice.

Dr Erling Holden is Head of Research at the Western Norway Research Institute, Norway

Contents: Foreword; A new imperative for the EU transport policy. Part I The Foundations: If sustainable development is everything...; The sustainable mobility area. Part II The Case Studies: The roles of new conventional and alternative technologies; The role of public transport; The role of green attitudes; The role of land-use planning. Part III The Theses and EU Policy Implications: 14 theses of sustainable mobility; Sustainable mobility in the European Union; Bibliography; Index.