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W o r l d S t r e e t s 2 0 1 2 – F o c u s P r o g r a m s
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2012 FOCUS PROJECTS
1. World Streets
2. Safe Streets 2012 Challenge
3. Equity / Transport / System
4. 2012 Share Transport Forum
5. Nuova Mobilità
6. The Streets of India
7. Social Media MobilizationRESOURCES/MEDIA
- - - > W/S Top 20 in 2011
- - - > W/S on Facebook
- - - > W/S on Twitter
- - - > W/S on Linked-In
- - - > W/S on Google+
- - - > W/S Reading room
- - - > W/S Photo Gallery
- - - > YouTube: Selected videos
SISTER PUBLICATIONS
--> Network Dispatches
--> Sustainability Seminars
--> Nova Mobilidade
--> Streets of Iran
--> China Streets
--> Las Calles de Guadalajara
COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
* World Carshare 2012 Inventory
* World City Modal Splits
* Family Mouse in 50 languages
* Gender, Equity & Transport
* World Streets/Social Spaces
NEW MOBILITY PROGRAMS
* New Mobility Agenda
* Land Tax/Value Capture
* World Carshare Consortium
* World City Bike Network
* World Car Free Consortium
* World Share Transport Forum
* World Transport Journal
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK
Paris. Monday, 06 February, 2012
We have our work cut out for us in 2012. Look at the numbers. Despite
the great efforts of our best and the brightest in leading cities and
programs worldwide, we are still losing the
sustainability wars. And we are losing them badly,
whether in terms of climate, environment,resources, social justice, quality of life and, perhaps
worse than the rest, in terms of those key
underpinnings of efficiency and economy.
Efficiency, economy and . . . equity are the
indispensable pillars of a sustainability policy no matter what the sector.
Verdict: We are failing quite simply because we are not being smart
enough. We need to be far more open to new less familiar ideas,
scrutinize our shortcomings more closely, and find the sheer brains,
energy and daring to come up with the altogether different approaches
so much needed. We have to step back and improve our understandingnot only at the level of infrastructure, systems and modes, but also in
terms of the politics and strategies of transport. At the level of the city,
the country and in the international arena, where, to be frank, our
performance to now has been no less than miserable.
So it is going to be ... it must be, a big year for all of those of us who want
to make a difference on the streets and in the lives of our cities. And for
that we are fortunate to have the support of several thousand colleagues,
contributors and readers in some seventy countries worldwide (see map).
To get a feel for the foundation that has been pieced together since the
New Mobility Agenda first set out to do its bit in 1988, to your left is a
point by point program summary (BTW the links work). And if that seems
like a lot, please believe that this is only the tip of the iceberg. There is a
great deal more where that comes from, and to get a grip on that your
best port of entry is World Streets itself at www.WorldStreets.org, and
New Mobility Agenda at www.newmobility.org.
But now let's take a look at our workplan for 2012. And if you are reading
this I bet there is a chance that you may end up being part of it. So let's
get started.
Eric Britton, Managing director and founding editor
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An afternoon in Barcelona
2012 FOCUS PROGRAM PROFILES
All progress depends on the unreasonable man. G. B. Shaw
1. WORLD STREETS : LOOKING AHEAD TO 2012
2. NUOVA MOBILITÀ : SERVING SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT IN ITALY
3. STREETS OF INDIA : BUILDING A CONSENSUS FOR NEW MOBILITY
4. SAFE STREETS CHALLENGE 2012 : COLLABORATIVE PROGRAM
5. EQUITY –BASED TRANSPORT SYSTEMS (MOST IMPORTANT INITIATIVE WE HAVE EVER TAKEN.)
6. WORLD SHARE/TRANSPORT FORUM : 2010 TAIWAN, 2011 CHINA, 2012 INDIA??
7. NETWORK MEDIA. (DO WE KNOW WHAT WE ARE DOING?)
8. SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES, PROJECTS, EVENTS, TOOLS
9. READERS CHOICE IN 2011 (IT SURPRISED US)
10. THE SOCIAL SPACE FORMAT 11. WHAT DO OUR READERS HAVE TO TELL YOU ABOUT WORLD STREETS?
12. WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR WORLD STREETS, AND FOR YOURSELF?
CONTACT US
Telephone: France: +331 7550 3788 USA: +1 (213) 985 3501
Email: For New Mobility Agenda: [email protected]
For World Streets: [email protected]: [email protected]
Skype:
newmobility or ericbritton
Mail/Visits: The Commons/EcoPlan internationalLe Frêne, 8 rue Joseph Bara 75006 Paris, France
Nearest metro: Vavin. Notre Dame des ChampsNearest Vélib: # 6010 - rue de Chevreuse. # 6018 - rue Michelet
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WORLD STREETS is the main communications platform for all that goes on under the New Mobility
Agenda. Our challenge for 2012 is straight-forward: First to continue to stimulate and publish outstanding
articles and reports that inform, challenge, stretch the brain and inspire by example. But also to improve
the manner in which we are integrating and making use of the new media as part of this greater process.
