Accelerating the Uptake of Sustainable Urban Transport Policies and Land Use Planning

'Accelerating the Uptake of Sustainable Urban Transport Policies and Land Use Planning in the Global South' asks if rapidly growing cities can 'leapfrog' car-oriented mobility

Is it possible for cities in the Global South to ‘leapfrog’ car-oriented mobility and go straight to more sustainable and liveable solutions? In cities in the Global South which have low, but rising, levels of motorization, there is a chance. This, however, relies on formulating and implementing policies, practices and partnerships that can support sustainable mobility and decouple economic growth from unsustainable patterns of transport and land use.

The aim of this small grant was to study and influence the evolution of urban transport policy development cycles in the Global South. It took an interdisciplinary and cross-sector approach to identifying the conditions under which sustainable and inclusive transport and land use development can be accelerated in growing cities in the Global South.

This project acted as a pliot study and formed the basis for a successful bid to the UK Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund. The follow up project, T-SUM: Transitions to Sustainable Urban Mobility in Sub-Saharan Africa, received an ESRC research grant of over £800,000 in 2018. T-SUM focused on the co-production of knowledge between local and international partners in academia, government and the third sector to support the development of sustainable and inclusive mobility in Maputo, Mozambique and Freetown, Sierra Leone. 

 A workshop hosted at UCL brought together project partners and government officials from Maputo and Freetown to consider how rapidly growing cities in the Global South can make the transition to sustainable urban mobility.

Further workshops have been held in Maputo and Freetown with policy makers, transport operators, members of civil society, researchers and international development institutions.

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An extensive list of publications and other outputs can be found at the T-SUM website.

Image credit: Freetown, Sierra Leone by jbdodane