Eight Principles

Eight Principles for better streets and better cities.

ITDP aims to deliver a higher standard of living and quality of life for citizens of cities around the world.
Through our transportation projects, we work to reduce human impact on natural resources and ecosystems,
and to ensure that we develop in a way that benefits us all, both today and in the future.
Our vision of sustainable cities is one in which there is a high concentration of people living in an environment
that is pleasant and provides good social infrastructure through good physical infrastructure. Cities where
people are put before cars, and residents, workers and visitors young and old, can safely walk or cycle to their
daily activities. Cities where jobs and services are a bus ride away, and the time and money spent driving can
be used productively elsewhere. These are the kinds of cities that are attractive to us today – cities with less
congestion, less pollution, fewer accidents, and healthier, safer, more productive communities. To achieve
this, there are 8 principles which guide our approach to sustainable transport and development. These
principles inform the TOD Standard, a guide and tool to help shape and assess urban developments.

The 8 Principles for Better Streets and Better Cities

1. WALK | Develop neighborhoods that promote walking
2. CYCLE | Prioritize non-motorized transport networks
3. CONNECT | Create dense networks of streets and paths
4. TRANSIT | Locate development near high-quality public transport
5. MIX | Plan for mixed use
6. DENSIFY | Optimize density and transit capacity
7. COMPACT | Create regions with short commutes
8. SHIFT | Increase mobility by regulating parking and road use
Climate and Transport Policy

Helping decision-makers make better decisions.

ITDP’s work on climate and transport policy aims to ensure that global institutions enable, and favor socially,
economically and environmentally sustainable transportation.
As the effects of rapid economic development and urbanization place an ever greater strain on transportation
networks worldwide, the traditional practices used to meet the rising demand are becoming increasingly
unsustainable. The costs associated with a growing automobile fleet and increasing road network capacity
include air and noise pollution, accidents, congestion, social inequality, and climate change. Transportation
currently causes 23% of energy-related CO2 emissions, and without changes in policy, is projected to grow to
80% by 2050.
In the absence of a global agreement to limit greenhouse gases (GHGs), many countries and individual cities
are setting their own goals and taking action to mitigate emissions and adapt to climate change. While the
sustainable transportation plans, policies and technologies needed to mitigate climate change have been
demonstrated at scale, only concerted international action, expert guidance and financial support will
disseminate them to thousands of cities worldwide.
ITDP works on three tracks to support, develop, and expand sustainable transportation policies:
 Developing better tools to evaluate the impacts of transportation investments, policies, and choices on
the environment.
 Shifting funding and priorities of global organizations and development banks to support sustainable
transport and urban development.
 Influencing national transport and urban development policies and funding to support timely
development of institutions to scale-up sustainable transport.
Transport Emissions Evaluation Model for Projects (TEEMP) BRT

TEEMP is a suite of excel-based, free-of-charge, suite of spreadsheet models and methods that can be used to
evaluate the greenhouse gas (GHG), air pollution, and other impacts of many types of transportation projects.
 Download the Model
Source: CAI-Asia and ITDP
Last updated: April 2015
 The TEEMP tools were initially developed by the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) and
Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) for evaluating the emissions impacts of the Asian
Development Bank’s (ADB) transport projects. TEEMP has been modified and extended to serve as a standard
method to evaluate Global Environmental Facility (GEF) projects.
 The most recent release of TEEMP incorporates the new BRT Standard to help users identify the most
effective elements of BRT project design to spur ridership, boost travel speeds, and cut emissions. It can also
be used for basic analysis where there are major gaps in local data, but also can help identify key local data
that could help provide more accurate project forecasts of ridership, emissions, and benefits.
 TEEMP can be easily applied for evaluating the impacts of various transport measures at a project
level. Project-level TEEMP models exist for BRT, bicycle, pedestrian, MRT, and highway projects, as well as
travel demand management measures. In 2011, a new module, TEEMP-City, was developed by CAI-Asia, with
support from ITDP and Veolia Transport, to quantify emissions and other impacts from various projects at the
city-wide scale.
 The “Transport Emissions Evaluation Models for Projects” (TEEMP) modeling tool suite, has been
developed over the past two years by ITDP, the CAI-Asia, ADB, Cambridge Systematics, and the Scientific and
Technical Advisory Panel of the GEF. TEEMP has been applied to ADB projects, ITDP projects, and six World
Bank projects.
Transport for Sustainable Development

In June, 2012, ITDP, in collaboration with the Partnership for Sustainable Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT),
joined thousands of world leaders from government, the private sector, NGOs and activist groups at the
United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. The conference, commonly
referred to as “Rio + 20”, marked the anniversary of the landmark 1992 Rio Earth Summit where over 100
leaders adopted Agenda 21, a blueprint to rethink economic growth, advance social equity, and ensure
environmental protection.
Check out our Transport Matters blog for snapshots of ITDP’s activity at the Conference, including:
 ITDP Global Policy Director Michael Replogle moderating a panel on Financing Sustainable
Transportation to Support Sustainable Development
 The World Bank, pledging $175 Billion for the Creation of More Sustainable Transport
 Speaking with several key partners at closing session of the Conference
Background:
The 1992 Earth Summit, also known as the UN Conference on Environment and Development, put sustainable
development on the agenda of the international community and established a set of principles to guide the
future of international development policy. The 27 principles, known as the Rio Declaration, covered a wide
range of topics from poverty reduction to the need for national environmental legislation. Notably,
transportation was not mentioned.
Rio +20 is an important global event that will set the sustainable development agenda for years to come. The
growth in urbanization and economic development over the past 20 years has fueled the demand for
transportation. Transportation currently causes 23% of energy-related CO2 emissions and is projected to grow
80% by 2050. This is the chance to put sustainable transport in the policy agenda.
ITDP, along with many other organizations, is pushing for the inclusion of transport specific language within
the agreement to be negotiated in Rio, and is calling for the UN Commission in Sustainable Development to
include a sustainable transport goal. We are also working with multlateral development banks to secure a
multibillion dollar funding commitment for sustainable transporation.
Resources:
 ITDP Infographic: Principles for Transport in Urban Life [English]
 Os Princípios do ITDP [Português]
 Issues Brief: Sustainable Low Carbon Transport in Emerging and Developing Economies
 ITDP Presentation: Global Policy Director Michael Replogle at the UNCRD Advisory Committee Meeting
on Sustainable Urban Management
For more resources on Global Climate Policy click here

Global Climate Policy Resources

Download these documents:

Press Release: Groups Call for Global Reset on Transportation at Rio+20 Meet
Sustainable Transport inclusion into Rio+20 Declaration

WWF- UN report a wake-up call for Durban climate talks

Transport GHG Emissions: Bottom-up and Top-down Efforts

Why Transport Sustainability is Fundamental to Sustainable Development: A Rio+20 Acton Agenda

Bridging the Gap: Pathways for Transport in the Post 2012 Process

Low Carbon Transport Strategies in South Africa – Jeremy Cronin Deputy Minister of Transport

Sustainable low carbon tranport: a weapon against climate change

https://www.itdp.org/global-climate-policy-resources/
The World Urban Forum (WUF) 7 in Medellin, Colombia

From April 5- 11, UN Habitat will host The Seventh Annual World Urban Forum in Medellin, Colombia. The
conference will focus on “Urban Equity in Development – Cities for Life”, and involve over 10,000 participants
discussing and sharing strategies for addressing the challenges facing cities and communities around the world
today.
ITDP will play an active role at WUF, sharing our research, strategies, and experiences promoting sustainable
urban development. ITDP will host several panels and events to discuss trends, challenges, and solutions to
pressing urban issues, and our experts will be featured on a number of panels.
ITDP Schedule of Events at WUF 7
Retooling ‘Cities for Life’: New approaches to urban infrastructure and service provision
An online conversation hosted in partnership with UN-HABITAT and the Ford Foundation in conjunction
with WUF 7
Details
The development of “Cities for Life” requires infrastructure to bring life’s fundamentals to the community:
water, sanitation, housing, transportation, and energy. Historically, stark inequities in access to these basics
have divided cities, leaving informal communities marginalized and their residents struggling to survive. What
would an equity-driven approach to urban infrastructure development look like? Who should participate and
what part should they play in order to bring about a sustainable approach that will deliver inclusiveness as
well as delivery of services? How can players of various types complement one another and coordinate their
contributions? How might new technologies and service models transform the array of possible infrastructure
solutions?
This discussion will examine all these elements and explore ways of integrating them into an urban
infrastructure matrix that delivers the goods while serving the goals of justice, inclusion, and urban
sustainability.
Join the conversation here!

