Access - The First Ten Years

  • 1988 Origins and Perspectives
  • Access on the ECTF
  • The Access Media Program (1993)
  • Past Reports & Projects

    "Access: Toward an Alternative Framework for Transport Policy & Action in Cities"

    1988 Origins and Perspectives

    Access was first established by EcoPlan in 1988 as an independent international collaborative and support program aimed directly at the challenge of first defining and then implementing sustainable transportation systems. The orignal sub-title of the program is as above: "Toward an Alternative Framework for Transport Policy & Action in Cities" The program builds on more than two decades of international collaboration, cross-disciplinary research, advisory work with the interlinked problems of transport, the economy, energy, environment, industry and quality of life, and more generally with the broader challenges of managing technology in society. (See the List of Access Reports here.) The following descriptive statement is exactly as it was set out in the 1988 opening manifesto annuncing the program.

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    The point of departure for Access was the obvious conflict between cars and cities. But that was only the beginning. The next step was to recognize a gradually growing uneasiness that something has gone badly wrong: that private cars no longer work particularly well in cities, or at least not all cars in all cities. This hard fact is proving awkward for planners and policy-makers alike. Despite the problems they have brought in their wake, cars continue to perform a variety of functions and are perceived by many people as essential to their daily lives. As a result they have been planned into the system. And now that they are in there, their extreme complexity of function effectively rules out any easy solutions. For this reason we cannot in most places sensibly talk about cities without cars -- but rather places with fewer and much better managed cars.

    The problem of cars in cities is, in truth, part of a much broader set of social and technology management issues which are coming into increasingly high relief. The links to pressing environmental and energy concerns are obvious and critical, as are impacts on quality of life, safety, urban form and economic efficiency. More subtle are the links between cars and human behavior, including such problems as urban isolation, alienation, violence, rejection of responsibility, and loss of human vitality, intimacy and neighborliness. A great deal of good work is going on in many places around the world aimed at parts of this complex problem, but much of this is not widely known. And there is a requirement for altogether new approaches which has yet to be met.

    It was against this background that Access was established, with the goal of developing a long term (ten year), independent and vigorous international collaborative effort, untrammeled by bureaucratic requirements and run on an open basis with creative inputs and support from a wide variety of co-operating individuals, sources and institutions. Five objectives were set for the period 1989-94:

    1. Provide concrete evidence showing how modern communities can work without today's overwhelming and damaging dependence on cars -- drawing attention to leading techniques, groups and places that have successfully tackled parts of the problem.
    2. Encourage the development of much broader agendas of issues and approaches to the problems of transport in cities -- thereby bringing into the discussions and solution process actors and interests beyond the limits of traditional transport agencies and specialists.
    3. Contribute to improving international communications, co-ordination and exchanges of information and expertise in the full range of disciplines and approaches involved -- so that each new project is able to build knowledgeably on the experience and accomplishments of the past.
    4. Work to stimulate further research, tools development and problem solving as needed to improve our collective knowledge and mastery of these issues -- and find the means to inform and involve the public in both the debate and the decision process.
    5. Encourage and contribute to exemplary projects and programs in leading cities and communities, working in close collaboration with highly qualified local partner groups and sponsoring institutions.

    Initially, as it was getting underway in the latter eighties, the Access program made only limited use of electronic media (email, file transfers, etc.). The main products of the program were its various reports and working papers, sponsored working groups, advisory assignments, organization and participation in conferences, and a small but increasingly interesting set of on-site demonstration projects. In 1993 the first steps were taken to make fuller use of the quickly expanding array of electronic communications aids: several news groups were set up Internet on a trial basis and toward the middle of the year the first Access Forum was establishment, in cooperation with the European Commission Telecommunications Forum under Compuserve.

    The @Forum which you see here in its latest version has been built up in careful steps over the last years on that first foundation. Go to Access on the ECTF to see how the original Internet site was organized back in 1993.

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    The Access Forum on ECTF (1993)

    (The following text is taken verbatim from the initial announcement of the Forum in 1993.)

    For those of us who are concerned with the pressing problems of access, transport and sustainability in our communities around the world, an excellent means now exists that can help us put our heads together on the subject: an easily accessible and easy to use “electronic library and meeting room”. What you need to take advantage of this new facility today is a computer, a phone, a modem (the faster the better), and a subscription to the popular CompuServe service (see below for some first information). While some researchers, administrators, policy makers and citizens already make regular use of these new means of communication and exchange, for most of us these innovative techniques are not yet very well known.

    Fortunately it is neither difficult or expensive to gain access to them. Once you have your equipment properly installed and gain access to CompuServe via the local telephone number, your next step is to plug into the Forum with GO ECTF. On first access you will need to join the forum: this costs nothing - it just means registering your name to permit full access. The Forum was initially developed to serve individuals and institutions interested specifically in telework or distance working. But because these media are by definition flexible and dynamic, the Forum has opened up its ‘doors’ to a number of concerns which relate to their initial orientation; and of course since much transport is work-oriented, the telework theme takes on particular importance in the Access program as well (A second, related electronic forum initiated by EcoPlan on ECTF is also possibly worth your inspection: New Ways to Work, Library # 9)

    The Access Forum offers those of us who are concerned with these issues internationally a convenient means for exchanging documents, data, information, ideas and views on innovations and the search for better ways of organizing transport, communications, and land use in and around cities. Other concerns of this forum include:

    1. sustainable transport and social-technical systems, and
    2. the need for "bridging strategies" and policies which will permit the rapid transition to healthier and more livable communities.

