Transportation for Livable Cities

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The era of projects aimed at maximizing vehicular travel is being replaced by the broader goal of achieving livable cities: economically efficient, socially sound, and environmentally sustainable. This book explores the complex relationship between transportation and the character of cities and metropolitan regions. Vukan R. Vuchic, UPS Foundation Professor of Transportation Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, applies his extensive experience in urban transportation systems and policies to present a systematic review of transportation modes and their characteristics. He discusses the consequences of excessive automobile dependence and shows that the most livable cities worldwide have intermodal systems that balance highway and public transit modes while providing for pedestrians, bicyclists, and paratransit. In this thought-provoking book, Vuchic integrates theoretical analyses of transportation systems with recommendations for their practical application. He describes measures that can be considered in improving the urban environment: transit incentives and automobile disincentives, congestion pricing, HOV lanes, and auto-restricted zones. The complex, often misunderstood, and political issues surrounding costs, charges, and subsidies—direct and hidden—inherent in alternative transportation systems are discussed and illustrated graphically in forty data-rich figures. Fifty photographs from cities around the world depict visually the compelling case that the author makes for less reliance on private automobile travel and greater consideration of other modes. This book defines the policies necessary for achieving livable cities for future generations: the effective implementation of integrated intermodal transportation systems. Students, city and transportation planners, metropolitan planning organizations, and policymakers at all levels will find the recommendations in this book important and relevant.