Traffic in Towns & Transport in Cities

April 2013

Paul Buchanan
Structure

• Colin Buchanan
• Traffic in Towns
• Transport in Cities
Colin Douglas Buchanan

• My memories
• Safety First
• 2WW
• Petrol-head & Environmentalist?
• CDB the rebel?
Early days

• Buchanan & Halcrow

• Maps/town planning
• Road Engineer,
Exeter
• Safety – 8,000 road
deaths p/a in 1930s
less than 2,000 now
In the war …

Bridge over the River Nile

Juba, S Sudan

Demobilisation leave
RIBA
Petrol Head and Environmentalist?

“Cars – the ultimate go anywhere, at

any time, with anything, transport
machines”

“Nothing is quite so pleasurable as

driving a powerful car slowly”

“There is a great deal at stake,

conserving, in the face of the
onslaught of motor traffic, a major
part of the heritage of the English
speaking world”
Rebel?

• Union activist?
− First Division civil servants vs “professionals”
− “temperamentally unsuited to planning” (!)
− Moved to The Inspectorate

• Roskill Commission – Note of Dissent

− Did not accept the results of the cost-benefit
analysis – never trusted economists at all
− Certainly not afraid to stick with his convictions
Traffic in Towns

• Framework
• Accessibility – Cost
– Environment
• Options
• Right and wrong
• Legacy -
Conclusions
Traffic in Towns Framework

1. Transport a function of land use – origins &

destinations
2. Major roads separated from “environmental
areas”
3. Environmental standards imply absolute limits
to traffic
4. Accessibility – Cost – Environment
5. Environmental management as well as civil
engineering solutions
 Recommendations & Options

• One recommendation “the sooner attention paid

to the adverse environmental effects of motor
traffic…the better for the nation”

• Rest of report devoted to the choices available

to authorities. We did not choose for them!
Right and Wrong?

Right? Wrong?
Framework Title – public transport?
Forecasts Title – towns?
Trade-offs and Options Traffic segregation
Presentation Environmental Areas
Legacy Conclusions

• Generations of UK transport planners

• Transport Planning – a UK industry?
• Incredible longevity – the analytical framework &
policy choices much the same today
INTRODUCING
TRANSPORT IN CITIES
Transport in Cities

If how to cope with future traffic growth was the key issue of
the last 50 years, what are the key issues now?

• Urbanisation growing rapidly

• Technology changing fast
• Economic drivers, environmental constraints
• Outward sprawl of cities
• Ageing populations
• Internationalisation
 How do we deal with those questions?

• Fixed land use

• Straight line growth forecasts
• Transport valued almost entirely in time savings
• Policy objectives fixed
UK transport 1900-1970

Predict and
provide is not as
easy as you
might think!
Behavioural Issues and …

Time Savings Safety

KMs

HOURS

TRIPS
 New Technology Quality of Place
Driverless vehicles How can transport make
Personal Rapid Transit cities nicer places to live
Demand Responsive Transport and work?
Real Time Information What is that worth?

Transport
Policy Support Global Trends
Infrastructure is not enough! Peak Car?
Policy support across Urbanisation
planning, taxation, charging, Wifi connectivity
environment is vital Walk/cycle
Transport Shared space

Economy In Environment
Cities

Economic Drivers Environment

Agglomeration & Density Carbon
Global Warming
Transport Efficiency Land Use Pollution
Flexibility
Investment costs Health – active transport
Operating subsidy/profit Transport & Land Use
Land use sets transport demand,
but transport also sets land use
with road & rail producing v
different development patterns
Conclusions

• Traffic in Towns – remarkably insightful

and longstanding
• Framework for thinking about the issues
rather than an answer
• Still relevant 50 years on

• Transport in Cities – I’m on a hiding to

nothing!
 Thank you
pbuchanan@globalskm.com