But World Streets is also a program. One in which we work with collaborators in a specific country or city,
putting our energy, contacts, toolset and basic organizational structure to support the sustainable mobility
agenda in that place. In 2012 you can count on continuing steady flows of materials and articles to our on-
going joint programs: (a) in Italy – Nuova Mobilità at http://nuovamobilita.wordpress.com/ -- and (b) in
India via The Streets of India at www.IndiaStreets.org.
But the main thrust of our work over the year will be on the two themes of (a) Safe Streets and (b) Equity-
Based Transportation Systems. More on these important cross-cutting themes just below.
Our start-up projects in China, Guadalajara, Iran, Africa and Portugal on the other hand continue to be a bit
slow to get off the ground, but we are keeping them warm and adding to them as useful, awaiting the day
when the critical mass is in place and it is finally time to really get to work. Likewise for our joint project on
Gender, Equity & Transport which deserves active participation and support. (It may also be useful to notethat we have a sort of "anteroom" for each of these programs in Facebook. If you go to
http://www.facebook.com/worldstreets you will see links to each of these.)
The content of the journal is provided by members of the editorial board and our network of international
collaborators, with inputs from the editor when it seems useful. All contributions, including his, are made
on an unpaid volunteer basis. You may also note that World Streets is provided to anyone who needs it
without charge. Nor do we accept advertising, on the grounds that it is intrusive and takes up both valuable
screen and mental space. Beyond this, it is not consistent with our entire off-the-economy orientation. As
the poet put it: free frees.
Readers accessing World Streets this morning.
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NUOVA MOBILITÀ was created in July 2009 , the first World Streets national collaborative project
aiming to provide an efficient and original independent source of networking and information for people
and groups in Italy working to advance the sustainable transport agenda there, and most often against
considerable odds.. It was founded as a non-profit organization, under the joint leadership of Enrico
Bonfatti, editor of the new publication, and Eric Britton for World Streets.
Over this period N/M has published as of this date six hundred original articles drawing from numerous and
varied sources both inside and outside Italy. The journal functions as a two-way street, providing Italian
readers with coverage of problems, challenges and achievements within their
cites, and at the same time informing them in a compact manner and readable
of what is going on at the leading edge, both in Europe and worldwide. It is
here where the partnership with World Streets is proving most useful.
The site is getting going on a thousand reader hits/day and is currently followed
by 423 readers, 4 out of 5 of whom are Italian, with some 10% signing in from
the USA. More than 70 Italian cities are represented in the readership, with the
attached map showing the origins of the last 80 visitors on 3 February 2012.
The new media toolkit currently in place looks as follows. We are aware that
we need to become more proficient users of these important media and are
feeling are way as we use them.
- Journal at http://nuovamobilita.wordpress.com/
- Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nuova-Mobilit%C3%A0/376792709013216?v=wall
- Twitter - https://twitter.com/#!/NuovaMobilita
- Skype - nuova.mobilita
In 2012, we will seek proper funding to support this effort, which to now has been entirely funded out of pocket and supported by volunteers. After all it is Italy's only independent journal devoted exclusively to
the issues of transport in cities, and more importantly to all that is sustainable. This is an
uphill struggle because the automobile is still deeply entrenched in Italian culture and in the
mental space of those who decide about policy and investments in the field. Nuova Mobilità
is today still very much serving an embattled minority when it comes to transport policy and
practice. But it is a strong beginning, and one we believe is well worth supporting.
So if you have any thoughts or ideas on this, well now you know where to turn. A good
starting point will be to get in touch with the Editor, Enrico Bonfatti, which you can do via Skype at
nuova.mobilita, email at [email protected] or phone: +39 3402744826. Enrico answers his mail.