Monday, April 7, 2014

Transport and Just Cities
Parallel event with SLoCaT and UN Habitat
Details
This day long event seeks to bring together participants to shine a spotlight on the critical role that sustainable
low carbon transport has to play in realizing eqitable and just cities that are also environmentally sustainable.
Through discussions and break-out sessions, the event will demonstrate the important of sustainable
transport and contribute towards the development of a SLoCaT collaborative work program on sustainable
transport and poverty alliation.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Release of the TOD Standard Scores

Using the TOD Standard metrics and scorecard, ITDP has assessed 50 of the world’s best TOD developments in
over 20 countries and awarded Gold, Silver, and Bronze status to international best practices in TOD.
If you are a member of the press, please contact ITDP Communications Manager Jemilah Magnusson for more
information.

Going for the Gold: Best practices in equitable transit-oriented developments

Official WUF Side Event
Details
ITDP will introduce The TOD Standard, a new tool to help shape and assess urban development that actively
integrates with, and promotes sustainable urban transport. The scores for 50 recent development projects
from cities around the world will be revealed, and gold, silver, or bronze TOD Standard recognitions
presented.
The panelists and the public will debate the key tools and actions needed to implement the core sustainable
development principles and objectives, and make walking, cycling, and public transport orientation the default
mode of development to house the hundreds of millions expected to add to the world urban population,
including for lower income urban dwellers and in emerging economies.

Sustainable Transport and the Post-2015 Development Agenda

Official WUF Side Event with SLoCaT
Details

Corridors of Development: Using BRT and TOD to Leverage Economic Development and Equity
Official WUF networking event in partnership with IPEA
Details
This session, promoted by IPEA and ITDP, will focus on how transit-oriented development (TOD) can integrate
transport and land use to promote equity. TOD is based on sustainable transport that is safe, clean, and
affordable and connects people to jobs, health, education, cultural resources, and recreation. Recent research
shows that high quality bus rapid transit (BRT) spurs TOD at a lower cost than rail investments and can thus
quickly expand the provision of TOD to more areas, bringing down the cost of sustainable urbanization, freeing
up investment for improved public and non-motorized transportation, housing, and other services.
The presentations will focus on the TOD Standard which seeks to define what is good TOD using key principles;
how good quality BRT can be the most cost effective means of leveraging economic development and yet how
transit alone cannot bring about this change; and an analysis of Brazil’s government transit investments from
the perspective of the TOD Standard. Three cities’ cases will also be presented: Cleveland, São Paulo and Rio
de Janeiro.

Friday, April 11, 2014

Designing and planning better transit-oriented developments

In partnership with Next City
Details
This session will discuss in depth the principles and metrics of the new TOD Standard and explore the finding
and implications of the first round of development scores, released the previous day. Discussion will focus on
how to apply the Standard, and how it can be used to improve urban design and planning practices.

New Prospects for Affordability, Transport and Land Use Equity

In partnership with Next City
Details
Low-income constituents typically face greater transport costs proportionally, whether in time or money, than
middle and upper income households. Spatial planning and regulatory reform offer opportunities for bringing
these underserved communities closer to jobs, decreasing their transport share of household expenses and
improving their quality of life. The panel will address how affordable housing oriented to transit, density and
transport access are being addressed in Ahmedabad, India and Mexico City as these cities densify around
transit. Interventions such as parking reform and shared mobility models offer potential to increase access and
equity. Particular focus will be given to how these new mobility models can work in emerging economies.
April 12- 16

Technical visit through Medellin, Bogota, Pereira

Parallel Event with Despacio
[expand title=”details”]
General Agenda:
 Saturday April 12: Visit to Medellin transport systems and public spaces
 Sunday April 13: Bogota Sunday Ciclovia
 Monday April 14: Bogota TransMilenio ride and visit to Operator Depot
 Tuesday April 15: Technical discussion with experts and TransMilenio management
 Wednesday April 16: Pereira Megabus system, visit and discussion with managers [/expand]
Despacio will be hosting a study tour to Bogota, Medellin and Pereira following the World Urban Forum in
Medellin. Despacio will provide assistance to interional delegations interested in learning firsthand about
Bogota’s BRT system TransMilenio and Cycling network, as well as visits to relevant sites of Medellin and
Pereira. Click here for more information.
Good Transport Data Can Change Cities

Jacob Mason, ITDP Transport Research and Evaluation Manager, reports back from the UN World Data Forum
in South Africa on how transport data can help create sustainable cities.
The pace of change in cities has reached breakneck speed. Mayors are often so overwhelmed with day-to-day
issues that they have a hard time thinking about the long-term effects of all the decisions they make. It’s often
hard to even tell if things are getting better or worse. Transportation data in many cities is either hard to
obtain or missing entirely.
As part of ITDP’s effort to influence better decision making by mayors and elected officials, ITDP traveled to
Cape Town, South Africa for the first ever UN World Data Forum. The forum gathered data experts from
around the world to share data related ideas and achievements.
Hazer Gazer is an app that mines all relevant data about haze and makes it accessible in a friendly platform to
support a response.
New Sources of Data
In Cape Town, ITDP met with representatives from the European Union who have developed a guide for how
to work with private institutions and business to use their data without hurting their business model. The
upshot: make the data anonymous so it can’t be tied to any person, and aggregate it so it doesn’t give away
industry secrets.
A representative from Facebook spoke about their work doing exactly this with governments to help them
better understand their countries and cities. In addition, several researchers talked about their experience
working with anonymized and aggregated cell phone records. This private information was used to help target
malaria treatment centers in Africa, but could also be useful in better understanding how people travel around
cities.

Limited access to specific data also presents a challenge.

Combine Data to Fill Gaps
Another major challenge in data collection is achieving complete coverage. For example, collecting data on
walkability requires physically examining each block to understand the characteristics of the built environment
(streets and buildings) there. This is very expensive and time consuming, meaning that typically only a sample
of city blocks can actually be surveyed. To improve the coverage of data, researchers at the forum showed
that by combining multiple data sources, they could infer data for locations not covered by the initial in-depth
data collection. Sources of additional data include satellite imagery, cell phone data, and social media, which
can provide a more complete data coverage of an area. Researchers then found relationships between the
original sample data and the more complete data set. Often the relationships were weak, but with multiple
weak relationships to complete data sources, the researchers were able to reasonably infer data for locations
that were not surveyed.
*The full presentations from the UN Data Forum on big data, data and algorithms, and using photos as
data are available online.
What’s Next?
To better translate these ideas into practice, ITDP is hosting a Mobility Data Forum in San Francisco in
partnership with Microsoft, where these ideas and other can all meet to develop concrete ideas for translating
data into indicators. These indicators can help transport planners understand how people are moving in a city
and track progress over time. With this information, leaders can make better decisions about where a city is
headed, bringing us closer to sustainable cities and a healthier, more equitable planet.
Is Your City Made for You?

