Cooperation, Special Editions & Future Issues

  • Letters to Editor and Commentaries
  • Book and Report Reviews
  • Topics to be thought about
  • Special Editions
  • Future Cooperative Issues

    • Letters to Editor and Commentaries

    We welcome both letters to the editor and comments on articles or current issues and problems in the domain of the journal. Comments can be addressed either to the editors (mailto:wtppeditor@ecoplan.org) or place in front of the the group as a whole (mailto:wtpp@egroups.com) for open discussoin. In submitting items to the attention of the group, take care to provide a good crisp mnemonic to guide the discussions, since others may join in with additional comments or qualifications.

    Book and Report Reviews

    We welcome reviews of current books of interest to our readers, and of official reports and documents that might benefit from open discussion by qualified international professionals. Contact us first with a short note outlining your intended contribution, so that we can agree on format and length in advance, thus sparing you time and trouble in getting your good materials into print.

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    Future Topics

    Here are some of the topics that we are looking at as possible subjects for future editions of the Journal. Does this inspire any ideas or reactions on your part. If so, we invite you to get in touch with us here.
    • The Pedestrian Friendly City
    • Women and Transport
    • Children (Special requirements and ways in which this shapes systems)
    • Children - As active agents of change
    • Special country editions -- showing how the issues are being confronted there
    • Free transport
    • The role of the independent Sustainability Audit
    • Sustainability and car free days
    • Metros in Third World Cities: Pro and Con
    • Motorcycles in Third World Cities
    • Speed
    • Slowth
    • Micro models as a sustainable transport agent
    • Film, video and sustainable transportation
    • Calcutta
    • India
    • WWW
    • Lessons from the handicapped
    • The Sustainable Transportation Hall of Shame (annual list and commentary)
    • The Italian wrinkle on S/T
    • Your suggestions....

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    Special Editions

    A Special Edition of the Journal can take any of several forms, the basic idea being to join forces with some group, movement, focus area or event to create a dedicated publication that can reach out beyond the usual limits of WTP&P circulation and readership to achieve some broader audience and objectives. Since these involve editorial and production resources that are usually far beyond those that are available to the Journal for a normal issue, each special issue require some form of sponsorship and other forms of support. Thus far we have produced two such issues, which we present as examples and for which you will find further information below.

    Do you have an idea for a special issue? An event that might lead itself to collaboration along these lines? As long as it involves topics and approaches which are consistent with our mandate, we want to hear from you.

    Vol. 2, No. 1/2: Information Society & Sustainable Development

    The March 1996 volume marked the first of our dedicated special editions which are given over to a single topical theme and in parallel closely integrated to a public interest program and some event that support the theme of sustainable transportation. In this case there was a cooperative sponsorship: on the one hand from the Environment Directorate of the OECD and the Government of Canada as sponsors of the March 1996 International Conference, Toward Sustainable Transportation, and of the other, DG XIII (Communications) of the European Commission. On that occasion the sponsors arranged to cover all production costs of the special number, and to print 5000 additional copies which were then distributed both at the Vancouver event and subsequently in support of a number of meetings and events. This is a model of international collaboration that we intend to continue to develop in support of the work of the Journal and the challenges of sustainable transportation more generally.

    If interested you can download an e-copy of that special edition from the WTP&P library right here. Alternatively print copies of that publication can still be obtained from the office of Dr. Peter Johnston, DG XIII/B1, Telecommunications Program Preparation & Follow-up of the European Commission.

    Vol. 5, No. 3: CarSharing & Sustainable Transportation

    A major international cooperative effort was undertaken to prepare a special issue on our Car Sharing & Sustainable Transportation. This is a major international team effort under the leadership of Eric Britton of EcoPlan, bringing together some two dozen major first-hand reports on how this new area of transportation policy and practice is playing itself out at the leading edge.

    The costs of this issue were totally defrayed by EcoPlan and The Commons as part of their continuing search for ideas and innovations which can help us move toward more sustainable transportation systems. The 300 page edition that resulted is being distributed internationally in a partnership with the EST program of the Environment Directorate of the OECD and the German Federal Agency for the Environment (UBA) in Berlin. For further details, including a detailed outline of the contents and list of authors, go to CarSharing. You may also find some interest in the CarShare '99 International Case Book, the latest version of which is also freely available here in our @Library here.

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    Future Cooperative Issues

    We are at present discussing joint and cooperative numbers with a number of international groups, agencies and programs working to forward the sustainable transportation agenda. We have been particularly impressed by the work that has been accomplished by the following groups, among others, in the last years and hereby invite them to explore with us the possibility of developing Special Editions under their editorial guidance.
    • Environmentally Sustainable TransportOECD program
      We are discussing with this forward studies unit of the OECD the possibility their taking over for a special issue on Environmentally Sustainable Transport, drawing on the experience and findings of the program under that name which has been on the lookout for useful sustainable policy and research clues since 1994. This issue could be prepared in conjunction with an international conference to be held in 2000 on that subject.

    • Sustran Network
      The Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia and the Pacific (the SUSTRAN Network) promotes and popularises people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on Asia and the Pacific. The SUSTRAN network was launched in 1995 and has established contact with several hundred individuals and organisations around the region and beyond, with active partner organisations in North America, Europe, Latin America and Africa. So far the main activity of the network has been information-sharing. (For the Sustran Network web site click here.) We would like to see a Special Issue which draws on their unique international network and competence, possibly on the topic of a new generation of sustainable transport strategies and approaches for Third World mega-cities. .

    • Victoria Transport Policy Institute
      The Victoria Transport Policy Institute is an independent research organization dedicated to developing innovative and practical tools for solving transportation problems. They describe themselves as follows: "We can help you address the challenges involved in effective transportation decision making. We provide a wide range of studies, guides and software, most available free at this website. These materials can bridge the gap between theory and practice. We are funded primarily through research grants and consulting. Our research is among the most current available and has been widely applied." They are first class, and perhaps they may wish to consider the possibility of a joint edition on any of a number of the topic areas in which they work. One particularly striking prospect might be publication via WTP&P of their forthcoming TDM Encyclopaedia.

    • ITDP - Transportation and Development Policy
      The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) was set up in 1985, to promote environmentally sustainable and equitable transportation policies and projects worldwide. ITDP was organized by leading advocates for sustainable transport in the US who realized that the US was exporting its model of automobile dependence to developing countries and, most recently, Central and Eastern Europe. ITDP chose to focus on counteracting this development.

    • Children and Transportation
      A special issue on in cooperation with the Children on the Move program of The Commons. (Sponsors for this project are currently being sought.)

    • Putting IST to Work as a Sustainable Transport Strategy: The Bilbao Example
      (Double issue - See http://www.Bilbao2001.net for background on associated events) .

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