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INDIA STREETS got underway in September 2010 following up on the first World Share/Transport Forum
held in Kaohsiung Taiwan. The idea of a joint project was launched as a result of the enthusiasm expressed
by the Indian delegation, most of whom still at the PhD or early career stage. The idea was that we would
work together over the next two years to lay the base for organizing the third World Forum in India The
second conference took place in Sept. 2011 in Changzhi China. And 2012? In India as we had hoped?
Today India Streets consists of a collaborative blog which you will find at www.IndiaStreets.org, supportedby a Facebook group page at http://www.facebook.com/groups/indiastreets/ and on Twitter at
https://twitter.com/#!/indiastreets. The blog is being read, but not widely (an average of about 50
consultations a day). Only about 40% of the readers check in from India, with high levels of readership
from the US, UK, Pakistan and Nepal. Readership within India is concentrated in 20 of the largest cities, with
Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi and Pune leading the way. The result thus far? Well, on a scale of ten (World
Streets being 9), we can thus far give it no better than a 5, possibly a 4. So we have our work cut out for us.
It is impossible to think of turning our backs on the world's largest and most raucous democracy. There are
a couple of thousand people in India who have a clear idea of how to improve on current public policy and
investments decisions, and if we can help them make their voices heard, that is what we should try to do.
Here are four collaborative project initiatives that we should like to try to help along in 2012:
1. Make those needed improvements in the Streets of India program to strengthen its voice.
2. Do what we can to encourage discussions and eventually preparations for a major world
conference on Share Transport in India in 2012 as targeted from the beginning.
3. See if the Safe Streets program can make a contribution in cooperation with local partners and
sponsors. Most of India walks, and all too often walks badly. When the streets are made safe, the
two most important transport modes are freed to take their full place: walking and cycling.
4. Finally, if we can somehow inject the Equity-Based Transport program into the mainstream over
the year. Got right, this program has a no less than perfect fit with the real needs of thetransportation majority.
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THE SAFE STREETS CHALLENGE has been chosen as a primary focus activity over 2012. But there is
safe, and safe. So the project turns out to be a lot more challenging than it may look at first glance.
Our first step in getting this program underway has been to stand back from all that we ourselves may
think is true and important – and there is, we must admit, a lot of that -- and see what happens if we start
from a wide open neutral perspective , while making sure we keep the fundamental priorities firmly in
view. That is to say sustainable development and social justice. (Now that is an easy enough phrase to
piously mouth, but a devilishly hard one to come to grips with in the real, complex, complicated and
conflicted world. But that is exactly what we are trying to accomplish over the course of 2012.)
The main objective for the first quarter is to seek out ideas and approaches from many different angles and
points of view. We call this our Big House approach. Our ultimate Mission is to inform and hopefully to
influence government policy, companies and individual decisions and actions that can in some way help to
make our streets safer. But there is a lot of work to be done before we can get to that.
Safety in general, and safe streets in particular, are challenging concepts. In our context an important
distinction has to be made is between safe streets and safe roads. The two represent almost polar
opposites in terms of many of their realities requirements. But if we give attention to both, it is quite likely
that we are going to learn valuable lessons from the other half. So, we are looking at both.
In the context of a program like World Streets, it would be reasonable to assume that we will focus on risks
that are the result of the dangers caused by vehicles: excessive speed, distracted drivers, and the like. And
yes we shall, but there is more to it than that. In 2012 we shall be looking at all three of the key dynamics:
yes those vehicles, but also people and infrastructure . Likewise careful attention will be given to the
concepts of both active and passive safety. Similarly plenty of attention is being given to what can be
accomplished with technology, and while this is surely an important vector it is only one of many and one
we shall keep it in its place to ensure that it does not overshadow the rest.
The program is supported by the main website at http://Safe.worldstreets.org , on Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/SafeStreetStrategies and Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/safestreets2012.
After just one month of activity in laying the base, we can see that the site has already attracted 1,068
followers. This strikes us as a promising beginning. CITIES FOR MOBILITY. One of the principle targets of the project is to provide background and support
the 2012 Cities for Mobility Conference in Stuttgart from 1-3 July, which this year is being organized around
the theme of safe streets. Our intention is to build on and integrate the considerable mass of material
being generated in the next months, and via this website put it at the disposal of those attending the
meeting, giving them perhaps a running start for the July morning that the doors open in Stuttgart. Full
background on the conference will shortly be available at http://www.cities-for-mobility.net
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After decades of struggling with what seemed each time like promising concepts to inspire and orient
public policy and private practices – words such as sustainable, green , smart, healthy, active, low-carbon or
what have you transport or mobility -- we have peeked outside the box and been inspired by the upsetting
events of Arab Spring, Occupy and behind them the paralyzing and oh so unsustainable influences of
massive income differences that plague increasingly North and South, East and West, to see if we can
come up with the key to a truly sustainable transport policy. Which brought us to the concept equity . (Not
quite equality , mind you, but more on that as the project advances.)