Urban populations all over the world are soaring, with cities expected to add up to 2.5 billion more people by
2050.
While cities are booming as economic and social centers, resources and opportunities are too often
concentrated in high-income areas—pushing less affluent communities farther and farther away from the city
center and from basic services like employment, schools, and hospitals. Urban regions are expanding outward
so fast that the total land area covered by the world’s cities will triple in the next forty years. Without smart
planning, this will only result in more sprawl, isolation, and marginalization for poorer communities on the
urban outskirts.
Often, the crux of the problem is a lack of good transportation systems to connect everyone—no matter their
income level or location—with opportunities. In fact, according to ITDP’s research, metro regions in low- and
middle-income countries are providing only a quarter of residents, at best, with mass transit. All too often,
those who need transit and transport options the most are those who have the least access to it.
Let’s create inclusive cities made for all, where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. Become an ITDP
Member with a $40 gift.
Cities are at a tipping point, and now is our chance to create a bold and inclusive urban vision. Building truly
inclusive cities means providing everyone with reliable transit, safe sidewalks and bike lanes, and urban
development that is compact and close to transit. Connecting people with opportunity, regardless of where
they live, is key to creating sustainable cities.
Thanks to support from Members like you, we’ve made strides towards fostering inclusive cities across the
globe:

Johannesburg BRT
The Johannesburg bus rapid transit system (BRT), Rea Vaya, illustrates how good transit systems can connect
poor communities to opportunity and even help heal old wounds of racial segregation. South Africa’s first
major initiative to redress apartheid’s legacy of racial town planning, Rea Vaya provides a quick, safe link for
residents of historically black communities like Alexandra Township, one of the poorest urban areas in the
country, to the central business district and the opportunities and services that come with it. Access to Rea
Vaya has also reduced commuting times by half for many residents.

Social Housing in Brazil

Providing plenty of affordable housing is critical for inclusive cities. But what good is housing if residents don’t
have access to jobs or schools? In Brazil, more than twenty-five million people will live in Minha Casa Minha
Vida federal housing by 2019, but many units are in remote parts of the city—sometimes four hours and
multiple transit transfers away from employment and other services. In response, ITDP worked with the
Brazilian national government to create first-of-its-kind policy criteria to make sure new housing is located
near transit— strengthening access to opportunities while providing homes for millions of low-income
residents. (Photo to the left by Alberto Coutinho/AGECOM)

Your support is making a difference but we still need your help to ensure cities are made for you with
equitable and sustainable transport that connects everyone with the city. Your $40 gift to ITDP will help
make truly inclusive cities a reality.
ITDP at Habitat III

About Habitat III

Habitat III is the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development to take place
in Quito, Ecuador, from 17 – 20 October 2016. In Resolution 66/207 and in line with the bi-decennial cycle
(1976, 1996 and 2016), the United Nations General Assembly decided to convene the Habitat III Conference to
reinvigorate the global commitment to sustainable urbanization, to focus on the implementation of a New
Urban Agenda, building on the Habitat Agenda of Istanbul in 1996.
ITDP at Habitat III
ITDP is holding a number of a events and panels at Habitat III. See below for information on each session and
be sure to follow us on Twitter for live updates.

ECOMOBILITY PANEL: IMPLEMENTING MOBILITY WITHIN THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Presentation on “Urban Mobility and the Sustainable Development Goals in Brazil”

ITDP Speakers: Clarisse Linke, Country Director, ITDP Brazil

Venue: Sustainable Cities Pavilion
Date & Time: Sunday, October 16 11:30am-12:30pm

WRI: LAUNCH OF PUBLICATION “WORLD RESOURCES REPORT: TOWARDS A MORE EQUAL CITY”
Featured speaker during the launch of the WRI’s flagship publication, the World Resources Report: Towards a
More Equal City.

ITDP Speakers: Clarisse Linke, Country Director, ITDP Brazil

Venue: Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Quito
Date & Time: Sunday, October 16, 16:00-17:00

INCLUSIVE URBANIZATION BUILT UPON TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT: PERSPECTIVES FROM THE CITY
What is inclusive transit-oriented development (TOD)? What is the way forward for inclusive urbanization? This
event will answer these questions through the exploration of land use and transport integration and the
promotion of inclusive and accessible urbanization in different cities around the world. Constituency groups will
discuss equitable urban development in their context and major group representatives such as women, children
and youth, older people, “grassroot” housing advocates, and slum dwellers will have a chance to discuss,
collaborate, and address issues that affect them the most from safety to access to upgrading infrastructure and
housing affordability.
ITDP Speakers: Ramon Cruz, International Policy Manager; Luc Nadal, Technical Director, Sustainable Urban
Development
Venue: Room MR10, Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana “Benjamin Carrion”
Date & Time: Monday, October 17, 09:30-10:30

CITIES OF TOMORROW: LIVABLE, MOBILE, AND CONNECTED

ITDP CEO, Clayton Lane, signs the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) joint declaration from Germany,
on behalf of ITDP, pledging cooperation for sustainable transport initiatives.
Venue: Room R13, Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, Benjamín Carrión, Quito, Ecuador
Date & Time: Monday, October 17, 12:30-13:30
CITY AND MOBILITY: MOBILITIES AND INTERACTIONS IN URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Organized by IPEA and ITDP Brazil
The panel will begin with an overview of key findings from the book City and Mobility: Mobilities and Interactions
in Urban Development, focused on Brazil. From there, we will expand the discussion to see how this translates into
other regions in the world to understand how mobility has influenced urban growth and social and economic
outcomes. How has mobility made the city and what can we do to create more just and sustainable cities by
linking mobility and urban development more closely. We will conclude the event with a reception that will also be
the launch of the book.
ITDP Speakers: Clarisse Linke, Country Director, ITDP Brazil
Venue: Next City Pavilion
Date & Time: Monday, October 17, 17:00-19:00

OPENING PLENARY: THE FUTURE OF URBAN MOBILITY

Transportation is at a tipping point as the world urbanizes and cities become more complex. While the New Urban
Agenda evolves and as challenges, needs, and aspirations change globally; new service models, technologies,
business models, integration mechanisms, policy frameworks, and innovative narratives are rapidly emerging to
address the transforming transportation landscape. This session, through a discussion among the experts and
change makers, will explore options available for cities to become safe, integrated, clean, sustainable and
eventually people friendly.
ITDP Speakers: Clayton Lane, ITDP CEO
Venue: Auditorio de Ingeniería Civil, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador
Date & Time: Tuesday, October 18, 10:00-11:30

QUITO ACTION PLAN ON SUSTAINABLE URBAN MOBILITY

Networking event organized by SLOCAT with ITDP and WRI
ITDP Speakers: Aimee Gauthier
Venue: Room R18, Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, Benjamin Carrion
Date & Time: Tuesday, October 18, 16:30-18:30

