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In the long run we all are . ..

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In the long run we all are . ..

. . .well, dead!

But this is not the reason why within the New Mobility Agenda and this program in particular we are not giving what some may regard as "due attention" to long run considerations and strategies in our clearly benighted sector. Here in a few quick bullets is why we have decided to concentrate our efforts over the next several years within the Advisory/Briefs program one hundred percent on the very short term:

There are plenty of groups and programs around the world busy focusing on long term considerations, which if course is absolutely critical if we are to be responsible. (Click here for a good sample.) Typical planning and action horizons string out to 2020, 2030, 2050 and beyond, enriched by projections, forecasts, predictions, scenarios, re-forecasts, backcasts, Delphi exercises and other tools of the long term planning industry. In many cases these programs have very significant financial and institutional support. And this is all well and good. But if we were asked to give our evaluation of these efforts on the basis of what we have seen thus far and in the face of the overall priorities as we understand them, we would judge them as "necessary but insufficient".
Within the New Mobility Agenda by contrast we are struck with a sense of emergency and a need for immediate action in a way which is closer to that of deciding what needs to be done in the face of a natural disaster or war zone. Thus, we say that this is a situation of High Emergency!! (What do you say?)
High emergency? Either it is or it isn't -- and if you click to the Challenge section here you will see our reasons for the position we take on this. And what do you do in a situation of high emergency? You look hard, you mobilize, you act, and you never stop looking hard as things continue to develop and evolve day after day on the battlefield.
And behind this all, we need to bear in mind that every day we put off specific near term strategic action and start to generate the pattern changes that are called for in our cities (and on our planet for that matter), there are (a) people, groups and interests that continue to damaged and handicapped by the gross dysfunctionality of our transportation arrangements. And in parallel with these, there are (b) groups and interests who each day are doing very nicely indeed out of the present inertial arrangements and are in fact profiting from keeping things much as they are. ( I'll leave it to you to figure out who they are, and if you happen to know any of them personally tell them that they have a chance to make a difference for their cities, their families, and yes for themselves by getting behind programs for meaningful short term changes that can show visible results in two or three years. Nothing will ever look the same once we have set off on that path. Which brings us to our last point.)
Changing a transportation system, even some parts of it, changing a city, making a difference in people's daily lives is not only a cerebral but also a muscular activity. It is not something that you can achieve solely by sitting in front of a computer screen or meeting with people much like yourself. And since it requires a level of intensity of effort and involvement which is far difference from our former ways, it seems reasonable to expect that we will emerge from this first round of intense activity changes with rather different views of what it is that needs to be done and what indeed we can do about it. We will, like the walker or cyclist, be whipping ourselves into collective shape to do something about all this in time to make a difference.
And finally, by taking action we will for sure alter once and for all our perceptions of the entire problematique. This is important and needs to be made clear. We are today looking at the issues and trade-offs from a position of (a) gross systemic dysfunctionality and (b) long held habit of inertia which lock us into (c) 'old mobility' thinking . To be unkind but accurate we are today losers and thus take a certain passivity and loser attitude to the challenges before us. But once you and your city begin to make real progress, once the people there start to see that they can change and make a difference, a whole new world of attitudes and priorities will certainly emerge. Thus, if we move on this now, when it comes time in 2010 to think again about the longer term and what we can and should do about it, things are going to look very different indeed.

And that Sir, as our 'man in the street' says in the short clip, An Unexpected Interview in Groningen: "We are the inventors of a new world, my Friend. Statistically you can prove it". ;-)

Conclusion:

50% of all funding in the sector in and around cities between 2007 and 2012 should focus on high-impact near-term changes.

Your views on this recommendation?

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