Travel and mobility

Combating the undesirable effects of mobility in cities caused by the use of the private car has become a key issue in the development of sustainable urban policy. Associated with car use are a number of well-documented problems including rising levels of energy consumption, road congestion, greenhouse gas emissions and pollution as well as road safety, health and severance effects (European Commission, 2007a). Underlying these problems is a complex process which involves interaction between rising levels of car ownership, the development of road transport provision and the location decisions of individuals and businesses in and around cities. The process has resulted in the emergence of new urban forms typified by the decentralisation of activities and the unstructured expansion of urban areas into the surrounding countryside otherwise known as urban sprawl (European Environment Agency, 2006). New suburban residential neighbourhoods, characterised by low density, single-use development, reinforce the dominance of the car as the principal, or sometimes sole, form of transport to access everyday activities.