Transport – June 20

June 20, 2012

Click on the headline (link) for the full text. Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage


Walkable Neighborhoods Can’t Just Be For Rich People

Sarah Laskow, Good
Most Americans want to live in walkable neighborhoods, but only a fraction can afford it. Housing in places with easy access to stores, restaurants, jobs, and public transit is in short supply, and only about a third of those who say they want to live in walkable neighborhoods actually do. Aaccording to a new study, the people lucky enough to live in the most walkable neighborhoods are often also be the most well-off…

Link to the report
(31 May 2012)


UK cyclists take different paths

Phys.org
Vast differences in cycling cultures have been found in UK cities; for some cycling is a traditional transport accessible to all while for others it is a new edgy, urban subculture according to recent findings from a research project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). “We wanted to find out what British cycling cultures were like, what supported them, and what local and national factors continue to exist as barriers”, says Dr Rachel Aldred from the University of East London…

From the report:
Aims & Scope
This project sought to examine experiences of cycling in four relatively high-cycling English urban areas: Bristol, Cambridge, Hackney (Inner London) and Hull. The areas were selected for their topographical, demographic, and political diversity. All in 2001 had cycle to work rates at least twice as high as the UK average. Cambridge and Hull have traditions of cycling: Cambridge is now described as the UK’s top cycling city, with cycle to work rates of around 25%, while Hull was given that accolade in the 1930s and one in eight people in the city still cycle to work. Bristol and Hackney, by contrast, have emerging cycling cultures while – like other large cities in the UK – lacking strong traditions of cycling.

The project complements other research that, like Understanding Walking and Cycling, focuses on more typical low-cycling contexts. Our project was instead embedded in places where cycling was more ‘normalised’, seeking to understand how this happens within what has been an unfavourable national context. We wanted to find out what British cultures were like, what supported them, and what local and national factors continued to exist as barriers. We found differences between the four areas alongside similarities. When cycling is defined as something alien to national identity, unsurprisingly perhaps local identity looms large for those promoting, or participating in, cycling…

Link to the report
(19 June 2012)


Future Options for Heavy Transport Vehicles

Stefan Hausberger, aspo2012

(15 June 2012)


Tags: Fossil Fuels, Oil, Transportation