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Sustainable passenger transport: Back to Brundtland

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  • Holden, Erling
  • Linnerud, Kristin
  • Banister, David

Abstract

We argue that there is no clear definition of the concept sustainable passenger transport to help guide politicians in solving challenges at the global or regional level. Rather, the use of the concept has to an increasing extent reflected socially desirable attributes of local- and project-level problems, but these ignore the global challenges the concept was meant to solve. Going back to the Brundtland Report, we redefine the concept of ‘sustainable passenger transport’ and suggest an assessment method based on four equally important, main dimensions: safeguarding long-term ecological sustainability, satisfying basic transport needs, and promoting intra- and intergenerational equity. We also define indicators and threshold values that have to be met for each of these dimensions and then illustrate how to achieve sustainable passenger transport.

Suggested Citation

  • Holden, Erling & Linnerud, Kristin & Banister, David, 2013. "Sustainable passenger transport: Back to Brundtland," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 67-77.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:54:y:2013:i:c:p:67-77
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2013.07.012
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    4. Marleau Donais, Francis & Abi-Zeid, Irène & Waygood, E. Owen D. & Lavoie, Roxane, 2022. "Municipal decision-making for sustainable transportation: Towards improving current practices for street rejuvenation in Canada," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 152-170.
    5. Fei Ma & Xiaodan Li & Qipeng Sun & Fei Liu & Wenlin Wang & Libiao Bai, 2018. "Regional Differences and Spatial Aggregation of Sustainable Transport Efficiency: A Case Study of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-23, July.
    6. Hans Jakob Walnum & Carlo Aall & Søren Løkke, 2014. "Can Rebound Effects Explain Why Sustainable Mobility Has Not Been Achieved?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(12), pages 1-28, December.
    7. Ülengin, Füsun & Işık, Mine & Ekici, Şule Önsel & Özaydın, Özay & Kabak, Özgür & Topçu, Y. İlker, 2018. "Policy developments for the reduction of climate change impacts by the transportation sector," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 36-50.
    8. Edyta Przybylska & Marzena Kramarz & Katarzyna Dohn, 2023. "The Role of Stakeholders in Creating Mobility in Logistics Systems of Polish Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-25, January.
    9. Francis Marleau Donais & Irène Abi-Zeid & E. Owen D. Waygood & Roxane Lavoie, 2019. "A review of cost–benefit analysis and multicriteria decision analysis from the perspective of sustainable transport in project evaluation," EURO Journal on Decision Processes, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 7(3), pages 327-358, November.
    10. Mohammadreza Zolfagharian & Bob Walrave & A. Georges L. Romme & Rob Raven, 2020. "Toward the Dynamic Modeling of Transition Problems: The Case of Electric Mobility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-23, December.
    11. Papaix, Claire & Eranova, Mariya & Zhou, Li, 2023. "Shared mobility research: Looking through a paradox lens," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 156-167.
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    13. Wojciech Keblowski & Frédéric Dobruszkes & Kobe Boussauw, 2022. "Moving past sustainable transport studies: Towards a critical perspective on urban transport," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/341191, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
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