TRANSPORT DAY: SUSTAINABLE URBAN MOBILITY IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
The session will present a current update on sustainable mobility policies and projects in the Latin America region,
focusing on transit-oriented development, mass transit, cycling and walking and travel demand management. It
will also focus on describing how these can support the New Urban Agenda with regional initiatives. Experts in the
session come from private, public and non-profit sectors as well as multi-lateral organizations.
ITDP Speakers: Clarisse Linke, Country Director, ITDP Brazil; Bernardo Baranda, Latin America Regional Director
Venue: Room GS2, Centro de Convenciones Eugenio Espejo
Date & Time: Wednesday, October 19, 13:45-14:45

TRANSPORT DAY: TRACKING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TRANSPORT COMPONENTS OF THE NEW URBAN
AGENDA
ITDP Speakers: Clayton Lane
Venue: Centro de Convenciones Eugenio Espejo (Auditorium)
Date & Time: Wednesday, October 19, 14:45-15:45

TRANSPORT DAY: PROVIDING EQUITABLE MOBILITY FOR AFRICA’S URBAN FUTURE

Africa is urbanizing at an unprecedented rate. By 2030, the UN estimates that nearly 100 cities in Africa will have a
population of more than a million residents. A new approach for managing urban growth is urgently needed.
African cities are beginning to address these challenges, yet responses have remained piecemeal, and
infrastructure investments continue to support car-centric development that only reinforces growing inequities.
The panel discussion will explore critical questions for Africa’s urban future on the issues of a compact city vision
for African cities, developing new sources of financing for sustainable transport and urban infrastructure, land-use
management mechanisms for African cities and role of international development institutions.
ITDP Speakers: Ramon Cruz, International Policy Manager; Chris Kost, Country Director, ITDP Africa
Venue: Centro de Convenciones Eugenio Espejo
Date & Time: Wednesday, October 19, 14:45-15:45

TRANSPORT DAY: NEW URBAN MOBILITY SERVICES AND COLLABORATIVE TRANSPORT ECONOMY
(Spanish language session)
ITDP Speakers: Bernardo Baranda, Latin America Regional Director
Venue: Room GS2, Centro de Convenciones Eugenio Espejo
Date & Time: Wednesday, October 19, 14:45-15:45

STRENGTHENING URBAN RURAL LINKAGES THROUGH INTEGRATED TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT

Organized by GIZ and Communitas
Habitat III Networking Event.
ITDP Speakers: Aimee Gauthier
Venue: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana
Date & Time: Wednesday, October 19, 16:30-18:30

DELIVERING THE NEW URBAN AGENDA THROUGH SUSTAINABLE URBAN MOBILITY SOLUTIONS
Training event organized by UN Habitat and UNCRD.
ITDP Speakers: Clayton Lane (e-mobility) and Aimee Gauthier (TOD)
Venue: Room R5, Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, Benjamin Carrion
Date & Time: Thursday, October 20, 08:00-11:00

CAPACITY BUILDING AND MOBILITY ANALYTICS

GIZ’s Sustainable Urban Transport Project (SUTP) has been working in the field of capacity building for local and
national authorities for 15 years now. While today’s transport solutions, such as demand-responsive public
transport, become more and more digital and data-driven, many local authorities lack the capacity to collect data
for planning purposes and indicators and hence struggle to yield the digital dividend. SUTP has the vision to enable
its partners to step into the age of digitization and move forward to a new generation of transportation planning.
ITDP Speakers: Ramon Cruz, International Policy Manager, Clayton Lane, CEO, Aimee Gauthier, Chief of Programs
Venue: German Pavilion
Date & Time: Thursday, October 20, 15:00- 16:00
ITDP’s New “People Near Rapid Transit” Metric Shows the World’s Biggest Metro Regions Serve Only Half
Their Populations—At Best—with Mass Transit

New ITDP Study Measures Percentage of Residents Who Live Close to Rapid Transit,
A Major Factor in Limiting Climate Change and Making Cities More Equitable
Many of the world’s most important cities are expanding rapidly without adequate transportation planning,
according to a new report released today by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP).
The report measures the number of urban residents who are within a short walking distance to rapid transit
with a new metric, People Near Rapid Transit (PNT), and applies the metric to 26 major cities and their greater
metro regions around the world. Of the cities surveyed, the city of Paris earned a perfect score and the metro
regions of Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles were among the worst.

Click image for download page

“The PNT metric illustrates how unplanned urban and suburban growth focuses on automobiles and only
those who can afford to drive,” said Clayton Lane, ITDP’s chief executive officer. “Washington, DC, Paris, and
Beijing are major examples of cities that have expanded beyond prescribed political boundaries without
effective regional transport plans. Larger integrated rapid-transit networks serve more people and limit
climate change—but they don’t grow without foresight and planning.”
The PNT metric was established by ITDP researchers to measure the number of residents who live within 1 km
of rapid transit. The report, People Near Transit: Improving Accessibility and Rapid Transit Coverage in Large
Cities, released in advance of the United Nations’ Habitat III conference, applies the metric to 26 cities around
the world with high-capacity mass transit systems and the greater metropolitan regions anchored by these
cities.
Increasingly, the outlying regions of cities are home to less wealthy communities. A recent report from the
Brookings Institution found that the poor population in US suburbs grew faster than anywhere else in the
country, surging 64 percent in the past decade. Similar trends have already emerged in most countries around
the world. Without a corresponding increase in rapid transit access, the poverty in these areas becomes
entrenched, as the lack of transportation limits access to jobs and education in other parts of the cities.
Very few cities are investing in the rapid transit systems that serve the less wealthy communities living outside
of the urban core, even in Europe and especially in North America. For the 13 cities in industrialized countries
that were scored, the average PNT was 68.5%, while those cities’ metropolitan regions averaged 37.3%. The
metro regions of the six US cities averaged a score of 17.2%.

“Mass transit systems should grow as cities grow; yet in most cities, governments still rely on automobile
traffic as the primary way of getting people around,” noted Lane. “In today’s megacities, road space is already
massively congested with car ownership presently at only 10-30 percent, yet building more roads remains a
misguided top infrastructure priority. Governments need to better serve the other 70-90 percent of the
population without cars, and provide better mobility choices for everyone.”
The rapid transit systems of Seoul and Beijing, the two largest cities in the survey, served the most people by
far. Almost 11 million people live within 1 km of each system and their scores reflect the population density.
For the cities measured in low- and middle-income countries, the average PNT score was 40.3%, while the
metropolitan regions averaged 23.7%. Of these cities, the rapid transit systems in Jakarta and Quito did not
extend past the city borders. Almost all of the other systems only served a small fraction of the population
living in these outlying areas.
“In many cities, it’s far too easy for municipal governments to ignore the problems on the other side of their
borders,” Lane observed. “But cities today do not exist in a vacuum. All metropolitan regions have an urban
core, as well as surrounding communities. People in the outer regions cannot thrive without better
transportation connections to the core and other outer communities. Government relationships across city
and state lines are crucial to meeting the needs of their populations.”