This has led to the most promising collaborative program ever to be launched over the 24 years of hard
work and accomplishment under the New Mobility Agenda. The concept of creating a high-efficiency,
economically viable, equity-based transport system for your city offers, if we may say so, an amazingly
straight-forward , consistent, effective and checkable approach to transport policy and practice, in that
once you understand and accept the basic principle a huge number of other good things follow, many of
which surely at relatively low cost and rapid implementation.
The ultimate key of an equity-based transport system: it combines cause and effect and in an interesting
behavioral manner what makes it different from every other such concept. It is, as we say, thoroughly
checkable . This means that you have only to look at one indicator in one place to see if you have achieved
it — and that is on the streets of your city. To summarize: If the mayor, if all public servants, and if , en
passant most of the top economic 10% of your community travel by the same means as the other 90%, you
have an equitable mobility system. If not, well then not! (Let me invite you to run through your mind cities
where you think this may be the case. Interesting, eh?)
This is not a matter of polemic, it is direct and pragmatic. Namely that if the leaders of your city are ready
to commit on the record and in person to put aside their car for all day-to-day travel to and in the city, they
will in the process come to develop a vivid first hand understanding of the problems that everyone else
faces. And this in turn will in short order lead to solutions and improvements. Pain hurts. It's that simple
But of course once you have queried, understood and established the basic principle, the real work begins.
The creation of a competitive ex-solo-car transport system – remember, we are taking about a better-than-
car mobility system that offers choices— is possible, but it requires effort, brains and fire in your belly to
get there. But the final result — equity – efficiency — economy — will well be worth all that hard work it
takes to get there. To know more about how this project is shaping up, let us point you to work in progress
at http://Equity.WorldStreets.org, and on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/EquityTransport
For the first quarter of 2012 the emphasis is on gathering information and ideas from many sources. And
also to benefit from comments and critiques from a wide range of source, negative and perhaps positive.
We also are working with a leading European city to organize a month long collaborative probe, to test thisidea in real world terms. It is going to be exciting and you should see the first results starting in April.
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People have been sharing transport means and trips for centuries, during which time few gave much
attention to it. Just part of the local transportation environment and that's all there is to it.
As the new century moved ahead, we started seeing a lot more transport/sharing projects, carsharing of
course but also the organized sharing of bicycle, rides, taxis, streets, parking, delivery services, small vehiclesystems, public transit and the list goes on. By and large we also noted that they were being looked at in
more or less splendid isolation. But was there not something common to all these, after all, new ways of
getting around in cities (and beyond)? And thus the Share/Transport project was born.
In the closing months of 2009 we came to the conclusion that the best way to better understand our topic,
might be to organize a cycle of international events to which we would invite some of
the leading thinkers and actors in the various areas under consideration, while also
bringing in people with other analytic skills who might be able to help us all to better
understand some basic common denominators that might turn out to be useful
(sociology, behavioral psychology, politics, etc.) We were very lucky since we wereable to find some strong and committed partners as eager as we were to make this
happen.
The first World Share/Transport Forum was thus organized by an international team
with local support in Kaohsiung Taiwan in September 2010. It was well attended by
people and groups working in this and related fields. In addition to its own accomplishments, it worked to
lay the base for the second forum in this series, which took place in Changzhi China in September 2011.
The present plan is to call a third world forum in India in the second half of 2012, though a lot of work has
to be done if this is to happen.
In addition we are hearing from groups interested to organize conferences along these lines in other parts
of the world, and are eager to work with them and share our experience to date. This is a topic that is really
worth our understanding better, so that we can make improved use of all this in our cities and rural areas.
Here are some handy reference points in the event you wish to look into this more closely:
2010 Kaohsiung conference: http://kaohsiung.sharetransport.org/
2011 Changzhi conference: http://wp.me/psKUY-1VM, http://wp.me/psKUY-1WN & here.
World Carshare Consortium: http://worldcarshare.com http://www.facebook.com/groups/worldcarshare/
World Streets on Share/Transport : http://worldstreets.wordpress.com/?cat=48609120
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NETWORK MEDIA. (DO WE KNOW WHAT WE ARE DOING?)
