The section below is republished with permission from the Going Solar Transport Newsletter #53, 1 April 2008, compiled by Stephen Ingrouille. Going Solar, www.goingsolar.com.au/transport. This newsletter provides an excellent commentary on local sustainable transport issues in Melbourne.

Sustainable Cities
“The urban environments we design today – our cities, towns and places will significantly affect environmental sustainability in the future. Cities currently are a major contributor to global warming. In the future they must become sustainable. The design professions and especially planners, urban designers and architects need to rethink how to design and manage the built environment more effectively in the context of addressing environmental sustainability.”
Ref: Alex Tzannes, Urban Design Forum #80, December 2007

“Abu Dhabi has started to build what it says is the world’s first zero-carbon, zero-waste car-free city. Masdar City will cost $22bn (£11.3bn), take eight years to build and be home to 50,000 people and 1,500 businesses. The city will be mostly powered by solar energy and residents will move in travel pods running on magnetic tracks.”
Ref: BBC News 10/2/08 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7237672.stm