A Critical Tool in Efforts to Limit Climate Change

Expanding and optimizing rapid transit is also critical to achieving climate change targets. According to the US
Environmental Protection Agency, cars, light trucks and SUVs generate one-fifth of all carbon dioxide
emissions in 2014 that result from burning fossil fuels in the US.
Governments cannot limit these emissions without rapid transit and compact urban development. In a report
released two years ago that ITDP produced in collaboration with the University of California, Davis,
researchers estimated that more than $100 trillion in cumulative public and private spending, and 1,700
megatons of annual carbon dioxide (CO2)—a 40 percent reduction of urban passenger transport emissions—
could be eliminated by 2050 if the entire world expands public transportation, walking and cycling in cities.
“The impacts from climate change could still be mitigated if there is enough political will,” concluded Lane.
“The continuing construction of car-oriented development found in metropolitan regions all over the world is
a perfect example of this tragedy. Rapid transit integration, including rail, bus, cycling, walking, and shared car
networks could connect these places sustainably to a wealth of opportunities.”
How Cell Phones Can Improve Transportation in Africa: An Interview with Jacqueline Klopp

Jacqueline M. Klopp is an Associate Research Scholar at the Center for Sustainable Urban
Development at Columbia University. A political scientist by training, she previously taught the politics of
development for many years at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. Her
research focuses on the political economy of sustainable land use, transportation, public health, and urban
planning in African cities. A founder and active member of Cairo from Below and Nairobi Planning Innovations,
she is an active public commentator on sustainable transportation in Africa. She holds an AB from Harvard
University and a PhD from McGill University.
Jacqueline put together the Digital Matatus team which produced the first public transport data for a minibus
or paratransit (matatu) system in Africa and is the author of numerous academic articles in diverse journals
from the “Journal of Transport Geography to World Policy Review”.

What is the biggest opportunity for crowdsourcing data in African cities?

Cellphone use is rapidly expanding in African cities and produces one of the biggest opportunities to collect
critical data. In Nairobi, almost every adult has a phone, increasingly smartphones.
Citizens can collect data in two main ways. First, the phone’s “digital exhaust” phone – geo-location data from
calls – can be analyzed to see how the city moves. In Abidjan, IBM’s research arm used data from Orange to
optimize bus routes. However, telecommunications companies often do not like to make this data open –
even when it’s anonymous.
The second way to generate data is to share information through social media, as in the popular Nairobi
transport app ma3route or by even through gamification, which is how Mapaton in Mexico City is collecting
data on public transit. There will still be a need for moderating, cleaning, and groundtruthing this kind of data,
but the potential is enormous. One beautiful example is the Nairobi accident map that uses five months of
crowdsourced data on crashes, validates it using police records, and shows visually where there are clear
safety problems that require design interventions.
How can more cities get involved in the Digital Matatus project?
Since Digital Matatus successfully mapped out the Nairobi minibus (matatu) system, cities are already
replicating this process with transit systems that have never before been mapped. These include Kampala
(with ITDP involvement), Maputo, Accra, Lusaka, Amman, Cairo, and Managua. Digital Matatus has been
providing informal support for a number of these cities, but we would like to scale this effort up, build better
tools, and provide a resource center where groups in different cities can share and help each other.
What are the challenges of mapping informal transit networks (that may not even see themselves as
networks)?
Stops can change location and are sometimes not marked or named. Routes may not have names or numbers
and may not be fixed, so you have to take many trips to learn the most common one. Fares are often not set
and fluctuate based on factors like rain. In addition, most common data format for transit (the general transit
feed specification) was developed for formal systems, so it needs to be modified to take into account some of
these factors.

What are the lessons learned from your project in Nairobi?

We learned that creating quality transit data for cities like Nairobi that have high levels of informality is
challenging but possible, and that there is demand for this information from citizens and planners. Once we
had proof of concept, we thought our institutional users, like the World Bank, would understand the need to
create more data and update existing datasets. Instead, getting financial and institutional support for these
initiatives involved a serious struggle: Who is responsible for creating data? Who will pay for maintenance?
How do we ensure data will be open to the public?
How do we find a way to mainstream this kind of data collection into “capacity building” work and evaluation
in the transportation sector especially as we strive to meet the new sustianable transport systems target for
the Sustainable Development Goals?
How is crowdsourcing data different in places like Lusaka versus Santo Domingo versus Amman?Are there
regional variations? Or variations based on the democratic nature of governments?
In Nairobi routes are numbered, but in many cities this is not the case. A team in the Accra Metropolitan
Assembly was active in mapping trotros; in other cities local government is standoffish about transit mapping
by citizens. A lot of variations exist based on the political interests and institutions involved in the transit
system, how the system is regulated, the mapping strategy, and who is involved.

How does crowdsourcing in low- and middle-income countries empower communities and help with
engaging people in the planning process?
Good information about transport is critical for citizens in any place. It is unacceptable that in places like
Africa, where the majorities rely on transit, that these services are ignored. If people can’t even see their
routes as routes and their system as a system, it gets harder to engage in conversations about improvements.
Transportation planning in so many cities is top-down, a kind of tyranny of experts. In cities like Nairobi when
the mass transit system was not even on a map, planners could easily ignore the stops and routes that people
rely on. This happened on one of the major highway projects in Kenya – the stops that everyone uses were not
catered for in the designs, with terrible consequences.
How can we ensure that data is updated over time to reflect changes in mobility patterns?
Transit systems are dynamic and always changing, and it is critical that data is constantly updated. In the near
future, we will be moving to real-time data across the globe. Mexico City just mandated this. Kigali is starting
such a system. Eco-Mobility and UC Berkeley are experimenting with technology in Nairobi supported by bus
owners who wish to see where their vehicles are at any moment. However, this will take some time, and
regardless you still want basic data on the structure of the system so Digital Matatus is also experimenting
with crowdsourcing. We are exploring a new app called ma3tycoon developed by students of Sarah Williams,
Assistant Professor of Urban Planning at MIT/Digital Matatus.
This interview is part of a partnership series between ITDP and Volvo Research and Education Foundations
(VREF). In this series, we will feature interviews with researchers from VREF’s Future Urban Transport
program.

Jacqueline Klopp will be speaking about the Digital Matatus Project at the 2016 MOBILIZE Yichang
Summit to be held in Yichang, China from September 21-23.
Cycling and Walking

The way most of the world’s people get around.

For decades, traditional transport planning has focused on improving conditions for private automobiles at the
expense of safe sidewalks and bike facilities. Yet, the majority of the world’s people rely on cycling, walking,
and other forms of human-powered transport like rickshaws to commute to work and get around their cities
every day. Increasing the use of bicycles and the ease of walking is one of the most affordable and practical
ways to reduce CO2 emissions, while boosting access to economic opportunity for the poor.
ITDP works with cities to:
 Adapt the streetscape to make it safer for pedestrians and cyclists, using features such as protected
sidewalks and bike lanes
 Initiate bike share programs and car-free days
 Improve the quality and availability of affordable bicycles
In many cities, ITDP has successfully proposed plans for networks of bike lanes and bike parking, and worked
with the authorities to get the plans built. Most recently, ITDP has been instrumental in the launch of new
bike share programs in Mexico and China, making it easier and affordable for people to use bikes whenever
and wherever they need them. To help galvanize interest in cycling, ITDP also organizes car-free days, where
portions or entire cities are closed to private cars, freeing the streets for cyclists and recreational uses.
ITDP also works to bring about safe conditions for pedestrians, including sidewalks and plazas. Too often
these basic elements are lacking – or even misused as free car parking – forcing people to walk in dangerous
conditions among traffic.
In addition to promoting cycling and walking as everyday forms of transport, ITDP also understands the critical
role that bicycles can play for rural communities in helping them access education, healthcare, and
employment. For nearly a decade, ITDP has operated the Access Africa program in Ghana, Senegal, South
Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda to promote and distribute bicycles to rural and low-income communities and
healthcare workers free of charge.
ITDP’s work promoting non-motorized transport goes beyond bicycles and walking, and includes rickshaws,
becaks, and more. One highlight of this work is a program that modernized the Indian cycle rickshaw in 2000.
The rickshaw project showed that “modernization does not mean motorization” and encouraged new
perceptions of the rickshaw as a viable, and economically efficient, mode of transport.
Public Transport

The effective and pragmatic solution for urban transport.

