Mobility after the car era
The strong growth in car traffic witnessed during the last half century will soon come to an end in the Western world. Around 2050 we will travel more kilometres in airplanes than in cars. And the new wave of urbanization we ‘re in, will give a boost to cycling and urban mass transit. In addition to these changes, policy makers need a new compass: accessibility resulting both from short distances and from travel speed. We need a new way of thinking about mobility and its economic and social benefits. In my book ‘New Mobility – Beyond the car era’, I develop a new narrative, starting from the driving forces behind our mobility.
Publications
Accessibility inequality
'Transport poverty' is a new buzzword. I recommend no longer using this. There is certainly poverty in the Netherlands, because we have food banks and thirty-two thousand 'registered' homeless people,… Read More
No growth in truck kilometres
Logistics cause 11% to 12% of global CO2 emissions. Road transport accounts for around two thirds of this. Even with the fastest possible switch to electric trucks, the logistics industry is not on track to… Read More
The Future of Mobility
Which forces lie behind the development of our mobility in the past centuries and will most likely shape the future as well? The desire for speed is important, and so… Read More
Decarbonizing aviation: comparing nine policies
Aviation needs to bring its CO2 emissions down to zero not far beyond 2050. To achieve this, a wide range of technologies and policies is considered. Among these are taxes,… Read More
Sustainable mobility: illusions and successes
Efforts to achieve sustainable mobility saw many illusions and only few successes. Fortunately, the successes were large. In shorthand: policies to force the use of cleaner vehicles and energy, have… Read More
End of car growth?
Official projections from the Dutch government for the growth in car traffic are too high. The government recognized that car mobility grew slower than expected. Therefore, they almost halved the… Read More
How to make people travel less by car and plane?
This is the million-dollar question for many advocates of sustainable mobility. T&E - European Federation for Transport & Environment - invited me to present my insights and discuss these during… Read More
The transport-urbanisation dialectic
Why is it so hard to make people shift from car and plane to public transport? An important explanation is the strong link between mobility and spatial structure. Mobility behaviour… Read More
Five taboos about mobility
Five topics are kept off the table in the debate about mobility policy. Taboos are very effective in influencing policies. Relevant topics are kept out of publicity and off the… Read More
Road pricing
The International Transport Forum organized a Round Table, in which I participated as one of the experts. International best practices and new scientific insights have been combined to identify ways… Read More
Car mobility decreases in the Netherlands
Official data show that the average Dutch inhabitant rides now 4% less in cars, than in 2005. See the solid red line in the graph. This reflects the sum of… Read More
Speed drives mobility
Speed determines the long term mobility developments; both how far we travel and which mode we choose. The car is door-to-door mostly faster than public transport and this explains the… Read More
Book ‘New Mobility’
My book ´New Mobility – Beyond the car era’ has been published in 2017. The coming decades will show surprising changes in our mobility. These result from the driving forces… Read More
Wishful thinking in transport policy
In an essay for the international conference 'Keep Moving' (2012), I sketch lessons from 30 years sustainable mobility policy: what does and what doesn't work. European environmental standards and car… Read More
Asset management of civil structures
Aging structures require a strongly improved management. In a guest lecture at the TU Delft, I sketched the main challenges and the future of asset management. Download the slides of… Read More
Sustainable Accessibility of the Randstad
Spatial concentration in cities and towns increases both the accessibility and the sustainability. This is the core conclusion of the six year academic research programm Sustainable Accessibility of the Randstad… Read More
New transport technologies?
Transport technologies largely determine the developments in mobility and transport. Can we expect new transport technologies, which will change our mobility patterns? Which technologies will outperform the car, underground or… Read More
Wishful Thinking in Transport Policy
In this essay I draw the lessons of 40 years of sustainable transport policy. This was my contribution to the international conference 'Keep Moving, Towards Sustainable Mobility' in 2012. What… Read More
Delhi 2050 – Infrastructure and Urbanisation
Together with partners from India and the Netherlands, I have been involved in making a spatial vision for the future of this Indian metropolis. Delhi is expected to have 35… Read More
A European aviation charge
In my book ‘New Mobility – Beyond the car era’ I predict that people in Western-Europe will in 2015 fly on average more kilometres than they travel by car. The… Read More