If that's a question, then the answer is a resounding . . . kind of. The truth is that we arenot embarrassed to say that when it comes to the new network media we are entirely
improvising. On the net today there are no straight lines: everything changes so fastthat what may look pretty good at one point may suddenly become absolutely vital toour operations -- or ,at the other end of the spectrum, deceive, or worse yet offercertain dangers. It is, in a phrase, a real existential drama, but since we are trying tocommunicate on a world wide scale, we really have no chance but to try to take allthese bits and pieces in hand and do with them the best we can. E pur si muove!
2011 was a year in which we made some progress, and we can be quite certain that2012 is going to pose its fair share of challenges, and surprises. We feel about these media much like we doabout downhill skiing on ice on a foggy day. Not all that sure of ourselves. But we need to get to the bottom of
the hill, so off we go.
Group blogs: This is the foundation for all of our peer programs. For now we are working with
WordPress. While we would like to have more flexibility, that comes with a two-edged price: more timeand more money. So for now we shall continue with this platform for the dozen-plus peer programs we aremaintaining, while keeping a sharp eye out for improvements and new functionality which we can build in.
Twitter: This is the first layer of outreach for our programs. The Twitter connections seem to be serving
some purpose, but to exploit it fully we are going to have to ask for counsel from our readers.
Facebook: Our facebook sites – of which there are now close to a dozen – do seem to be doing a fair job
of providing a second level of information and networking for quite a large group of people, which we arehoping in the year ahead to integrate more efficiently with our main media. It's not that we particularly
trust the Facebook people, but we appreciate what we are managing to do with them thus far. We'll seehow this works out in the year ahead. http://www.facebook.com/worldstreets
LinkedIn: At level three this In principle looks quite promising and should evolve quickly over the year
into a solid tool for discussions and exchanges at a great range of detail than either of the above. Until nowwe have not made more than basic use of this toolset, but we will be giving it more attention now.
Reading Room: This takes the form of an open free library which we use as a shared depository for
papers, articles, and documents which we think can be useful to our readers. It is not enormouslysophisticated, but it works.
YahooGroups: We have been using these fora extensively as shared libraries and discussion platformssince the mid-1990s. And while they have been steadily upgraded they are starting to look a little long inthe tooth. For now we will hold on to them, but their future is anything but sure.
YouTube: Until now we have made use of this capacity consistently for sharing videos that illustrate or
elucidate specific tools, principles, or events. And while we have made simple videos to support distancepresentation for international conferences, we have to become more skillful and productive. Ourpartnership with the StreetFilms team in New York city has been exemplary. More please.
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same levelof thinking that created them." -- Albert Einstein
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SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES, PROJECTS, EVENTS, TOOLS
Building 21st
century institutions from the bottom up through active citizenry
[PAGE IN PROCESS]To cover on this page:
City projects in 2011/2012: Barcelona, Brussels, Changzhi, Changwon Florence, Kaohsiung, Lisbon,
Liverpool, , London, Maribor, Paris, Stuttgart, Strasburg, Taipei,
From me in 2012
- Conference organization
- Book
- Mentoring
- Courses- Master classes
- Teaching
- External examiner for thesis defenses
Can we improve
- More input
- Technical improvements (including reading)
- iPad/Tablet interface
- Better integration with other best sources
- Retain lightness of touch, mind stretching – as opposed to news
- More creative interaction with projects, programs, cities, and groups
- Find a way to get into public, private and university libraries(??)
Conferences
Future of the automobile in the city
The surprising future of carsharing (plus others indicated here.)
Anteroom projects:
- Thinking-about-Africa - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Thinking-about-
Africa/183396531766673
- Thinking-about-China http://www.facebook.com/pages/Thinking-About-
China/332432830112751
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READERS CHOICE IN 2011
From an editorial perspective it is close to impossible to know in advance which of our postings aregong to be most widely read. So to give you a feel for what our readers think is important, here arethe most read articles for 2011 (if you click the reference you will be taken directly to the article.).
