Sustainable urban transportation in developing mega-cities : a review of policies, regulations, and technologies

Abstract

Of the many daunting challenges the world's developing mega-cities face, perhaps none is more pressing than the urgent need to enhance the mobility of their citizens. An efficient flow of goods and people into around and through these urban nerve centers is vital to their global economic competitiveness, environmental health, and socioeconomic development. A lack of adequate mobility is characterized by a number of detrimental externalities. Chiefly, the ensnarement of vehicles in traffic congestion, an increase in air-borne pollutants and a higher cost of travel are symptoms of poor planning, inadequate investment, and ineffective governance. Innovative policies, regulations, and technologies must be employed that enable mobility without sacrificing quality of life, clean air, or investment in other sectors. The primary objective of this study is to assist municipal governments in the development of environmentally sustainable, socially equitable, and financially self-reliant transportation policies and systems. This objective will be achieved in three stages: I. This study will describe and assess a portfolio of urban transportation policies, regulations, and technologies, concentrating on those policies that make use of market forces to influence travel demand. II. Two urban transportation case studies will be developed: Singapore and Bogoti, Colombia. These cases will be used to illustrate the interactions of policies, regulations, and technologies and to demonstrate the important roles that institutional arrangements and public opinion can play as determinants of success or failure. III. Finally, from this analysis we will develop a series of urban transportation policy recommendations for the city of Guangzhou. Our recommendations are based on interviews with senior municipal officials, documents produced by the administration, the city's unique context, and the telling experiences of Singapore and Bogota. Three primary conclusions arise from this study. First, developing mega-cities cannot focus solely on the supply of additional infrastructure to address their mobility problems; they must also manage the demand side of the equation. Second, these cities must employ a broad mixture of demand-management measures simultaneously in order to significantly improve mobility. Third, these cities must develop adequate institutional capacity in order to design, implement, and enforce effective transportation policies and manage sustainable urban transportation systems.