    Once you get into the Forum you will see the Access section, which you can then consult for a list of currently available documents. Using the Library you will be able to peruse and eventually “download” the latest copies of working papers and other documents available. Then via the Message Section you will be able to exchange ideas and suggestions with the authors and organizers, either in a public manner for others to join in or privately.

    It is also possible to enter into real time discussions via Conferences, but as things stand presently this is more than a bit cumbersome and slow. In the months immediately ahead we intend to concentrate on using the forum as a ‘living library” of the latest and best printed information and as an ‘electronic bulletin board’ for exchanging comments and ideas. Although this facility has been used in this relatively simple way at first, new ideas and types of use have fast emerged from it as we all gained experience within this framework for a variety of planning, communications and consultation purposes. We expect that this development will be very rapid and very far-reaching indeed.

    The discussion and exchanges are open, free (other than the indicated CompuServe and local phone charges) and fully international. It is felt to be important that the Access Forum should be open to all contributors in all ways. While this puts pressure on the forum's managers and their good housekeeping practices, it is essential to the long run success of the program which depends on achieving the broadest reach of ideas and inputs. Information on how to contribute materials to the library is available from the addresses below.

    For further information, you are invited to contact:
    [End of 1993 statement.]

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    The Access Media Program (1993)

    From the outset one of the most deeply felt objectives of ACCESS has been to increase public awareness of these challenges and opportunities through developing, promoting and making imaginative use of a very wide range of tools and means to do the job. The Access Media Program is an important part of this side of our cooperative efforts. An early note introducing the program and summarizing its principal accomplishments and plans in 1993 can be found here.

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    Representative Past Projects and Publications

    This is a sample of titles of reports and research and advisoru projects that have been carried out by EcoPlan and its collaborators in the Access program and on those same basic themes since 1968. For further information contact Ecoplan by email. To this listing, it might be added the numerous articles that were written or commissioned by Eric Britton on those themes in his role as advisory or international editor to the spcialised journals World Transport Policy & Practice, Mass Transit, and Traffic Engineering & Control.
    • ACCESS Program: Implementation Guidelines, Planning Documents & Case Studies
    • Adelaide into the Eighties: Policy and Project Recommendations
    • Aerotrain, the SNCF & the Public Interest: A Case Study of Conflict
    • Automatic Vehicle Monitoring Systems: World Prospects
    • Choosing Europe's Energy Future: Challenges and Opportunities for the Nineties
    • City Center Environment & Transportation in Five European Cities
    • Competition Survey of the World Helicopter Industry
    • Corporate Plan for Tire and Retread Industry in Western Europe
    • Database for National-Level Distribution Systems for Microcomputer Sales in Europe
    • Development Prospects for Transport Sector in Brazil
    • EDP Markets and the European Computer Industry
    • Electric Vehicle Development Prospects in France: Impact Assessment
    • Energy, Growth and the Environment: A Three-Pronged Policy Strategy
    • Future of the Urban Bus: World Survey of Markets and Products
    • Future of the Urban Bus: Expanding the Sphere of Opportunities
    • Future Prospects of Natural Gas: Strategies for Expansion
    • Guidelines for Long Term Industrial Development Planning in Greece
    • Industrial Investment Opportunities in Portugal
    • Information Society and Sustainable Development
    • Innovational Bus Systems and Technology: International Survey
    • Innovational Guideway Systems and Technology: Future Prospects
    • Investment Climate for Technology Firms in Japan
    • Long Term Energy Plan for Argentina (Contributor)
    • Long Term Energy Strategies in a Sustainable World (with Holger Rogner)
    • Market Prospects for Alternative Energy Sources
    • MATS: Guidelines for a Multi-Modal Area-Wide Transportation System
    • Mobile Communications Systems Futures: Europe
    • Natural Gas Scenarios: Europe's Uncertain Energy Future
    • New Strategies for the Finance of Urban Transport
    • New Technology and Transportation: 1970-1990
    • New Technology and Transportation: 1990 Perspectives
    • Nonconventional Transport Systems in the Developing World
    • Opportunities for Automotive Suppliers in Brazil
    • Paratransit: Survey of International Experience and Prospects
    • Pressure Points for Management of the Urban Environment
    • Privatization in International Transport: Techniques and Impacts
    • Privatization in Urban Transportation: International Survey
    • Product and Market Strategies for CV Suppliers to Latin America
    • Putting Paratransit into Perspective: New Approaches for Urban Mobility
    • Rail Safety Research in Europe: Present Status, Future Trends
    • Rethinking Transportation: Alternatives to Inefficient Physical Displacements
    • Small Business Computerization Studies
    • Strategic Business Plan for Penetrating the European Market for High Tech Telecom Systems
    • Supplier Opportunities in the French Rail Sector: A Survey
    • Survey of Advanced Technology Dispatching and Fleet Management Systems: Product Prospects, Markets, Competition
    • Survey of Impacts of Privatization Movement in Europe
    • Survey of the Helicopter Industry in Western Europe
    • TaxiCom: New Technology and Management Applications for Taxis (1985 and 1995 editions)
    • Technology and Business Opportunities in the Taxi Industry: An International Survey
    • The World Aluminum Industry: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom
    • Toward a Long Term Energy Strategy for the European Community (with Holger Rogner)
    • Transportation Planning and the Public Interest: Case Studies
    • Transportation Systems Management in Europe: Lessons for the US
    • World Automotive Industry to 1995: Products, Markets, Organization (contributor)
    • World Survey of Smart Transit Systems: Present Status, Future Prospects
    • World Telecommunications Industry Prospects
    • World Transit Survey: International Markets & Corporate Strategies
    • World Transit Survey: Projects, Markets and Opportunities at a Time of Rapid Technological Change

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      Updated 11 August 1999