The Contribution of Land Use Planning to Reducing Traffic Growth

The relationship between land use and travel behaviour has attracted research interest in England over the last fifteen years, principally in connection with possible links between urban form and sustainability. Since the mid 1990s this work has been overtaken somewhat by Government policy initiatives. This is something of a mixed blessing. Official attention has shifted to the implementation of what is now an established line of policy. In academic circles, by contrast, there is increasing interest in mobility more generally as a phenomenon of contemporary society. In this context the pattern of land use remains an important influence, if only because of the physical legacy presented by the established pattern of development. However, the evolution in travel behaviour is, as ever, conditioned by broader social and economic trends (Gillespie et al 1998). This paper provides an overview of English experience in this field in three main sections: research, policy and implementation. To place these in context they are preceded by a section titled 'background' which highlights for an international audience some of the distinctive features of the English scene, in terms of geography, cultural attitudes to development and travel, and institutional arrangements for land use and transport planning. These require very careful consideration before any attempt is made to draw inferences for policy-making in other countries

Cambridge Squire Law Library: historical development and current status of International Law collections

The Squire Law Library has existed since 1904, and it has occupied three sites: Downing Street (till 1935); The Cockerell Building, Old Schools (1935-95); and West Road (1995-present), but until the mid-1950s, there was no designated collection space for International Law materials. Prior to this, the Whewell professors had their own collections, while the arrival of Harold Gutteridge as Professor of Comparative Law in 1930 saw a nucleus of international books develop in his room in the mezzanine of the Downing Street library. Similarly, when Hersch Lauterpacht became Whewell Professor in 1937, international material tended to be concentrated in his room 6 of the Cockerell Building. Finally a space was designated within the Squire Law Library for Foreign & International Law in 1957, and in 1962 the Sir Hersch Lauterpacht Memorial Room was created for this purpose. In the mid-70s, Professor Parry arranged for the whole of the 1st floor in the Cockerell Building to be set aside for these collections. Currently, the 3rd floor of the Sir David Williams Building on West Road houses both Foreign and International materials. Collection development policy has been driven by Faculty interests, especially those of the incumbent of the Whewell Chair of International Law, which was established in 1868. Since WWII, the main growth areas have been in Human Rights, Law of the Sea, Trade Law, and Investment Law, largely prompted by UN/EU/global trade-centric studies. Since 1982, journal acquisition policy has been increasingly dictated by the University Library, especially since 2003, when the UL Journals Co-ordination Scheme was piloted. After the 1980s, material has been increasingly of an electronic nature. Establishment of a specialist post (1997) singled out International Law as the premier component of the Squire Law Library collections. Currently ~30% of both Faculty staff and research students engage in International Law

Spatial Planning for Sustainable Transport?

Robin Hickman, Catherine Seaborn, Peter Headicar, David Banister and Corinne Swain consider the crucial role of spatial planning in reducing the demand for trave

Use of a novel dataset to explore spatial and social variations in car type, size, usage and emissions

© 2015 The Authors. The 'MOT' vehicle inspection test record dataset recently released by the UK Department for Transport (DfT) provides the ability to estimate annual mileage figures for every individual light duty vehicle greater than 3 years old within Great Britain. Vehicle age, engine size and fuel type are also provided in the dataset and these allow further estimates to be made of fuel consumption, energy use, and per vehicle emissions of both air pollutants and greenhouse gases. The use of this data permits the adoption of a new vehicle-centred approach to assessing emissions and energy use in comparison to previous road-flow and national fuel consumption based approaches. The dataset also allows a spatial attribution of each vehicle to a postcode area, through the reported location of relevant vehicle testing stations. Consequently, this new vehicle data can be linked with socio-demographic data in order to determine the potential characteristics of vehicle owners.This paper provides a broad overview of the types of analyses that are made possible by these data, with a particular focus on distance driven and pollutant emissions. The intention is to demonstrate the very broad potential for this data, and to highlight where more focused analysis could be useful. The findings from the work have important implications for understanding the distributional impacts of transport related policies and targeting messaging and interventions for the reduction of car use

A Study of the Feasibility and Potential Implementation of Metro-Based Freight Transportation in Newcastle upon Tyne

The concept of using a metropolitan railway network to transport freight directly to a city centre from the surrounding businesses has been the subject of much research. This paper looks in depth at the Tyne and Wear Metro system, situated in Newcastle upon Tyne, to determine if such a scheme would be feasible. Through research into the modes of transport available, along with a review of literature and case studies, it was found that the current method of transporting the majority of freight by road is unsustainable and damaging to both the environment and local communities. Other options for the transportation of freight have been reviewed, and results showed that a modal shift will be necessary in the near future. The system was then modelled using software provided by the Department for Transport, which demonstrated that the implementation of such a scheme would provide vast accident savings, a reduction in the number of casualties on the road, and a monetary saving as a result of the lower casualty rate. The conclusion was reached that the scheme is viable, however further research and study is necessary before implementation

