Mobility and Urbanization

What does the future of freight transport look like? What are the implications of the energy transition, electrification, and autonomous vehicles? The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management asked… Read More

In the Dutch journal for economic policy, I analyse the most significant trends and shifts in the automotive industry. Topics covered include stagnating car mobility growth, the trend towards larger… Read More

That is the biggest misconception about mobility. People choose their A and B according to their transport options. They cycle to the local supermarket, take the tram to the city… Read More

What works when it comes to cutting pollution from cars? Greenhouse gas emissions from road transport in the EU-27 have increased by 23% between 1990 and 2022, while in the… Read More

Public transport is seen as an alternative to the car and therefore as a way to reduce pollution from car traffic. Indeed, trains, trams and buses are cleaner than cars.… Read More

It will soon be possible to book your international train journey with one click. This was promised by the coming European Commissioner for Transport on 4 November, during the European… Read More

We will have to get used to the fact that traffic jams are here to stay. After all, if traffic can move one per cent faster during rush hour, this… Read More

Working from home does not reduce commuting time, nor road congestion and crowded public transport. Instead, it increases commuting distance. Surprised? Only when we consider the entire system of mobility… Read More

“In praise of America’s car addiction – How vehicle-dependence makes the country fairer and more efficient” was a headline in The Economist November 9th 2023. The opposite is true. This… Read More

'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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Aviation needs to reduce its CO2 emissions to zero not far beyond 2050. Making people take the train instead of the plane is one of the options. I assessed the… Read More

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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