Quite a collection of collaborative New Mobility focus programs have been developed over the years in response to opportunities and problems which we and others regard as worthy of closer attention and international collaboration. The full listing of currently active programs is available here.

To your left you will see more than a dozen older programs, whose main purpose today is to serve as a reminder that the problems are not about to go away. A quick click will make it clear in each case how they work. Try it.

Origins and Perspectives (1988)

The New Mobility program was established by EcoPlan in 1988 as an independent international collaborative and support program aimed directly at the challenge of first defining and then implementing sustainable transportation systems. The original sub-title of the program: "Toward an Alternative Framework for Transport Policy & Action in Cities" The program builds on more than three decades of international collaboration, cross-disciplinary research, advisory work with the interlinked problems of transport, the economy, energy, environment, industry and quality of life, and more generally with the broader challenges of managing technology in society. (See the List of past New Mobility reports here.) The following descriptive statement is exactly as it was set out in the 1988 opening manifesto announcing the program.

"The problem of cars in cities is, in truth, part of a much broader set of social and technology management issues which are coming into increasingly high relief. The links to pressing environmental and energy concerns are obvious and critical, as are impacts on quality of life, safety, urban form and economic efficiency. More subtle are the links between cars and human behavior, including such problems as urban isolation, alienation, violence, rejection of responsibility, and loss of human vitality, intimacy and neighborliness. A great deal of good work is going on in many places around the world aimed at parts of this complex problem, but much of this is not widely known. And there is a requirement for altogether new approaches which has yet to be met.

"It was against this background that the program, first under the name of Access, was established in 1988, with the goal of developing a long term (ten year), independent and vigorous international collaborative effort, untrammeled by bureaucratic requirements and run on an open basis with creative inputs and support from a wide variety of co-operating individuals, sources and institutions. Five objectives have been set for the period 1989-94:

1. Provide concrete evidence showing how modern communities can work without today's overwhelming and damaging dependence on cars -- drawing attention to leading techniques, groups and places that have successfully tackled parts of the problem.
2. Encourage the development of much broader agendas of issues and approaches to the problems of transport in cities -- thereby bringing into the discussions and solution process actors and interests beyond the limits of traditional transport agencies and specialists.
   
3. Contribute to improving international communications, co-ordination and exchanges of information and expertise in the full range of disciplines and approaches involved -- so that each new project is able to build knowledgeably on the experience and accomplishments of the past.
4. Work to stimulate further research, tools development and problem solving as needed to improve our collective knowledge and mastery of these issues -- and find the means to inform and involve the public in both the debate and the decision process.
5. Encourage and contribute to exemplary projects and programs in leading cities and communities, working in close collaboration with highly qualified local partner groups and sponsoring institutions.

Initially, as it was getting underway in the latter eighties, New Mobility made only limited use of electronic media (email, file transfers, etc.). The main products of the program were its various reports and working papers, sponsored working groups, advisory assignments, organization and participation in conferences, and a small but increasingly interesting set of on-site demonstration projects. In 1993 the first steps were taken to make fuller use of the quickly expanding array of electronic communications aids: several news groups were set up Internet on a trial basis and toward the middle of the year the first @New Mobility Forum was establishment, in cooperation with the European Commission Telecommunications Forum under Compuserve.

The @Forum which you see here in its latest version has been built up in careful steps over the last years on that first foundation. Go to Access on the ECTF to see how the original Internet site was organized back in 1993, just before the move to the Web.

Back to top

Is The @Forum For You?

Hard as we have tried to make it an easy place to be and to get around in, this bit of assembled 21st century content and electronics that we call The Commons is not for everyone. On the one hand, it is only going to be useful for those who share the concerns of this program. There are however a couple of other non-trivial practical constraints that may serve to keep this from being a tool set which is equally useful to everyone, and which you may wish to consider before taking this further. Thus..

• Having the right equipment and technical competence is critical.
• High speed, broad-band communications links are important if you are to be a comfortable and efficient user.
• Patience and a certain turn of mind are also important. If you are not patient with technology, this is surely not going to be an agreeable place for you).

A quick visit to the Start Here section, as well as those pages of the Help Desk here (see top menu) which set out the technology, software and skill requirements for full and easy participation may help you make up your mind on this. No sense on climbing on board if you are going to be unhappy and unproductive. On the other hand, if you have been waiting for an excuse to make the break into these new technologies and work methods, this may be about as good a way as you can find to negotiate the transformation. And of course if we can help... well, that's precisely what we are here for.