Sustainable Transport: a Sourcebook for Developing Cities
The Sourcebook on Sustainable Urban Transport addresses the key areas of sustainable transport policy framework for a developing city. It is intended for policy-makers in developing cities, and their advisors. This target audience is reflected in the context, which provides policy tools appropriate for application in a range of developing cities. The Sourcebook consists of 30 modules and was a collaborative effort produced by GTZ. Below are the modules ITDP contributed to Sourcebook. For the full Sourcebook, visit on the website of GIZ’s Sustainable Urban Transport Project (SUTP).
Module 1a: The Role of Transport in Urban Development Policy
Enrique Peñalosa, former Mayor of Bogota, Colombia, and President of the Board of Directors for ITDP, places transport in the context of growth and urban planning in developing cities.
The way cities are build affects to a large degree how people will live for hundreds of years to come. The task for everyone involved in creating environments where many generations will live is not simply to create a city that functions efficiently. It is to create an environemnt where the majority of people will be as happy as possible.
Module 3a: Mass Transit Options
Choices on public transit options are choices about a city’s future. Will there be congestion? WIll there be high levels of air and noise pollution? WIll transport be affordable? WIll services be available to all? The type of public transit system will have a big impact on the answers to these questions.
This module aimes to provude policy-makers in developing cities- and those advising them- with guidance on choosing appropriate Mass Rapiud Transit (MRT) systems. THe module begins by breifly describing some basic concepts and defining features of MRT in developing cities. Current applications of each of the main MRT options are then described, docusing on applications in developing cities.
Module 3b: Bus Rapid Transit
Effective public transit is central to development. For the vast majority of developing city residents, public transit is the only practical means to access employment, education, and public services, especially when such services are beyond the viable distance of walking or cycling. Unfortunately, the current state of public transit services in developing cities often does little to serve the actual mobility needs of the population. Bus services are too often unreliable, inconvenient and dangerous.
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) can provide high-quality, metro -like transit service at a fraction of the cost of other options. This module provides municipal officials, non-governmental organizations, consultants, and others with an introduction to the concept of BRT as well as a step-by-step process for successfully planning a BRT system.
Module 3d: Non-Motorized Transit
Many developing cities have implemented polciies which reduce the appeal of cycling, encouraging people to travel by motorised means even for short trips. However, an increasing number of city governments in developed and develpoing cities have recently begun actively pro,oting biclying and walking.
This module discusses the benefits of preserving and expanding the role of non-motorized transit in developing cities.
Module 7a: Gender and Urban Transport: Smart and Affordable
This module examines transport systems around the world to establish what is important for transport users in general and how gender affects the ways users view transport. Ultimately, these are universal concerns. When genderbased needs are not taken into consideration, transport is inefficient and unsustainable. Urban transport systems are frequently overlooked in discussions of quality of life issues for city dwellers. Moreover, transport is often seen as gender neutral—a road or bus system benefits all equally. However, this isn’t a given. Urban transport systems are dynamic, influenced by society and influencing the choices members of that society can make. The objective of this module is to provoke thinking about the concept of gender in urban transport through two concepts—being smart and being affordable.
Training Course: Non-Motorized Transport
A companion piece with Sustainable Transport: A Sourcebook for Policy-makers in Developing Cities, and further training materials on subjects such as Mass Transit and Bus Regulation and Planning. References are made to Module 1a of the Sourcebook.
