Sustainable Transport in the Cities of the Future

Organizing Partners

• UIC - International Union of Railways
• UITP - International Association of Public Transport
• EMBARQ - The WRI Center for Sustainable Transport with experts in offices in the USA, Mexico, Brazil, India, Turkey and the Andean Region
• ITPS (Japan) - Institution for Transport Policy Studies
• UNIFE - Association of the European Rail Industry

Introduction

This Side Event will provide an expert view from leading practitioners from the field of sustainable mobility in developed countries and emerging economies, and will conclude with proposals on including this topic in the outcome document of Rio+20. The Side Event will focus on sustainable transport in cities, to correspond to the section on cities in the Zero Draft document. Partners are from the global public transport sector (metro, bus, railways), project specialists and research institutes. This Side Event offers delegates the opportunity to cover all the key issues of sustainable mobility in cities in one single event.

Detailed Program

Economic development, social inclusion, and environmental protection are prerequisites for sustainable development, yet they all rely on sustainable transport systems. Much of the increase in transport related energy use will come from the developing world; road accidents are already responsible for 1.4 million deaths and 14 million injuries; and extensive local air pollution that is attributed to transport.

The structure of the Zero Draft document places transport in the context of Cities. Our Side Event will therefore look at sustainable mobility in the urban situation. We will draw on our members’ experience as listed below:

EMBARQ will provide practical examples of projects in developing countries to develop sustainable mobility (e.g. Bus Rapid Transit, Metro Systems, Cycling, Walking)

UITP and UIC will provide a global perspective from operators of mass transit (metro, bus and commuter railway) systems with a particular focus on emerging economies

ITPS will present the latest resarch on developing public transport networks in India and Asia.

The Side Event will generate ideas that could be included in the Outcome Document, and will provide an accessible overview of transport issues in cities to the Rio+20 delegates.