Around the world, private car ownership is not only the source of ever increasing traffic congestion, but also a
growing cause of greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and mounting social disparities. These problems are
especially critical in cities.
ITDP strongly believes that safe, modern, and efficient public transport can help answer these problems. While
effective rail-based public transport plays a vital role in many regions, our specific area of expertise is bus
rapid transit (BRT), and we work to spread knowledge about BRT and provide high-level technical assistance to
cities pursuing BRT projects in the U.S. and abroad.
BRT is an innovative mass transit system that combines the efficiencies and quality of metros with the
flexibility and relative low cost of buses, while offering significant environmental benefits. World-class BRT
achieves comparable levels of speed, capacity, and passenger comfort and convenience as rail-based systems,
but can be built at a fraction of the cost and construction time. BRT provides cities with a pragmatic and
affordable solution to ensure that their transit systems keep pace with urban growth.
Compared to a regular bus, the journey on a BRT is much quicker, because BRTs enjoy bus-only lanes, and
passengers pay at the station, rather than on the bus. And since the station floor is at the same level as the
bus floor, BRT is easily accessible to individuals with limited mobility.
BRT also reduces greenhouse emissions and air pollution. By increasing bus speeds, encouraging motorists to
switch to buses, and often using more fuel efficient buses, BRT is an important tool in battling climate change.
In fact, some BRT systems are approved by the United Nations to generate and sell carbon credits.
Over the past several years, ITDP has provided direct assistance to city governments and has been involved in
the research, planning, and construction of world-class BRT systems in Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Mexico,
South Africa, Tanzania, and more. ITDP is also exploring opportunities to advance full-featured BRT in the U.S..
A grant from The Rockefeller Foundation is enabling ITDP to develop a strategy for the US where the
opportunities for effective implementation are most promising in terms of political leadership, institutional
capacity, financial viability, and prospects for full-featured network development. ITDP further promotes the
development of BRT by highlighting the successes of existing BRT systems and sharing information among city
leaders.
Every day, ITDP is working on new BRT systems in cities around the world, as well as improving the operational
design of existing systems.
Sustainable Urban Development

Making cities desirable places to live again.

Rising incomes and the growing trend towards private car ownership around the world have often resulted in
the flight of the middle classes to car-oriented, and indeed high carbon, living and working environments –
vast expanses of expressways, interchanges, wide roads and parking lots, interspersed with freestanding
commercial and residential buildings.
ITDP believes that the solution to sprawl lies in remaking cities and suburbs to be vibrant, livable, and
sustainable to attract residents, stimulate economic opportunity, and foster low carbon lifestyles. ITDP works
to integrate smart urban design and transport by:
 Encouraging pedestrian and transit oriented real estate development
 Designing state-of-the-art environments for walking and cycling
 Crafting policies that turn physical and cultural spaces into economic assets
Pedestrian and transit oriented development (PTOD), in which residential and mixed-use buildings are planned
around public transport, bike networks, and pedestrian facilities, is critical in order to move away from sprawl
and car dependency. The design of new buildings and open spaces, the reform and creation of new zoning
laws, and the removal of other regulatory barriers is important to creating an environment that better suits
individuals’ daily needs.
In addition, ITDP also focuses on improving and restoring historic districts and cultural spaces and links to
parks and natural resources to help cities uphold their cultural values and attract and maintain residents.
Connecting these unique spaces to public transport, as well pedestrian and bike facilities, enables them to
thrive and ensures their preservation.
To bring about these improvements in urban space, ITDP works with real estate developers, downtown
business associations, and housing and planning departments of city governments. ITDP shares information
and case studies from other cities and offers technical guidance. In partnership with organizations like the
Urban Land Institute, ITDP holds workshops and speaking events to help developers and decision-makers
understand the importance of integrating transport and city planning.
Our Cities Ourselves (OCO)
OCO is ITDP’s signature visioning program, which includes visuals of how future cities will look if designed
around sustainable transport. OCO launched as an exhibition at the Center for Architecture in New York City in
the summer of 2010. It featured futuristic visions of ten of the world’s most fascinating cities by today’s
leading architects. Each vision followed specific principles of sustainable urban transport and design, and
served as an inspiring proposal for the transformation of cities over the next two decades. Now, ITDP uses
OCO as a tool for visioning and collaboration with city governments. OCO asks: what will the future look like if
we design our cities for ourselves?
Traffic Reduction

Putting public needs before private consumption.

Reducing private car use not only requires improvements in public transit, cycling, and walking facilities, but
also better management of private automobile use. ITDP believes that traffic management solutions that
regulate parking and charge motorists for driving in city centers have the greatest potential to reduce traffic
congestion. By coaxing people out of their cars, cities can reduce CO2 emissions and air pollution, increase
public transit ridership, and enjoy safer and more livable urban environments, with less time wasted in
congestion.
Congestion pricing, where motorists are charged for using roads in the metropolitan center, has been used
effectively to manage driving demand in Singapore, London, and Stockholm.
Similarly, parking regulations that effectively limit free parking and charge fees based on demand help ensure
that motorists absorb the full costs of their choice to drive. ITDP has produced a number of reports and briefs
on parking management around the world, including:
 U.S. Parking Policies: An Overview of Management Strategies
 Europe’s Parking U-Turn: From Accommodation to Regulation
Such measures have been found to produce dramatic results, including: sharp cuts to congestion, a boost to
the reliability and speed of public transportation and traffic, and reductions in air pollution and energy use. In
addition, congestion pricing and parking reform can also provide critical sources of revenue for cities and
public transit agencies.
ITDP serves as advisor to many city governments across the world to help solve their traffic problems. By
organizing speaking tours with high profile individuals, and holding workshops with congestion and parking
management experts, ITDP continues to make a major push in expanding the use of these methods.
India

ITDP began working in India in 1996 with a program to modernize cycle rickshaws. ITDP’s ergonomic, light-
weight model is easier for pullers to operate and provides better comfort for passengers. Today, over 300,000
modern cycle rickshaws transport people across Agra, Delhi, and other cities.
ITDP went on to play a key role in the planning of Ahmedabad’s bus rapid transit (BRT) system. Known as
Janmarg, or “people’s way,” the system is recognized as the first full BRT system in India. Since it opened in
2009, the system has set a new standard for high quality BRT in India and has garnered numerous
international awards, including the 2010 Sustainable Transportation Award and the 2013 Best Design Award
for BRTS at the UITP World Congress in Geneva.
ITDP worked closely with officials Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad to implement an integrated BRT system,
Rainbow, in 2015. Cities such as Chennai, Coimbatore, Nashik and Tiruchirapalli are exploring the feasibility of
the same. ITDP is working closely with these cities to incorporate best practice BRT features that will ensure
excellent service quality for passengers.
In Chennai, ITDP has been instrumental in transforming the city’s streetscape by supporting the Corporation of
Chennai in building good quality pedestrian footpaths, protected cycle lanes, pedestrian plazas, and
greenways. ITDP is also advising the city on the introduction of a public cycle sharing system. Other cities such
as Coimbatore, Gandhinagar, Pondicherry, and Tiruchirapalli have sought technical advice from ITDP to launch
similar cycle sharing systems.
ITDP recently began working in Ranchi on an initiative to secure political support for better public transport in
the city. To create interest and garner support for this cause, ITDP conducted various awareness building
programs and workshops with the civil society and local non-governmental organizations.
Currently with a presence in 10 cities—Ahmedabad, Chennai, Coimbatore, Gandhinagar, Nashik, Pimpri-
Chinchwad, Pune, Puducherry, Ranchi and Tiruchirapalli—ITDP is at the forefront of sustainable transport
planning in India.
ITDP in the News

