PLANNING FOR A SUSTAINABLE EUROPE? - TU Berlin

41
2.1 Introduction
Neither development nor sustainability are easily definable concepts. Various,
internationally sanctioned, normative definitions of sustainable development and of
sustainable transport exist. Most famously among them are the Brundlandt definition of
sustainable development and the Vancouver principles for sustainable transport, both of
which are presented below. However, none of these normative definitions are directly
translatable into concrete infrastructure investment proposals at the local level. More
importantly, even these internationally accepted definitions are contestable, depending on
one’s underlying belief systems and rationales. The aim of this present chapter is simply
to present a series of first approximations regarding the notions of economic development
and sustainability in relation to the transport sector. My initial proposition in
approaching the subject is that the notion of “sustainable transport development” really
remains a relatively ill-defined concept. Later chapters will set this “Ill-Defined
Concept” proposition within a larger context of sustainability and sustainable transport as
contested discourses.
2.2 Transport and Economic Development
Transport has long been considered central to urban and regional development,
and to the concept of economic growth in general. The establishment of trade routes is
an essential prerequisite for the expansion of market ranges. And as settlements grow, an
efficient internal organization of infrastructures is key to facilitating the efficient
movements of people and goods. Distance and density remain the two most fundamental
concepts in spatial development. But today’s cities and regions are vastly different from
the places we used to live in as little as fifty years ago. As the next section shows, the