1. First visit here and not quite sure? Check out the 10 Minute Preview
2. Got a time problem? No problem. Click to 20 minute Fast-Track!
New thinking about mobility: 2007-2012
There is today a great gulf between what is being looked at and done in the transport sector in most cities -- and the way it is being handled at the leading edge. But many of the most useful things that local government can put into play are insufficiently known in most places. The Briefs provide concise information and decision counsel to leaders on out-standing policies succeeding in leading cities around the world today. Accelerated learning.
The city holds the key
A New Mobility Initiative is a policy or action that can be brought on line and start to show results within months. While many of these ideas come from Europe, almost all can find their place in cities anywhere in the world. The New Mobility Agenda: creating and maintaining dynamic portfolios of diverse, multi-level, niche-oriented, high performance, synergetic, less-car alternatives to get you there in style. Think of it as the politics of transportation and responsible city governance.
The bottom line
Seen from a planetary or Kyoto perspective, or from an individual or public health perspective, or an economic perspective, or ... or ... our present arrangements for transport in cities are seriously damaged. They are the product of another age, another system of city and daily life, another almost invisible value set. But there is an unexpected upside to this: the whole system is so grossly over-built and under-performing that it is wide open to massive improvement. Including in the very near term. We call this our Convenient Truth.
A self-organizing collaborative network
This project is both a collaborative peer-group exercise, and largely self-organizing. To get a feel for how this process works, click here. If you are looking for new approaches to the transport sector and its extensions, you have here some of the figures leading the field. These eminent world colleagues are shaping the New Mobility Agenda and all that is behind it in a number of ways. Through their work and the examples they provide they hold the key to what is going on here.
Gender Parity - and why it matters
If you think this is politically correct, soft-headed and well-intentioned, we invite you to check out the discussions in the Gender, Equity and Transport forum at http://www.gatnet.net. The basic decisions shaping our transport sector have long been dominated by males and worse yet people who implicitly accept that the best way to get around in daily life is by driving your own car. Well not always. So click here to see why we think why full gender parity can make a big difference. Think different!
In the beginning . . .
This program draws on a quite long record of work and accomplishment, of which four main streams have combined to shape the present efforts: The Commons starting in 1973/74; followed by the New Mobility Agenda with its origins in 1988; then the Stockholm Partnerships for Sustainable Cities starting in 2001; and most recently the Kyoto World Cities Challenge as of 15 February 2005.
Jump Start
Want to get a first bite out of this kind of new thinking about transport in cities? Here is a first selection of some of the latest tools, sites and approaches that should help challenge and open up your thinking on all this. Grab yourself a glass of white wine, fire up your broadband link and come visit. You'll see: it's a learning curve, not a straight line.
Know enough to subscribe now?
Click here. It takes 2 minutes.
Still have some questions?
Click here to discuss.
 
    Home About Latest + News Direct Access Message Center  New Mobility Cafe   Contact
Site optimized for browsing with Explorer 5/7+. Best viewed with resolution of 1024 x 768
The Commons has welcomed international visitors since 3 July 1995.
In Europe: 8/10 rue Joseph Bara 75006 Paris, France, Europe. T: +331 4326 1323
North America: 9440 Readcrest Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90210. T: +1 310 601-8468
Copyright © 1994-2007 The Commons ® Last updated on 3 September 2007