Parking in China Can Be a Long March

WSJ (1/18/16): By contrast, China is “too lenient towards drivers,” said Liu Shaokun, a vice country director at
The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, a New York-based nonprofit outfit. China has
encouraged government and private capital to build more parking spaces. The central government in 2015
required cities with a population of more than 500,000 to target a ratio of 1.3 parking spaces per car when
planning residential and commercial developments. view article >

All aboard Volvo’s very, very long bus. Like, all of you
Wired (12/1/16): The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy publishes a list of BRT standards,
which include dedicated right-of-ways, special intersection treatments, platform-level boarding, and off-board
fare collection. (The people who drafted these guidelines are real transit nerds, and things get much more
complicated from there.) Not one American transit system meets the gold standard criteria. Simply put,
there’s nowhere for these things to rocket unimpeded. view article >

The people who need good transit most have the least access to it
Treehugger (10/12/16):The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) takes a shorter, and
more international view with a look at the last kilometre problem, measuring the number of residents in cities
that have to walk more than a kilometer to get to high quality rapid transit. It’s called PNT or People Near
Rapid Transit. view article >

100 % des habitants proches des transports en commun à Paris… mais pas en banlieue
Le Monde (10/11/16): La capitale française arrive en tête d’un classement réalisé par l’Institute for
Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP). Dans un rapport, publié mardi 11 octobre, cet organisme
spécialisé dans les transports en commun a recensé dans 26 métropoles mondiales le nombre de personnes
habitant à moins d’un kilomètre d’un réseau « efficace », c’est-à-dire rapide, fréquent, avec des arrêts
rapprochés. view article >

Lots to lose: how cities around the world are eliminating car parks
The Guardian (9/27/16): “As parking regulations were put into zoning codes, most of the downtowns in many
cities were just completely decimated,” says Michael Kodransky, global research manager for the Institute of
Transportation and Development Policy. “What the cities got, in effect, was great parking. But nobody goes to
a city because it has great parking.” view article >

Curious about Bus Rapid Transit? Check out Cleveland

Detroit Free Press/USA Today (6/19/16): The HealthLine, which Calabrese describes as a $200-million project,
is credited with generating $6.3 billion in economic development, and the Greater Cleveland RTA says it
returns $114 for every dollar spent to create and launch it. The system is described as a “clear best practice”
by the New York-based Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, which gave it a “silver”
designation in its latest ratings of BRT systems around the world. view article >

Cleveland’s new bike-share system will have a twist — you don’t have to dock at a station
Vox (USA) 5/25/16: As a 2013 analysis by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy found, the
success of bike share in a city usually depends on more fundamental factors, such as station density
(successful bike shares tend to have 10 to 16 stations in every square kilometer), coverage area (at least 10
square kilometers), number of bikes (at least 10 to 30 bikes per 1,000 people in the coverage area is optimal),
and quality of bikes (they, uh, should be nice)… view article >

Blocking Traffic
The Economist (International) 5/7/16: To solve the problem, Mexico will need to spend more money more
intelligently. Three-quarters of transport investment in urban Mexico goes into expanding and maintaining
roads, according to the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy… view article >

After Worst Smog in 11 Years, Mexico City Braces for More

U.S. News & World Report (International) 3/18/16: Bernardo Baranda, Latin America director for the Institute
for Transportation and Development Policy, said that officials ought to re-establish limits on car circulation
and improve cooperation across the various jurisdictions that make up the Valley of Mexico. Longer-term, he
called for more investment in public transportation as well as tolls on cars and creation of areas open only to
foot and bicycle traffic. “The root problem is the growth of the vehicle fleet,” Baranda said…view article>

Slowly does it: Traffic in the Philippines’ Capital

The Economist (International) 2/27/16: Belatedly, Manila is trying something sensible. In December the
Philippines approved a “rapid bus” route in north-east Manila, with buses travelling along dedicated lanes.
Similar systems have worked well in Brazil and China. Karl Fjellstrom of the Institute for Transportation and
Development Policy, a New York outfit, says he looks for three things when assessing whether a city is suited
for a rapid bus system: traffic congestion, demand and physical infrastructure (that is, wide roads). Manila
scores highly on all three. view article >

How Much Can Bicycling Help Fight Climate Change? A Lot, If Cities Try
Streetsblog (USA) 11/18/15: A new study from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy
attempts to measure the potential of bikes and e-bikes to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. ITDP’s conclusion, in short: Bicycling could help cut carbon emissions from urban transportation 11
percent. view article >
Cycling the City: ‘I have a dream that Jakarta should be like Copenhagen’
The Guardian (International) 9/14/15: The ITDP has developed a bike-sharing plan for Jakarta which would
provide 2,000 bicycles at more than 100 stations across the city. The organisation has estimated it would cost
between £2.5m and £4m for the facilities, with private sector involvement likely…View Article >

Rio’s Olympic Inequality Problem, in Pictures

CityLab (International/USA) 9/9/15: “The modernist city doesn’t have space for the poor,” says Clarisse Cunha
Linke, Brazil Country Director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP). “Barra is the
most emblematic or iconic example of a disaster, of a modernist city that is worse than Brasilia.” View Article >

Paving Way to Make Walking Safe in Chennai

The Times of India (India) 7/1/15: Cities that are easier to traverse on foot are better places to live, studies
show. Keeping in mind the city’s active walking community, Corporation of Chennai is planning to re-engineer
the streets to make them easier to access and safer for pedestrians. View Article >

How Curitiba’s BRT stations sparked a transport revolution

The Guardian (International) 5/26/15: The city’s system became the world’s first bus rapid transit (BRT)
network. “Curitiba was the first to include the essential elements necessary for a BRT system to function
effectively,” says Andrés Fingeret, director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy in
Buenos Aires. View Article >

A Day Without Cars

The Hindu (India) 4/25/15: A joint initiative by the Institute of Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP)
and Chennai City Connect Foundation, NCM has launched a project — Cycle Sundays — which will attempt to
free the roads of cars at least for a day every week so that cyclists can have a ride that is a little less hindered.
And pedestrians, a walk that a little less risky. View Article >

If You’re Reading this in Jakarta, You’re Probably Stuck in Traffic

Voice of America (International) 2/4/15: An analysis based on satellite navigation data, contributed by
motorists in 78 cities around the world using TomTom GPS devices, puts the Indonesian capital just slightly
ahead of Istanbul for total stop-and-starts. Mexico City, Surabaya, Indonesia and St. Petersburg, Russia are
next in the long line. View Article >
7 Design Lessons from the World’s Most Gorgeous BRT Stations
City Lab (US National) 1/23/15: The United States has a lot to learn about quality bus-rapid transit, and great
station design is toward the top of that lesson plan. Take the Orange Line BRT in Los Angeles—one of
America’s highest-rated BRT systems, earning a bronze rating from the Institute for Transportation and
Development Policy. It’s not that Orange Line stations like the one below are unattractive for bus stops. It’s
just that they still inspire comparisons with bus stops. View Article >

Capital Bikeshare Needs More Stations – Just Smaller

The Washington Post (US National) 12/5/14: The most successful bikeshare systems in the world have dense
networks with stations every few blocks, according to bikeshare guru Jon Orcutt. He cites the Institute for
Transportation & Development Policy’s (ITDP) bikeshare planning guide, which bluntly states “increasing
station density will yield increased market penetration.” View Article >

Why aren’t American Bike Share Systems Living Up to Their Potential?

