Achieving sustainable mobility
Mobility for development, a report from WBCSD examines the state of mobility in fast-growing cities. It argues that with integrated planning and innovative solutions, environmental costs of transportation can be reduced.
Publisher: WBCSD, May 2009-05-29
Mobility is essential to economic and social development. It can enhance quality of life, but the development of mobility in today’s conditions also brings congestion, air pollution, traffic-related accidents and the environmental costs of transportation.
- Cover page of the report/ Photo credit: WBCSD
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) teamed up with leading members of the transport industry to produce the report which summarises the findings from a two-year study into the state of mobility in fast-growing cities of the developing world for example: Bangalore, Dar es Salaam, São Paulo and Shanghai.
The report builds on earlier work of the WBCSD, summarised in the publication Mobility 2030: Meeting the challenges to sustainability.
The Mobility 2030 report defined sustainable mobility as “the ability to meet society's desires and needs to move freely, gain access, communicate, trade and establish relationships without sacrificing other essential human or ecological values, today or in the future.”
The aims of the project were to:
- Raise awareness of the importance of mobility as a driver of economic development.
- Develop a better understanding of the sustainable mobility challenges in rapidly growing cities so that business can engage more effectively with policy-makers on this issue.
- Investigate ways to narrow the “mobility opportunity divide” and mitigate negative transport impacts through innovative and profitable business solutions.
To achieve higher levels of sustainability, recommendations in the report call for leadership and collaboration towards more integrated planning, an integrated and inclusive approach to urban land-use and transport planning and improved access to mobility through integrating public and private transport modes.
Four common themes have emerged from the research:
- Sustainable mobility is a key contributor to development
- Cities can learn from one another and history
- Each component of society has a role to play, both individually and in collaboration with others
- It takes motivated and committed leadership to create a functioning mobility system
