PLANNING FOR A SUSTAINABLE EUROPE? - TU Berlin

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every year with vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists accounting for one
third of deaths (World Bank 1996). 10
Agenda 21 itself contained several specific transport policy suggestions, as did the
1996 UN Habitat Global Plan of Action and numerous European policy documents.
Even under a minimum definition, the dual requirement to minimize environmental
impacts and make the most economic and equitable use of resources has been interpreted
by most transport and land use planners to mean a favoring of higher density, compact
land use-oriented along nodes of public transportation over lower-density uses that
require individual motorization.
Overall, there is a divide between those who believe
that greater transport sustainability can be achieved through technological fixes, e.g.
through greater fuel economy, alternative fuels, better or perhaps smaller engines, and
those who believe that the transport problem needs to be addressed in a more
comprehensive manner, e.g. through modal shifts to non-polluting modes, better land use
planning, traffic management and calming (also see Whitelegg 1994:25).
More generally, definitions for 'sustainable transport' follow a similar pattern as
those for sustainability. As the World Bank (1996:4-5) explains:
Economic and financial sustainability requires that resources be used efficiently and
that assets be maintained properly. Environmental and ecological sustainability
requires that the external effects of transport be taken into account fully when public
or private decisions are made that determine future development. Social sustainability
requires that the benefits of improved transport reach all sections of the community.
(Italics in the original.)
10 Figures are often controversial, both for industrial and developing countries. According to a recent
ECMT press release, over 32,000 people were killed on the roads of Western Europe, and close to 16,000
in Central Eastern Europe in 2000 (ECMT 2001:2). The WHO, however, presents more inclusive figures,
speaking of 2 million traffic accidents in the European Region of WHO (which includes FSU countries)
killing 129999 and injuring 2.5 million (Dora and Racioppi 2001:2 and WHO 1999:16).