Sustainable transport is a concept developed in reaction to things that have gone visibly wrong with transportation policy, practice and performance through much the world over the last half of the twentieth century. Urban transport systems based around the car have proved unsustainable, consuming excessive energy, affecting the health of populations, and delivering a declining level of service despite increasing investments. Many of these negative impacts fall disproportionately on those social groups who are also least likely to own and drive cars.[1][2][3]
The sustainable transport movement, part of the environmental movement, has gradually gained in force over the last decade and a half, and has in the process started to shift the emphasis in public spending and actions away from building and supply, to management and demand. The values of respect for the environment and prudent use of natural resources are central, with varying degrees of urgency expressed by different actors and interests. That said, it is still very much a minority movement and most actual expenditures in the sector are determined by criteria other than sustainability.
What is clear is that sustainable transportation mainly refers to human behavior, not to technology.[4] In that sense, a behavioral approach considers not only a set of non-polluting and human scaled green transport choices, regardless of the means and technology used, but also a set of reinforcers both individual and social to promote these choices.
No comments:
Post a Comment