Car-sharing grows in China as an alternative to vehicle ownership
Car-sharing is beginning to take hold in Chinese cities, and can help reduce car ownership, congestion, and air pollution. Photo via gaoloumi.com.
China’s increasing overall wealth makes it unlikely that the country’s growth in car ownership will stop any time soon. However, severe air pollution and traffic congestion have led several large Chinese cities to take action to stem the rising tide ...
What does public and private sector investment in transport look like?
Both public and private sector investments play an important role in supporting sustainable urban mobility and minimizing the costs of private automobile use. Photo by Mariana Gil/EMBARQ Brasil.
Congestion, high levels of air pollution, and traffic crashes are consequences of a culture of investment that has focused for decades on the automobile. These externalities can cost up to 10 percent of a country’s GDP, and the world’s vehicle fleet is ...
Building for BRT: A Q&A with 2014 Lee Schipper Scholar Erik Vergel-Tovar
Erik Vergel-Tovar, 2014 Lee Schipper Scholar
Erik Vergel-Tovar, no stranger to TheCityFix, is a PhD candidate in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he researches the rich relationship between bus rapid transit (BRT) – a ...
Who are our streets for?: A Q&A with 2014 Lee Schipper Scholar Madeline Brozen
Madeline Brozen, 2014 Lee Schipper Scholar. Photo via Madeline Brozen.
Madeline Brozen is a Program Manager within UCLA’s Complete Streets Initiative and a recipient of the 2014 Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship. Her research focuses on urban design policy, with an emphasis on how cities can shift from car-oriented streets to ...
The making of a livable city: Inspiration for a sustainable, healthy Beijing
By prioritizing sustainable transport solutions, Beijing can shift away from car culture and improve quality of life for its rapidly growing population. Photo by Philip/Flickr.
Each year, 440,000 people move to Beijing in search of economic opportunity and better lives. Their rural to urban migration is a driver of economic growth, part of a larger plan to catalyze economic development through urbanization across China. However, ...
Friday Fun: Can personal rapid transit replace 90% of cars on the road?
Personal rapid transit could help cities reduce car use and support sustainable transport. Photo via Treehugger.com.
Sustainable urban mobility can come from multiple sources. Personal rapid transit (PRT) combines public transport with personalized routing. Though their designs vary, PRT systems generally consist of four- to six-passenger pods that are autonomously controlled while traveling along guide-ways. Instead ...
Making space for street vendors: Towards equitable urban development
Caption: Cities can dramatically improve street vendors’ livelihoods by providing sufficient space and infrastructure for vending. Photo by Prasanth Chandran/Flickr.
As previously discussed on TheCityFix, informal street vendors in cities around the world experience daily challenges to their economic livelihoods. For example, street vendors are perceived to be detrimental to city life, unhygienic, noisy, and to obstruct smooth flow of ...
People-oriented Cities: Smarter driving, smarter cities
Transport demand management strategies help wane commuters off the private car and make sustainable transport alternatives more viable, easing congestion and improving quality of life in cities. Photo by Mariana Gil/EMBARQ Brasil.
The “People-oriented Cities” series – exclusive to TheCityFix and Insights – explores how cities can become more sustainable and livable through transit-oriented development (TOD). The nine-part series addresses different urban design techniques and trends that reorient cities around people rather ...
Are streetcars worth the investment?
Streetcars are one of multiple public transport options for cities to consider when investing in sustainable urban mobility. Photo by Sean Davis/Flickr.
The Economist recently argued that streetcars are “a waste of money,” citing their high capital costs and inefficiencies as a means of transport. Others have argued that streetcars can be a catalyst for creating dynamic, vibrant urban environments. Both arguments ...
Mexico City’s new mobility law shifts focus towards people, not cars
Mexico City’s new mobility law prioritizes alternatives to car transport. Photo by karmacamilleeon/Flickr.
Sustainable mobility is a key challenge for city leaders. Mexico City – the world’s fourth most populous city, with more than 20 million inhabitants in its metropolitan area – is no different. The city must overcome a long history of urban ...