The General Theory of Sustainable Transport, Sustainable Cities & Sustainable Lives

The General Theory
of
Sustainable Transport, Sustainable Cities & Sustainable Lives
Eric Britton
First edition: EcoPlan International. Paris July 2011
2011
First published in France by the Association Ecoplan International
Copyright 2011 Francis Eric Knight Britton All Rights Reserved The moral right of the author has been asserted. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) that the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
ISBN XXXX
Un projet de l'Association Ecoplan International (Loi de 1901) 8/10, rue Jospeh Bara Paris 75006 France +331 7550 3788 association@ecoplan.org
Skype newmobility
Siret 304555295 00019 Arrt du ministre de lintrieur. 19 aot 1975
The General Theory
2011
The Old Mobility Agenda

It was great while it lasted
United States. The mother of old mobility

If you drive to work alone in your car, if you enjoy convenient and affordable parking, if you have to spend at least twice as much time to get there by other means, if you are afraid to come by bicycle, then it's for sure -- you are enjoying the pleasures of old mobility.
Germany: Another day on the road with old mobility
China: The New Mobility dream keeps on going
India: Family running across a road in Calcutta
Greenland: Old Mobility: End of the Road
2011
About the author

Trained as a development economist, Eric Britton is founding editor of the respected international policy journal World Streets and managing director of EcoPlan International, an independent advisory network providing strategic counsel for government and business on policy and decision issues involving social-technical change and sustainable development. Although he has an academic background the General Theory is primarily the fruit of his advisory work to governments, multi-nationals and municipalities around the world, bringing with it a real-world rather than an academic approach. This is highly important as ours is not a subject that one can just read about in a book it is both too intricate and too case-specific a subject to approach with a purely academic lens. As someone who has been actively involved in this field for nearly thirty years, he has been part of the discussion as it has unfolded from the beginning, and in the process has grown from a backroom exchange among forward-thinking individuals to the front-page debate involving all stakeholders of society that it has become today. Britton acknowledges a great debt to an impressive number of international colleagues and experts with whom he has worked and from whom he has learned much in this field over the last twenty five years. In fact, it is fair to say that the General Theory is very much a collaborative accomplishment, for which as much as anything else he is reporting on the contributions and ever expanding visions of others. ( - - >more)
The General Theory
2011
The First Edition?

This first edition of The General Theory has no less than three main and simultaneous objectives. The first is to provide all who are interested in our topic with a detailed structure for a fully completed second edition which is targeted for publication in mid-2013. People who underwrite the first edition will receive completed electronic copies of the second edition without any further charge. I anticipate that a full print edition will also be available in summer 2013, and I will make it my task to ensure that it is sold at a reasonable price. Given the way the publishing industry is doing things these days, we can anticipate that it will also be available, again at an affordable price, in electronic editions for such as Kindle, iPad, and whatever else may be on the market at the time. The second objective is to inform and rally friends and colleagues around the world who share the interests and values which make up the approach which has been for several decades now shared widely and daily through first the various programs and websites associated with the New Mobility Agenda, and over the last three years through the daily occurrence of articles and tools through the pages of World Streets, and more recently the sister publications which are in various degrees of operational readiness in which include: India Streets (aiming to cover the entire subcontinent), Nuova Mobilit in Italy, the streets of Iran, and Nova Mobilidade in Portugal. In addition to these developing sources, several thousand people are involved in different ways in more than twenty peer discussion groups and specialized social network groups, all of which you will find carefully spelledout on the opening page of World Streets under Resources. The third objective is to use this is a means for inviting friends, colleagues and others around the world who share these values to step up and help finance the two-year work effort which is being initiated by the present "first edition". In order to make it an easy call on the part of people who share these values, this first edition is being sold on a scale of four different price levels au choix: $/ 9.50, $/ 99.50, $/ 995.00 and, while we're at it $/ 9,950.00. The base $/ 9.50 price for the combine first and second edition package represents a fifty percent saving on the full price of $/ 19.50. (Payment can be made in either dollars or Euros as is most convenient. See below for details.) On pricing: Since the beginning of the New Mobility Agenda in 1988, and continuing through the publication of World Streets and its various sister publications, a strict policy has been maintained that all the material coming out of this collaborative program would be available free to all. We also have a firm policy of not accepting advertising (for reasons that you will find spelled out in detail in the opening pages of World Streets. In this case however since a substantial effort is required to complete a major pathbreaking publication as first introduced in these pages, I have decided to reach out to get support to get the job done.
2011
Since many, but not all, of our readers and collaborators come from academic or the volunteer sector, it is obviously not appropriate to ask them to pay high prices to support this project. For this reason we have created these steps subscriptions, which start at very affordable contribution of a bit less than ten dollars. For others who have the means, they are invited to show their support in either the suggested levels or others that they feel to be comfortable and appropriate. Social networks: Given that it is the year 2011, and given that this is a significant public interest proposal, it would seem to make sense to see if we cannot make good use of social media in order to generate the support needed to get the job underway. This I will do directly and is thus possible through sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn,, but I am counting on others who share the basic values behind this work to join in and do their it by distributing news and background to their own channels and networks. If you do that, I want you to know that you have my sincerest thanks. I am very curious to see how this works. I have never done anything like this before, and in fact I have never known a case in which someone has sold the book to the general public based solely on a table of contents, albeit with a strong track record of publication and performance in the field being assessed. Finally an important caveat: given a project like this which is spinning out over a full two years, and which is targeting an area which itself is in rapid evolution, it makes sense that the author is going to learn a lot as he goes along. And to me it is important that the second edition reflect this learning process. Therefore of all of the chapter headings you see here, you can expect that virtually all of them will be covered in one way or another, but that also new items and chapters will appear. At the end of the day however, it is my hope that the second edition will be a happy surprise for all of those who have been good enough to support his first step. I very much hope this will interest you, and I hope too that the concept makes you smile. Once the first wave of funding has come through, work can get underway here full speed. And if in the coming months you keep a weather eye on World Streets you will find that early drafts of many of these chapters and issues will appear in those pages. (In fact, if you would like to see an example, click here to view the article "Toward a new paradigm for transport in cities" which shows how the process of new concepts, creative interaction and exchange between international colleagues can help to define important policy issues in clear and powerful ways - http://wp.me/psKUY-1Lj ) Questions, suggestions for the work in progress and the second edition? Let me hear from you. Here is how to get in touch. Eric Britton. Paris. 16 July 2011 8/10, rue Jospeh Bara Paris 75006 France +331 7550 3788 eric.britton@ecoplan.org
Skype newmobility
The General Theory
2011
To obtain your copy?

