Transportation has been integral in shaping movements for rights and human dignity, from when Mahatma Gandhi came to South Africa and got kicked out of the first class compartment because he had the wrong skin color to Rosa Parks who sat down to stand up, giving birth to the civil rights movement that has transformed the United States.
But even as transport has the power to stir us to act in defense against the indefensible, inequity still plagues transport in the form of where we are putting our resources. I am hopeful that the next movement spawned by transportation is for people-centered cities. The next 30 years of sustainable transport will need to throw off
vehicles and modes and focus on human beings. More pedestrians are killed in car crashes than motor vehicle drivers or passengers. Streets and roads around the world are built without sidewalks or cycle lanes, only for cars. And the voices we hear on the radio or TV news are the car captives, complaining about the injustices that car drivers are suffering.
What I hope from the next 30 years is to hear more voices. The voices of the disenfranchised and displaced, demanding transportation that responds to their needs—to reach work and school and hospitals—in an affordable and convenient manner. I hope to hear the silent voices of today demanding sidewalks, so that they do not have to walk in the street, afraid of cars. I hope that the movement for designing cities for people swells forth, beginning with how we design our streets. We show value for people by giving them dignified and safe options.
To do that, we require an ongoing investment in building transportation leaders who boldly and fearlessly provide thought leadership, challenge the status quo, help to break through siloed thinking and provide voice for the billions whose transport experiences remain challenging on a daily basis.
A commitment to knowledge sharing, respect for local conditions and culture, an openness to share and learn, collaboration rather than competition, approaches that incorporate head and heart: these are what need to inform transport policies and planning as we move forward. We must resist the temptation to see placemaking and transit options as merely engineering disciplines, lest we lose the human component of the decisions being made.
Rea Vaya, the bus rapid transit project I worked on in Johannesburg, was the first investment in public transport that connected townships to the downtown in over a decade. With ITDP’s help, we were able to launch based on this. We needed the sharpest minds and the strongest hearts to do this, and now it is expanding and hopefully only getting better.
As ITDP reflects on its past 30 years, may we be reminded of the ongoing urgency in elevating transport in the quest to change the lives of the citizens across the globe. As the world grapples with issues of sustainability, quality of life, growing inequality, poverty and imbalance, the Institute for Transport Development and Policy is likely to have an increasingly important role.
Urban migration, depletion of resources, loss of life through road crashes, diminishing air quality, increasingly insular communities and a focus on infrastructure development to the exclusion of people are all issues that require bold and visionary leadership. ITDP and the policies it advocates have the potential to equip leaders, decision-makers, service providers and civil-society activists alike with the tools to make decisions that are about the well-being of humans and the planet.
As ITDP turns 30, it is time to create a spotlight on transport that clarifies its interdependency and relationships with other aspects of life. As we pause to celebrate, may we be reminded of the ongoing urgency in elevating transport in the quest to change the lives of citizens across the globe.