The transformation of transport policy in Great Britain? 'New Realism' and New Labour's decade of displacement activity

In a 1999 paper, Goodwin announced ‘the transformation of transport policy in Great Britain’. His central point was that consensus was emerging among policy makers and academics based on earlier work including Transport: The New Realism, which rejected previous orthodoxy that the supply of road space could and should be continually expanded to match demand. Instead a combination of investment in public transport, walking and cycling opportunities and – crucially – demand management should form the basis of transport policy to address rising vehicle use and associated increases in congestion and pollution / carbon emissions. This thinking formed the basis of the 1997 Labour government’s ‘sustainable transport’ policy, but after 13 years in power ministers neither transformed policy nor tackled longstanding transport trends. Our main aim in this paper is to revisit the concept of New Realism and re-examine its potential utility as an agent of change in British transport policy. Notwithstanding the outcome of Labour’s approach to transport policy, we find that the central tenets of the New Realism remain robust and that the main barriers to change are related to broader political and governance issues which suppress radical policy innovation

Is the urbanisation of young adults reducing their driving?

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd In recent decades, in many developed countries, licence-holding, car ownership and driving, amongst young adults have declined. One of the explanations advanced for these declines is the urbanisation of young adults, their growing concentration in the denser areas of larger cities. This study analyses the changing spatial patterns and travel behaviour of young adults over time using a complete national dataset for England between 2001 and 2011. It uses a fractional response model to analyse the changing relationship between the proportion of young adults driving to work, and using public transport to get to work, and population density and settlement size. It finds that urbanisation contributed to less driving and more public transport use amongst young adults aged 16–34. These changes followed a change in national planning policy which encouraged higher density development in urban areas. These policies caused a re-urbanisation of the population as a whole, with the strongest trends amongst young adults. The re-urbanisation of the population was accompanied by a widening of the differentials in travel behaviour between those in the densest areas and the largest settlements (who drove less) and the rest. These findings cast new light on the controversy over ‘residential self-selection’. They suggest that a change in planning policy probably caused a modest national fall in driving. Residential self-selection, which is often considered a barrier to such policies, facilitated those outcomes

Peak car and increasing rebound: a closer look at car travel trends in Great Britain

This paper uses econometric analysis of aggregate time-series data to explore how different factors have influenced the demand for car travel in Great Britain since 1970 and how the rebound effect has changed over that time. Our results suggest that changes in income, the fuel cost of driving and the level of urbanisation largely explain travel trends over this period – with recent reductions in car travel (peak car) being driven by a combination of the rising fuel cost of driving, increased urbanisation and the economic difficulties created by the 2008 financial crisis. We find some evidence that the proportion of licensed drivers has influenced aggregate travel trends, but no evidence that growing income inequality and the diffusion of ICT technology have played a role. Our results also suggest that the rebound effect from improved fuel efficiency has averaged 26% over this period and that the magnitude of this effect has increased over time. However, methodological and data limitations constrain the level of confidence that we can have in these results

Guidance for transport planning and policymaking in the face of an uncertain future

Uncertainty of outcome is widely recognised as a concern facing decision-makers and their advisors. In a number of spheres of policy, it appears uncertainty has intensified in the face of globalisation, economic instability, climate change, technological innovation and changing consumer preferences. How can planners and policymakers plan for an uncertain future? There is growing interest in, and use of, techniques that can help decision-making processes where deep uncertainty is involved. This paper is based upon one of the most recent international examples of a foresight exercise employed to examine uncertainty - specifically that which concerns uncertainty over the nature and extent of future demand for car travel. The principal focus of the paper is on the insights and guidance this examination of uncertainty brings forth for transport planning and policymaking. To accommodate deep uncertainty requires a flexible and open approach in terms of how policy and investment possibilities are formulated and judged. The paper argues for a focus upon the Triple Access System of spatial proximity, physical mobility and digital connectivity as a framework for policy and investment decisions that can harness flexibility and resilience. Uncertainty becomes an opportunity for decision-makers with the realisation that they are shaping the future rather than (only) responding to a predicted future. The paper outlines two forms of policymaking pathway: regime-compliant (in which adherence to trends and the nature of the world we have known pushes policy) and regime-testing (in which the nature of the world as we have known it is brought into question and vision pulls policy decisions). Stronger orientation towards regime-testing to assist in managing an uncertain future is advocated