To purchase the present first electronic edition, payment can be made in any of the following ways Direct bank wire transfers: Account Holder: Association EcoPlan International Account no. 00010465401 Crdit Industriel et Commercial de Paris Succursale BR (Montparnasse) 202 Blvd. Raspail / 75014 Paris, France SWIFT: CMCIFRPP IBAN : FR76 3006 6106 2100 0104 6540 105 By check: If you prefer to send a check direct our mailing address is: Association EcoPlan International 8/10, rue Joseph Bara F 75006 Paris, France Kindly make checks payable to Association EcoPlan International. PayPal: Make immediate payment via PayPal or credit card. It is simple and fast: (1) Click www.paypal.com. (2) Enter your account (or set one up quickly (and safely) as indicated). (3) Click send money. (4) Address: association@ecoplan.org. (5) Amount. (6) Click Personal. (7) Click Gift. (8) Thank you for helping World Streets to continue in 2010. PayPal also has provision for paying by credit card. It is fairly well explained on their site. Again, you are invited to place your order according to your possibilities, starting at /$ 9.50 per copy and scaling up by an order of magnitude according to your possibilities , convictions and willingness to help underwrite this work. With your order, please let us have your full name, URL as appropriate, city and country. And let us know if we can indicate on World Streets your support of the book (x your email address of course).
2011
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26
Preface Part I: Why a General Theory Reading the First Edition Part II. The Building Blocks 15/30/50 20% of the problem 8 to 80 Active enforcement Active transport Advertising Advisory council Aggressive behavior Antisocial Average people - do not exist Bad practices Behavior Behavior modification Best practices Bicycles Bottom-up BRT Car free days Car free living car removal Carbon Carsharing Choice expansion
...5 ...9 . . . 11 . . . 15 . . . 17 . . . 19 . . . 21 . . . 23 . . . 25 . . . 27 . . . 29 . . . 31 . . . 33 . . . 35 . . . 37 . . . 39 . . . 41 . . . 43 . . . 45 . . . 47 . . . 49 . . . 51 . . . 53 . . . 55 . . . 57 . . . 59
The General Theory

Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 55 Chapter 56
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. . . 61 . . . 63 . . . 65 . . . 67 . . . 69 . . . 71 . . . 73 . . . 75 . . . 77 . . . 79 . . . 81 . . . 83 . . . 85 . . . 87 . . . 89 . . . 91 . . . 93 . . . 95 . . . 97 . . . 99 . . . 101 . . . 103 . . . 105 . . . 107 . . . 109 . . . 111 . . . 113 . . . 115 . . . 117 . . . 119
Click to fix Climate Collaborative learning Congestion as policy Consistency Continuity Credit Crisis Critical mass Debates Deep democracy Distance Donald Appleyard Economic instruments Electric cars Environment Eye contact Eyes on the street Failures of expertise Feet Four little words: green, clean, smart, intelligent Free Future leaders Gender and transport Good shoes Hans Monderman Happy city Impatience Incidents/accidents Inverse squared: Education/distance

