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Robin Hickman publishes new book called 'Transport, Climate Change and the City'

28 January 2014

Hickman - Transport, Climate Change and the City

Transport, Climate Change and the City, co-authored by Prof.David Banister and The Bartlett School of Planning's Dr. Rob Hickman, seeks to develop achievable and low transport CO2 emission futures in a range of international case studies, including in London, Oxfordshire, Delhi, Jinan and Auckland. The aim is that the scenarios as developed, and the consideration of implementation and governance issues, can help us plan for and achieve attractive future travel behaviours at the city level. The alternative is to continue with only incremental progress against CO2 reduction targets, to ‘sleepwalk’ into climate change difficulties, oil scarcity, a poor quality of life, and to continue with the high traffic casualty figures. The topic is thus critical, with transport viewed as central to the achievement of the sustainable city and reduced CO2 emissions.  Sustainable mobility has long been sought after in cities around the world, particularly in industrialised countries, but also increasingly in the emerging cities in Asia. Progress however appears difficult to make as the private car, still largely fuelled by petrol or diesel, remains the mainstream mode of use. Transport is the key sector where carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions seem difficult to reduce.

Prof. Eran Feitelson, from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel reviewed the book and commented that “While transport’s contribution to climate change is of global importance, it needs to be addressed at the city or metropolitan scale. Yet cities differ, precluding easy one-size-fits-all solutions. By taking a scenario approach to a wide variety of cities this highly readable book provides insights to what can be done and how in a comprehensive manner. It is a major contribution, of interest to academics and practitioners alike.”