Posts Tagged ‘city design’
On the state of sustainable cities
Posted in Research by fedwards on March 6th, 2009
The section below is republished with permission from the Going Solar Transport Newsletter #99, 24 February 2009, compiled by Stephen Ingrouille. Going Solar newsletter provides an excellent commentary on sustainable transport issues. The original article is by John Whitelegg, Canberra Times, 4/2/09. It outlines the states of several world cities such as London, Beijing and Sydney.
“The world’s great cities are at a crucial tipping point in their development. London is finding it difficult to cope with the growth in demand for public transport, Beijing has serious air pollution and the infrastructure of US cities is collapsing. Australia’s cities are rightly regarded as some of the finest urban environments in the world but they, too, are in trouble.
“The Sydney city region is typical. Its traffic levels are among the highest in the world, its air pollution routinely breaches World Health Organisation standards, and its planning and metropolitan governance are not fit for the purpose. Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne have fuelled traffic growth with an excess of highly expensive new highways and a failure to recognise global trends in so-called demand management. London has its congestion charge, Toronto will not build new roads and many other cities are heavily into high-quality public transport, walking and cycling strategies. Australia is being left behind.
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