(This section still in progress.)

We shall shortly be posting here the names together with a full set of supporting background information identifying each of the distinguished colleagues who have agreed to participate actively in forwarding the goals of this program.

Principal Voices of Sustainable Transportation.

Who are these people and why are there here? We call them the Principal Voices of Sustainable Transportation. In a phrase, the outstanding personalities and leaders in many parts of the world who over the last years have been working on the ground to reshape the transportation agenda, bringing it step by step closer in line with the precepts of sustainable development and social justice.

Each individual member is distinguished by her or his ideas, energy, courage, accomplishments and commitment to the long haul. They come from many different disciplines, countries and political outlooks, and understand that the kinds of improvements needed to make a real difference requires not only technical capabilities but also the ability to negotiate change.

The goal of the Panel in this case is not only to bring in their individual competences and reputations to advance the Kyoto Cities efforts, but also to see if we can by networking them within this focused high profile international program elicit group intelligence that just may come up with ideas and achievements that none of us might have made working along. For that reason the SOA communications component of this program is especially important (see below).

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Levels of engagement and participation

As you will appreciate, the people whose names appear here are in all cases already hugely over-booked. Thus it would be unreasonable as well as unrealistic to expect that most of them are going to be able to put a great deal of time into this specifically . . . unless, as will surely be the case for some, the approaches, tools and contacts grouped here turn out to be directly applicable to their own work and responsibilities immediately at hand.

The most immediate thing the signatories offer to the Kyoto Cities Challenge program in this first instance, is that by posting their names here they are announcing to any and all that they believe (a) that not only are the transport-related problems at hand in our cities of great importance and urgency, but also (b) that it makes good sense in most cases to look to see what can be done by way of strong remedial measures and policies to make a very large impact on the city within a very short period, i.e., the two or three years immediately ahead.

One thing that we can expect to see shortly will be a certain amount of creative clustering, both as specific organizations begin to get together here and there in their work and projects, but we will certainly also see specific city, project and program clusters emerge as the group expands and as Panel members suggest and bring in additional experts with the kinds of competences that are going to be needed to make this whole thing work.

In conclusion: Those colleagues working in various ways on these issues around the world are making a contribution by their public support of more aggressive approaches to the challenges as hand -- and it is up to us here to make sure that we give back to them in turn ideas, tools and information that make this a fair trade. Stay tuned.

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Linking the Panel and the Leading Cities

It is our experience that when it is possible for the members of the panel and the projects are able to "get together in person" at low cost, frequently and with a high quality interface to develop their ideas, listen to each other, and in general take full advantage of their collective intelligence, everyone gains in the process.

In the case of the Stockholm Partnerships for Sustainable Cities we were fortunate to have the collaboration and support of Polycom (Polycom.com), one of the leading providers of video and group conferencing systems. Thus we were able to put a complete video installation in the hands of each of the members of the International Jury, thus allowing one-on-one videoconferences and group work. These handy working links went a long way to assisting the success of this splendid project.

For the Kyoto Cities project, we are examining a number of possible ways of providing these linking technologies at no cost to all who are directly involved in the success of the program, and will be reporting on this in the weeks directly ahead.

In the meantime if you would like to see how we handle this here at The Commons, we invite you to click here for father background.

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Organization and presentation

To get an idea of how this is going to work in terms of the presentation details for the members of the International Jury of Stockholm Partnerships for Sustainable Cities . . .

• Click here for to see how we organized the overall introductory presentation for the Stockholm jury.

• And from there click any of the names to see how the individual profiles are handled in each case (small photo, short bio note (ca. 150 words max.), some kind of striking relevant quote, and the usual contact details). This strikes us as a good model, unless you have any better ideas for us.

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Nominations?

Do you have a nomination for the Panel? If so we will be pleased to hear from you, and it would be kind if you attach enough information on your candidate for us to make an informed decision.

We are hoping to ensure strong coverage and variety, both in terms of disciplines, countries, and areas of expertise and predilection. And as you can imagine women, people with hands-on experience in the cities of the developing world, and those with experience with the special problems of those with mobility limitations and living in poor areas will be particularly welcome. Plus a fair quorum of young people (say 35 or less) who will be able to keep moving ahead with this message in the decades ahead.

Finally, we also need help in terms of media and financing, without which this project is never going to make its full mark.