1. Going down? Newman and Kenworthy on Peak Car Use
2. UK High Speed Rail: Going very fast in the wrong direction
3. What can we learn from the murderous attack on cyclists in Porto Alegre on Friday?
4. PRT proposal for Delhi convinces Minister (But does it convince you? See poll results)
5. Honk! City of the Future? (Have a stupid weekend)
6. Cycling as the catalyst for more human and sustainable transport
7. Best transport research database we have ever seen.
8. Weekend reading: How do the Dutch get out of a car?
9. Locked in Suburbia: Is there life after Autopia?
10. Bike-Sharing: 2011 State of the European Union report
11. Delhi Metro – A Transport Planner’s Perspective 12. Hangzhou – View from the saddle of one of China’s most liveable cities.
13. Towards Carfree Cities X: What happened in Guadalajara from 3 to 10 September 2011?
14. Seize the moment: A “Street Code” for Porto Alegre
15. In homage to Lee Schipper
16. Tragedy of the Commons: The car as enclosure
THE SOCIAL SPACE FORMAT
It’s clear by now that we are going to need a lot more than endless walls of words, ever thicker reports andendless expert conferences to turn the world toward sustainability. To get this job done we need to makeintelligent use of every tool we can find. We need to use our eyes and brains in other ways as well.
We believe that subliminal messages are part of communication, and in this spirit we have developed withthe help of friends in different cities around the world collections of several hundred photographs of streets – the good, the bad and the ugly – which meet you at the top of every page on every site.
Each photo is presented in our challenging 990 x 180 pixels format. Why? Well, in our mind’s eye most of us
tend to envisage, to think of many things out there in front of our noses in terms of squares or rectangles,and naturally enough this is how most of us end up taking our pictures. But this elongated frame takes usbeyond a single individual subject, letting the eye travel quite further than usual and in the process brings
us to see and ponder, yes, more social spaces. For more on how we see this working click here.
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WHAT DO OUR READERS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT WORLD STREETS
We asked our readers to tell us what they thought about the contributions of World Streets and was it
worth continuing. 101 wrote back and you can see their signed comments here. Below is a selection
Ahmadabad: World Streets has given me the most important exposure about ‘sustainable transport’
initiatives across the world. It is good to know that there are so many people from different corners of the
world who believe in a different paradigm of urban development.
Amsterdam: A great initiative, because it’s so necessary and relevant, but also because it’s well run anduses a minimum of resources. There is much to learn from different experiences around the world tochange our habits in the interest of sustainability. There is much to gain by applying the power of imagination to solving problems we are facing. Streets does a great job helping us to learn and imagine. Iencourage all policy makers and city managers to put World Streets at the top of their reading list
Barcelona: An invaluable resource. When I look at World Streets I wonder why it wasn’t done before,because it’s so obvious that we need an international platform like this! Even the name World Streetscaptures the intensely local nature of these issues that nonetheless have an obviously global impact.
Bilbao: World Streets and its worldwide mobility, urbanism, innovation, ecological and new way of philosophers think tank virtual library is important for us, and I wonder what it would be like withouthaving this magnificent working source to help us in our daily working tasks.
Birmingham: A portal, blog and website capturing the idea of thinking globally, acting locally, sharing, viathe internet, practical ways, after a century of distortion, to restore – through research, education, lobbyingand debate – a balance between access by proximity and access by mobility.
Boston: A fantastic distillation of global information covering some of the most exciting cutting-edgeadvancements and/or concepts in the arena of sustainability. A perfect source for busy individuals
bombarded with information-overload in this era of communication saturation.
Bristol: One of those invaluable resources that just keeps coming up with the goods.
Cambridge UK: Two boys were playing football in my street earlier this week. What a wonderful sight. Timeto reclaim our World Streets!
Capetown: What would I do without World Streets? It’s always a great read, a source of inspiration,
information, a sense of community. And gives us a sense of hope and gathering momentum for change.
Cardiff : “New Mobility” is not simply the solution to the problems of the car system, it is a better system,
and World Streets is the place to find out more. Thanks to all the contributors for all their input and tothose who read, discuss and implement the knowledge and ideas found here.
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Dorset Without your support originally I have no doubt that the “walk to school” initiative would never
have reached all corners of the globe as it clearly has. A while ago we asked a mixed group of adults howmany of them had heard of the walk to school campaign. Everyone of them raised their hand. Not bad eh?
Islamabad, Pakistan: World Streets creates the context to integrate the efforts of so many individuals andinstitutions. Indeed, it is the perfect platform to carry out research, advocacy and the like.
Kassel Germany: World Streets is a fantastic tool! WE NEED international networks to share experiences,avoid faults and wrong strategies and to give us news from successes all over the world!
