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Good news, bad news

When it comes to talking about or looking for successes for sustainable transport in cities, there is inevitably a lot of wishful thinking in the air . This perfectly human foible is in part a function of a hope that "someone, somewhere else" is dealing with our problem. (And normally that "somewhere else" is safely on the other side of the planet.) Reality however does not always feel obliged to conform with our wishes. On the other hand, it seems to be a foible of many of the responsible government bodies to prefer to "proclaim victory" rather than actually dig in and deal with the full complexity of the challenges of managing the transition from today's often unsatisfactory present arrangements. This plus a stubborn unwillingness to examine and report publicly on setbacks does little to help. But there is good news, and there is bad news on when it comes to sustainable transport. The good news is that there is not a single problem in the sector that cannot be dealt with as part of a sustainability strategy. The bad news is that it is almost never easy to do, and always requires an extremely high energy level, a long term commitment, unwavering local presence, good knowledge of best practices and lessons from other places, a willingness to listen to virtually everybody concerned, and real communications and negotiatory skills. Which may go a long way to explaining why most cities are doing such a lousy job.

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The @ccess agenda

This forum has been set up under the @ccess on the Web program under The Commons, which we invite first time visitors to consult in parallel with the materials that appear in this site. You will see that the two work rather well together, and you may further find some interest in others of the @ccess programs, all of which are part of the push toward more sustainable transport systems and the concept of social justice which is central to our work.

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From research to action

Our underlying challenge here is this. How does one go about taking a concept as complex, abstract, imperfectly understood, and most definitely questionable in many of its details, but yet and in the final analysis certainly right, on track and very important, as sustainability… and somehow manage to get it into the political agenda? Most 'sustainability agents' up to now have tended to emphasize the need for more research, conferences, reports, courses and publications, all served with a topping of right-minded rhetoric and moral suasion. This emphasis on intellectual products and over-riding complexity has ensured that the issues have remained out of the mainstream of most people's concerns and interests. Many pages are being written on the issues of sustainable development, but the simple truth is that until now all this has for the most part utterly failed to change the ways in which people do things, the choices they make in their daily lives, and their impacts on the environment and society. In the work of this international cooperative effort via the Web, we propose to turn things around a bit from what one encounters in most academic, theoretical or rhetorical discussions of sustainability, and take as our point of departure a certain number of specific, exemplary real-world attempts that have/had as their objective to gain legal and institutional support in some sort of pattern-breaking manner. Thus, we do not intend to examine and brainstorm on issues which begin with "this is what we should do...", but rather "this is what some group or interest somehow managed to bring front and center into the political agenda in some specific place, for better or worse".

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Getting started

Let's start with the first set of 'example' links that you will find in the second block of items on the menu to your left. This first set of cities, projects, programs and approaches has been selected in an attempt not only to inform, but also to stimulate comment, criticism, additional materials, and new topics and insights. And that is where you come in.

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How to get around here

The menu bar to your left lists some first examples of the sort of things that we hope in time to bring into the discussions. It also provides valuable clues as to how to make best use of this forum. We invite first-time users to spend a bit of time to familiarize themselves with the workings of this site, which are perhaps surprisingly complex in some instances, before jumping into the exchanges. The best place to start: Start Here. This project is one of several dozen cooperative programs which are taking place under The Commons. We suggest that you have a look at the home page of this independent for further background and orientation.

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Virtual Conference, Workshops, Conversations, Discussions

We propose that this site will from time to time host a series of brainstorming sessions, workshops or group discussions in which international participants get together to swap information, ideas and perspectives on some of the projects, issues and approaches targeted here. We can anticipate that such exchanges may revolve around a particular political situation or incident (for example a discussion of the actif-Trafic program, past, present and future), or perhaps be of a broader cross-cutting variety (say, a search for common points, approaches or strategic 'triggers" which can possibly be of use in other places and ways). In each case we shall need to have an invited moderator to lead the discussions, so if you have any ideas for either a theme or someone who may be good as a moderator or host, we shall be pleased to hear from you.

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Enquiries, Suggestions, Communications

The World Wide Web lends itself very well indeed to the sorts of communications, exchanges and cooperative knowledge building which are the main concerns of both this latest forum and of The Commons more generally. So stay tuned. You may be pleasantly surprised. If you have any ideas or materials for us, kindly get in touch or address them to: Eric Britton, EcoPlan International Le Frene, 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, France Tel: +331.4326.1323 Videoconference +331.4441.6340 (1-4) Fax/voicemail hotline: In Europe +331 5301 2896 Fax/voicemail hotline: In North America +1 888 522 6419 (toll free) Email: postmaster@ecoplan.org

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