2011
. . . 121 . . . 123 . . . 125 . . . 127 . . . 129 . . . 131 . . . 133 . . . 135 . . . 137 . . . 139 . . . 141 . . . 143 . . . 145 . . . 147 . . . 149 . . . 151 . . . 153 . . . 155 . . . 157 . . . 159 . . . 161 . . . 163 . . . 165 . . . 167 . . . 169 . . . 171 . . . 173 . . . 175 . . . 177 . . . 179
Invisible incrementalism (parking, street conversion) Isolation Jan Gehl Jane Jacobs Job creation Knowledge sharing Leadership by example Learning systems Learning to listen Lewis Mumford Lifestyle change Listen to everybody Local environment Loneliness Luud Schimmelpennink Mass transit Metaphors Monorails, PRT and other follies Neighborhood cars Neighborliness New Mobility Agenda New near (The) Obesity Off the economy One-minute movies Ownership Packages of measures Paradigm Parking PARK(ing)
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The General Theory

2011
. . . 181 . . . 183 . . . 185 . . . 187 . . . 189 . . . 191 . . . 193 . . . 195 . . . 197 . . . 199 . . . 201 . . . 203 . . . 205 . . . 207 . . . 209 . . . 211 . . . 213 . . . 215 . . . 217 . . . 219 . . . 221 . . . 223 . . . 225 . . . 227 . . . 229 . . . 231 . . . 233 . . . 235 . . . 237 . . . 239
Partnership Pattern recognition Peak cars Peddlers and hawkers Pedicabs Peer to peer Personal responsibility Peter Newman and Jeff Kenworthy Posters The art of Private space Public space Ridesharing Road pricing Safety 1: through technology Safety 2: through human beings Share/transport Slowth (Despacio) Smart street architecture Social networking Social space Social space format Speed Speeding Spread Straight Lines Street code Street people Street sharing Stress Taxisharing
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2011
. . . 241 . . . 243 . . . 245 . . . 247 . . . 249 . . . 251 . . . 253 . . . 255 . . . 257 . . . 259 . . . 261 . . . 263 . . . 265 . . . 267 . . . 269 . . . 271 . . . 273 . . . 275 . . . 277 . . . 279 . . . 281 . . . 283 . . . 285 . . . 287 . . . 289 . . . 291 . . . 293 . . . 295 . . . 297 . . . 299
Team building Telemobility The architecture of slowness The cloak of the car (Harry Potter) The easiest 20% The future of the automobile in the city The politics of transportation Twentieth century trilogy: speed, distance, frequency Time Time-sharing To present solutions Tramway-sign of a happy city Transportation monoculture Transports of delight (happiness) Truck sharing Turn out the lights Universal access Value capture Walk to school Walking and democracy What is a cyclist Why "energy" is the wrong place to start Winning (The importance of) World government World Streets XTransit Youth YouTube Part III. What next? Afterword
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The General Theory
2011
[Chapters and text here.]
13
2011
[Selected Bibliography here]
14
The General Theory
2011
[Acknowledgements]
15
2011
[Index]
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The General Theory
2011
World Streets
The world turns slowly to Social Space
UK: Pedestrians on what was formerly a street for cars
India: New BRT projects creating more social space
Italy: Can your children walk/bike safely to school every morning?
Denmark: Still biking (Ave. income/capita - $58,930. 7th in world).
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2011
Colombia: On the TransMilenio in Bogota
Iran: Cyclist waking bike in Isfahan
France: Picking up a shared bike in Paris
Hangzhou China. Pedestrian zone
Anywhere in the world: Running, walking getting where you want to go in safety:
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The General Theory
2011
What the experts are saying about the surprising first edition of the General Theory?
(The following in fun .. but with a purpose)
A GT for sustainable transport? I simply had never thought of that before. And the more I think about it, and the more I consult the draft ideas set out here, the more I understand that these is a pressing need for this sort of much brooder, much more strategic treatment than we are accustomed to seeing in the literature. - name A real page turner. I could not set it down until I had finished it. - name Only Eric Britton could have written a book as concise as this. name I can't wait for the second edition name
(Perhaps your real comment here?)
ISBN xxx-x-xxx-xxxxx-x
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The General Theory

Sustainable Transport, Sustainable Cities & Sustainable Lives

First edition: EcoPlan International. Paris July 2011

Sustainable Transport, Sustainable Cities & Sustainable Lives

First published in France by the Association Ecoplan International

Siret 304555295 00019 Arrt du ministre de lintrieur. 19 aot 1975