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Originally published in 1989, America's Suburban Centers looks at
how America's suburban workplaces are being increasingly designed
for automobiles rather than people. The emergence of sprawling
office complexes devoid of housing, shops and other facilities is
giving rise to regional congestion problems because of the
ever-greater dependence on automobiles. This book argues that the
low-density, single-use, and non-integrated character of America's
suburban centers is a root cause of declining levels of mobility
and worsening traffic congestion.
Robert Cervero documents the rise in suburban traffic around the
country and examines the role of various planning, design, and
management approaches in defining the automobile's growing presence
in suburbia. The book highlights suburban business complexes and
mixed-use centers throughout the United States that have been
planned and designed to reduce auto dependency and to promote
ridesharing, transit usage, and other commuting alternatives. Steps
taken by various municipalities to enlist the support of private
interests in reducing employee trip-making and financing area-wide
roadway improvements are also examined. While the analysis is
national in scope, detailed case studies offer in-depth insights
into the many institutional and logistical problems involved in
mitigating the impact of suburban congestion. The transportation
planning profession has historically focused its attention and
resources on downtown access and mobility problems. Suburbs, and
places beyond, have long been considered havens for travel, free
from traffic jams, and ideal for leisurely weekend excursions. Over
the years, transportation planning in suburbia has involved little
more than adding new projects to five-year capital improvement
programs. This book remains essential for planners, administrators,
and citizens interested in the future of suburbia and safeguarding
it from the coming transportation crisis.
Originally published in 1989, America's Suburban Centers looks at
how America's suburban workplaces are being increasingly designed
for automobiles rather than people. The emergence of sprawling
office complexes devoid of housing, shops and other facilities is
giving rise to regional congestion problems because of the
ever-greater dependence on automobiles. This book argues that the
low-density, single-use, and non-integrated character of America's
suburban centers is a root cause of declining levels of mobility
and worsening traffic congestion.
'Transforming Cities with Transit' explores the complex process of
transit and land-use integration in rapidly growing cities in
developing countries. As one of the most promising strategies for
advancing environmental sustainability, economic competitiveness,
and socially inclusive development in fast-growing cities, transit
and land-use integration is increasingly being embraced by
policy-makers at all levels of government. This book focuses on
identifying barriers to and opportunities for effective
coordination of transport infrastructure and urban development.
Global best-case practices of transit-oriented metropolises that
have direct relevance to cities in developing countries are first
introduced. Key institutional, regulatory, and financial
constraints that hamper integration and opportunities to utilize
transit to guide sustainable urban development are examined in
selected cities in developing countries. For this, the book
analyzes their Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems and their impact on
land development. The book formulates recommendations and
implementation strategies to overcome barriers and take advantage
of opportunities. It asserts that unprecedented opportunities have
and will continue to arise for the successful integration of
transit and land development in much of the developing world. Many
cities in developing countries currently exhibit the pre-requisites
- e.g., rapid growth, rising real incomes, and increased
motorization and congestion levels - for BRT and railway
investments to trigger meaningful land-use changes in economically
and financially viable ways. Recommendations for creating more
sustainable cities of the future range from macro-level strategies
that influence land development and governance at the metropolitan
scale to micro-level initiatives, like Transit Oriented Development
(TOD), that can radically transform development patterns at the
neighborhood level. The book will be of interest to a wide and
diverse audience, including mayors, council members and other
national and local policy makers, urban and transportation
planners, transit-agency officials, and developers and staff of
development financial institutions and others involved with TOD
projects in rapidly growing and motorizing cities of the developing
world.
Paratransit is a challenge to the conventional approach to public
transport in the United States, which depends on fixed-route,
fixed-schedule, publicly owned or regulated sytems such as buses
and trains. Paratransit is a type of service which relies on small
vehicles which are frequently privately owned and operated, and
which may not work on a schedule. The various options concerning
service types, market niches, and effectiveness are discussed,
along with the future of paratransit. Case studies are given
describing paratransit systems in the U.S. and other places, and
the interaction of paratransit with more traditional systems.
Cities across the globe have been designed with a primary goal of
moving people around quickly--and the costs are becoming ever more
apparent. The consequences are measured in smoggy air basins,
sprawling suburbs, unsafe pedestrian environments, and despite
hundreds of billions of dollars in investments, a failure to stem
traffic congestion. Every year our current transportation paradigm
generates more than 1.25 million fatalities directly through
traffic collisions. Worldwide, 3.2 million people died prematurely
in 2010 because of air pollution, four times as many as a decade
earlier. Instead of planning primarily for mobility, our cities
should focus on the safety, health, and access of the people in
them. Beyond Mobility is about prioritizing the needs and
aspirations of people and the creation of great places. This is as
important, if not more important, than expediting movement. A
stronger focus on accessibility and place creates better
communities, environments, and economies. Rethinking how projects
are planned and designed in cities and suburbs needs to occur at
multiple geographic scales, from micro-designs (such as parklets),
corridors (such as road-diets), and city-regions (such as an urban
growth boundary). It can involve both software (a shift in policy)
and hardware (a physical transformation). Moving beyond mobility
must also be socially inclusive, a significant challenge in light
of the price increases that typically result from creating higher
quality urban spaces. There are many examples of communities across
the globe working to create a seamless fit between transit and
surrounding land uses, retrofit car-oriented suburbs, reclaim
surplus or dangerous roadways for other activities, and revitalize
neglected urban spaces like abandoned railways in urban centers.
The authors draw on experiences and data from a range of cities and
countries around the globe in making the case for moving beyond
mobility. Throughout the book, they provide an optimistic outlook
about the potential to transform places for the better. Beyond
Mobility celebrates the growing demand for a shift in global
thinking around place and mobility in creating better communities,
environments, and economies.
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