Sustainable Transport

Members of this theme work very closely with the urban planning and regeneration theme but have a particular focus on the issues around the design of transport infrastructure and the spatial planning process. A crucial aspect of the challenge of developing a multi-modal city-region is achieving more integration between spatial and transport developments. With the issues of climate change and the importance of sustainable transport being high on the international agenda, our researchers are at the cutting edge of thinking in this area influencing city council agendas.

Members of the group have a long track record of influential studies completed for government departments in England and Scotland, as well as projects funded by Research Councils, charities and the EU. Collaborative research has been carried out with the business and non-governmental communities as well as comparative research with institutes in Italy, The Netherlands, Romania, Sweden and the USA.

Case Study

Accessibility Instruments in Planning Practice

Accessibility is a fundamental attribute of a well-functioning city or urban region. The new approach to accessibility focuses on the proximity of origins to destinations, making it easier for people to travel around their city and improving the quality of urban places.

This project has carried out an inventory and review of the use of accessibility instruments in planning practice using documentary review and a web-based survey of 30+ instrument developers. Work is ongoing using interactive workshops with transport and planning practitioners in 25 countries:

• to understand the mobility planning problems
• to demonstrate how accessibility instruments can provide information on the appropriate and equitable level of service provision and provide information on the impact of proposed planning decisions on people's accessibility.