The FIA Foundation has joined a new project to explore mobility needs and challenges in the world’s urban future, in partnership with Forum for the Future, Vodafone and EMBARQ.
For the first time in history more than half the world’s population is living in towns and cities. This milestone was passed in 2008 and by 2040 two thirds of people are expected to live in urban environments. Urbanisation presents a wealth of new opportunities and huge challenges. It has the potential to further economic development and innovation, but also threatens to exacerbate key global problems, including resource depletion, climate change, and inequality.
So the FIA Foundation has joined Forum for the Future, Vodafone and EMBARQ to establish the Sustainable Urban Mobility 2040 initiative, with the objective of identifying solutions to one of the biggest challenges – how billions of city-dwellers can access what they need without putting intolerable strains on the planet. SUM2040 aims to help policy makers, industry and civil society organisations, such as NGOs and community groups, understand the complex challenges that lie ahead and to collaborate to find sustainable solutions. The initiative will develop a set of four global scenarios in order to highlight cutting-edge thinking about mobility, identify future challenges and explore sustainable solutions designed for cities. It will embrace all the ways in which people will access goods, services and information and make contact with each other. Its remit ranges from transport to ICT solutions and innovative urban design.
The scenarios are being piloted in the first half of 2010 in workshops held in Mumbai and Istanbul, with a diverse audience of mobility thinkers and practitioners – including public policy decision-makers, planners, automotive companies, architects and technology solution providers.
Sheila Watson, the FIA Foundation’s Environment Director, said: “Sustainable Urban Mobility 2040 sets out to find solutions to one of the biggest challenges – how can billions of city-dwellers access what they need without putting intolerable strains on the planet. This initiative will analyse the implications of the four future scenarios for specific cities with the aim of developing visions for sustainable mobility and practical draft strategic action plans to address key issues. A better understanding now of what the future may bring is vital if we are to shape public policy to deal effectively with local and global environmental issues, traffic management, land use planning and road safety”.
For more information, click here to read a presentation introducing Sustainable Urban Mobility 2040 >
Click here to read a summary of the project >