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The Great Debate 11 March 2012You can watch the 10 minute talk on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHlqgILezMI
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The Engineering Challenges of Sustainable Transport Wednesday, 14 March 2012
“What would be the ideal transport mix for Tyne and Wear?”
Katja Leyendecker Eur.Ing CEng C.WEM MCIWEMWater engineerNewcastle Cycling Campaign
The Engineering Challenges of Sustainable Transport
Infrastructure…what do engineers do all day?
Utilities (gas, water, electricity) - grids and generation
Communication (broadband, television, radio, mobile phone,, landline)
Water and disposal (sewage, landfill, transfer stations)
Flood and water (rivers, streams, canals, dams, reservoirs)
Transport (roads and streets, bridges, rail, ports, airports, freight distribution
centres, bus / light rail / local transport)
Stress on society
Big national projects
Decentralised community solutions
Economic growth Sustainability = living in a finite habitat
Population
Consumption
“What would be the ideal transport mix for Tyne and Wear?”
Stress on transportBut also carbon reduction, climate change, health, congestion, air quality
National transport (from 25 miles)
modal shift
Local transport (up to 25 miles)
Ultra-local transport(up to 5 miles)
More miles travelled year on year
Reducing the need / desire to travel, and miles travelled
Short journeys by car Short journeys by active, green and healthy means
Transport emissions
Modal shift - proposed
“Sustrans calls on UK governments to invest in doubling the number of journeys under five miles made by foot, bike and public transport to four out of five by 2020.”
Do we ‘need’ the car?
What can other countries tell us?
Safecycleways
Integration
Older folks
Shopping
Friends
Shared space
Transport
Utility
Deliveries
Kids
Modal shift – how?
If we cycled like the Danes… reduction of 5% UK carbon emissions
National leadership and investment
.. to facilitate local solutions and foster technical expertise
Behavioural change
PullBuild it and they will come.
True for motorways, and true for local transport
(investment)
PushWe must make unfettered car use (hypermobility) unacceptable in our society
(moral dimension)
The engineer of the future?
• Moral dimension
• Working at community level
• Leading by example ‘on yer bike or bus’
• Good communicator
Engineering – it’s for girls?
Final thoughts
Loosening the belt to cure obesity Nature doesn’t do bailouts
"We are not going to save the planet by putting our country out
of business“
George Osborne -
"I may not be an engineer, but as a historian I can say with some confidence that our lame excuses will look very weak in their eyes if we do not"
- HRH Prince of Wales
"Anyone who believes in indefinite growth on a physically finite planet is either mad or an economist“
- Sir David Attenborough