Montreal: World Streets serves as a tireless promoter of the realistic application of ‘sustainable
transportation’ schemes. The knowledge and creativity of the group are an inspiration for transport
‘reformers’ world-wide.
New Delhi: A large number of people around the world are able to keep track of interesting moves becauseof World Streets. We need the solidarity and mutual backslapping even more to keep away the wolves.
New York : Does the world NEED more and better sustainable transport planning? Absolutely. Has WorldStreets added an invaluable resource to the sustainable transport debate and movement? Absolutely. Is thechance for a successful global transition to sustainable transport significantly enhanced by the existence of World Streets? Absolutely. So support it with enthusiasm and passion and hard work, we must… absolutely.
Reykjavik: World Streets is a great source for making “new” knowledge about transport in towns and cities
more visible and available to the interested politician, planner, engineer, professional, activist and citizen.
Rio de Janeiro: . An invaluable resource for sustainable mobility professionals, interested laypeople, anddecision makers. It helps keep this small but dedicated community abreast of global developments andencourage peers that are in adverse circumstances.
Santiago: World Streets offers an excellent information and exchange service to busy professionals andcitizens’ organizations. We follow its postings closely and translate those most relevant into Spanish, for
circulation on our Latin American network of sustainable transport professionals and activists, withexcellent results. This is an extremely important initiative, with a truly global impact, well worth supporting.
Singapore: World Streets is playing an excellent role in fostering and expanding the internationalcommunity around the cause of liveable streets and new mobility. This is incredibly important. The diversityand geographic range of the sources and the readers is impressive with enormous potential for mutuallearning across borders. The information shared is of high quality and well focused.
Washington DC, U.S.A.: The key to effective positive change is in assembling an enthusiastic community of people committed to investing in that change, locally. World Streets provides such a forum, allowing eachof these local communities to share resources and inspire one another.
And finally a few words shared with us on this about a year ago from our dear friendand colleague Lee Schipper (in memory):
We desperately need this kind of AGORA where we can gather, fight, disagree,
and finally agree on sensible transport solutions. particularly important is that
people from the developing world are chiming in as well.
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WHAT YOU CAN DO? FOR WORLD STREETS, AND FOR YOURSELF
This is hard to write, but let's get on with it.
World Streets cannot expect to succeed as a one man show. It is and has to be a team project and yes!,over the last couple of decades more than a thousand international colleagues from more than seventycountries on all continents have pitched in to make valuable contributions in many forms. And as you haveseen in these pages there is plenty of evidence of this contributuion.
That's great, but today we are in real (financial) difficulty and it is a time when we need to have our friendsand those who appreciate our contributions and somewhat unusual, independent role in the push tosustainable development, sustainable cities, sustainable transport and social justice. Here are a fewthoughts about what you might do to contribute to this mission.
1. READ, ponder and use World Streets to support your role as active and concerned citizen
2. SHARE with us your comments and suggestions via the blog, Facebook and Twitter pages
3. WRITE articles yourself, and suggest authors, programs, topics and tools that will enhance the journal.
4. REACH into your pocket and make a contribution, large or small. You can find all you need on this if youclick here. (Again, this financial support is crucial at this difficult period. We have come to the end of our personal resources and bank credit, so this could not be more important or timely.)
5. WORK with us to contact and convince foundations and other possible sources of funding so that wecan continue our work and programs. It is far easier for me to make contact in such cases for anotherperson or group. But hard for me to do for our work. Maybe you can lend a hand there.
6. WRITE a short letter of support of the 2012 program that we can present to the foundations and othereventual sources of financial support – as proof that we are doing something that that it is being used
7. HELP us to locate and contact cities, groups, agencies, projects, events, with whom we can collaborateby brining in the extensive knowledge, tools, approaches and contacts that constitute our competence.
8. AND ABOVE ALL, be a vigilant and informed citizen. If the streets of your city are to be safe, beautiful,efficient and filled with people and cyclists quietly going about their business in harmony, it is becausepeople like you have committed to making that happen.
In a world as needful as the one we are stuck with, in a planet with so many terrifying needs, it seemsalmost indecent to be asking for support so something as seemingly abstract as a program like this. But theneed is there, it is enormous, and there are not two World Streets. And you have now seem the proof thatwe are making a necessary contribution. So if you will, lend a hand so that we can get on with it.
To know more or make a contribution today, click here. Thank you.