Streetsblog USA (US National) 11/24/14: As policy director at the New York City Department of Transportation
from 2007 to June, 2014, Jon Orcutt shepherded the nation’s largest bike-share system through the earliest
stages of planning, a wide-ranging public engagement process, and, last year, the rollout of hundreds of Citi
Bike stations. That makes Orcutt, formerly of Transportation Alternatives and the Tri-State Transportation
Campaign, a leading U.S. expert on bike-share. I asked him to elaborate in an interview. View Article >

Bikes are best way to get around in Mexico City, group says
Fox News Latino (Latin America & International) 8/20/14: Thirty-five riders participated in Desafio Modal 2014,
an event organized to show that bicycles are the best mode of transportation in Mexico City. Tuesday’s
transportation challenge pitted bicycles, automobiles, public transportation, motorcycles and pedestrians
against each other, with the competitors vying to get from the San Lazaro Legislative Palace to the World
Trade Center in the shortest time possible. View Article >

Brazil’s Largest City to Eliminate Minimum Parking Requirements

Cities Today (UK & International) 7/16/14: The city is set to become the first developing megacity to eliminate
parking minimums that currently require developers to build a designated amount of parking to serve housing
and commercial uses. The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) has ironically noted
developers were losing money, as their supply requirement often outstripped market demand. View Article >

Transit-oriented Development is the Key to Better Cities

Treehugger (International) 4/29/14: For years, city builders have called for Transit Adjacent development,
piling density on top of subway stations and at transit nodes. Now the Institute for Transportation and
Development Policy has introduced a far more sophisticated concept of Transit Oriented Development (TOD)
and a TOD standard to promote it. View Article >

Les transports au cœur des nouveaux quartiers

Radio France International 4//12/14: Listen here >

Global Survey Maps Out Growing Trend of Transit-oriented Development on Six Continents
Reuters 4/10/14: A global catalog of 50 urban developments on six continents maps out the growing trend of
Transit-Oriented Development (TOD). The survey, compiled by the Institute for Transportation and
Development Policy (ITDP), using its TOD Standard evaluation tool, shows which projects connect people
conveniently, affordably and safely to jobs, shopping, education and other opportunities that cities
provide. View Article >

IPCC authors find transportation emissions on track to double by 2050

ClimateWire/EE News 4/10/14: On the current trajectory, greenhouse gas emissions from cars, trains, ships
and airplanes may become one of the greatest drivers of human-induced climate change, according to a draft
of the forthcoming U.N. fifth assessment report on mitigation of climate change. View Article >

How Buenos Aires unclogged its most iconic street

citiscope (USA) 3/5/14: Buses used to be stuck in the mix of traffic on 9 de Julio, jostling with with cars, taxis
and trucks. Now, buses have their own lanes for 3 km before peeling off into traffic to get to their
destinations. More than 200,000 commuters, many of them traveling to or from the suburbs, enjoy a faster
ride that also makes a subway transfer obsolete. View article >
Buenos Aires honoured for sustainable transport improvements
Blue & Green Tomorrow (UK) 2/12/14: Buenos Aires has won the 2014 Sustainable Transport Award, after
improvements to the world’s widest avenue turned the Argentinean capital into “a city for people, not just for
cars”. The city was handed the accolade by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP).
This is following a series of measures put in place by local authorities to improve transport efficiency in the
city. View article >

Premian a la ciudad por el transporte sustentable

La Nacion (Argentina), 1/15/14: La ciudad de Buenos Aires ganó ayer un premio internacional por sus
proyectos de movilidad sustentable y se sumó así a la lista que ya integran Nueva York y San Francisco
(Estados Unidos), Ahmedabad (India), Guangzhou (China), Medellín (Colombia) y México DF, que fueron
galardonadas previamente. View article >

Bike Share, Ride Share, and the Cloud

National Journal (USA) 12/9/13: Bike-share systems can be one of the most cost-effective mass transit modes
available, according to ITDP. Washington D.C., for example, pays a private enterprise to run its Capital
Bikeshare system, but the revenue the city receives from the fee collection completely covers the operating
payments. In contrast, the city’s Metro and bus fares only recover half of those systems’ operating costs, ITDP
says. View article >

Bike share boom: 7 cities doing it right

CNN Travel (USA) 12/6/13: Today, more than 600 cities deploy more than 700,000 bicycles to be shared by
locals, according to the New York City-based Institute for Transportation and Development (ITDP). Of these,
the largest systems are in China, in cities such as Hangzhou and Shanghai. View article >

The World’s Top 7 Bike-Share Systems

Atlantic Cities (USA) 12/5/13: If you want to have a great bike-share program in your city, a few factors are
key, according to a report just out from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. View article >

Poll Illustrates Transit’s Potential to Support Economic Development

Digital Journal, 11/13/13: A new America THINKS survey from HNTB Corporation shows more than 7 in 10 (71
percent) Americans already see public transportation as more reliable than unreliable. The research also finds
most Americans see public transit as a money saver and, for many, a requirement when relocating. View
article >

Making City Roads Pedestrian-Friendly

New Indian Express, 10/18/13: The Chennai Corporation’s initiative to widen footpaths from 1.5 metres to 3
metres by reclaiming space from road in order to make it pedestrian friendly and to regulate traffic, has won
accolades from civil society. The Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi hailed this initiative by the
Chennai Corporation officials, during an international workshop here. View article >

To Attract Urban Investment, Build a Bus Line

Wired Magazine, 10/1/13: Streetcars may be sexy and light rail may be alluring, but it turns out that building a
bus line is how a city can get the most bang for its buck when it comes to attracting development. A new
study from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), examined the growth of transit-
oriented development in 21 cities with various forms of surface public transportation. Compared to streetcars
and light rail, the authors found that the bus won out big time in terms of generating high-value development
at a low upfront cost. View article >

The Surprising Key to Making Transit-oriented Development Work

The Atlantic Cities, 9/24/13: Today, the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy released a
report showing that bus-rapid transit can play a huge role in stimulating economic development — often
leveraging more investment than rail projects do. Previous research already suggested as much, but the
impact documented in the ITDP report is still eye-catching. Every dollar spent building Cleveland’s HealthLine
BRT system, for instance, generated $114 in transit-oriented development. View article >

Age Limits for Cars Encouraged in Jakarta

Jakarta Globe, 9/26/13: A transportation analyst has urged the Jakarta authorities to impose a limit on the age
of vehicles allowed on the streets, in a bid to both reduce exhaust emissions and cut back on car use. Yoga
Adiwinarto, the director of the Indonesia office of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy,
said on Wednesday that the idea had long been discussed by city officials but never implemented. View article
>

Get on the Bus

Slate, 8/23/13: When it comes to moving large numbers of people efficiently through urban areas, it’s hard to
beat good old-fashioned heavy rail subways and metro lines. But these projects come at a steep
price, especially in the United States, and don’t make sense in many areas. Yet, politicians looking for cheaper
options too often fall for the superficial idea that anything that runs on train tracks must be a good idea. The
smarter strategy in many cases is to look instead at the numerically dominant form of mass transit—the
humble bus—and ask what can be done to make it less humble. View article >

BRT: Cities Get on Board with Better, Reliable Transportation

Planetizen, 7/2/13: With Millennials leading America’s historic decline in driving, cities are exploring ways to
attract young professionals through reliable mass transit. Benjamin de la Pena and Nicholas Turner argue that
Bus Rapid Transit is the optimal solution. View article >