Architecture 504 - Issues of Sustainable Development and Urban Regeneration (Spring 2006)

Lecture Slides for class

Sustainable Transportation Performance Indicators - Center for Sustainable Transportation
Definitions and Vision of Sustainable Transportation
Sustainable Transportation Performance Indicators Underlying Data And Calculations March 2003
Sustainable Transportation Performance Indicators - Report on Phase 3
Sustainable Transportation Indicators - Synopsis

Summary of indicators

• Energy use for transport - consumption of non-renewable fossil fuel resources
• Greenhouse gas emissions - emissions from transportation
• Other transport emissions - from four locally acting pollutants (CO, SO₂, NO_x, VOX)
• Injuries and fatalities - arising from road transport activity
• Movement of people - total motorized movement of people (person-miles of travel)
• Movement of freight - total motorized movement of goods (ton-miles)
• Travel by cars and planes (refinement of indicator 5) - share of travel by more polluting motorized modes (aircraft and personal vehicles)
• Movement of personal vehicles - total distance traveled by personal vehicles (veh-mi)
• Urban land use - use of urban land by residents, amount of undeveloped land per urban resident
• Length of paved roads - two lane miles
• Household spending - on transport in relation to total after-tax spending
• Relative transit costs - cost of urban transit fares relative to main variable cost of operating automobile
• Energy intensity of cars and trucks - amount of fuel used per mile by cars and trucks of all sizes
• Emissions intensity - rates at which road vehicles produce locally acting pollution

Context Sensitive Solutions (http://www.contextsensitivesolutions.org/)
"Context sensitive solutions (CSS) is a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach that involves all stakeholders to develop a transportation facility that fits its physical setting and preserves scenic, aesthetic, historic and environmental resources, while maintaining safety and mobility. CSS is an approach that considers the total context within which a transportation improvement project will exist."

The CSS Product: Qualities of Excellence in Transportation Design
The "Qualities that Characterize Excellence in Transportation Design" - that is, of the physical end product of the CSS process - are:

• The project satisfies the purpose and needs as agreed to by a full range of stakeholders. This agreement is forged in the earliest phase of the project and amended as warranted as the project develops.
• The project is a safe facility for both the user and the community.
• The project is in harmony with the community, and it preserves environmental, scenic, aesthetic, historic, and natural resource values of the area, i.e., exhibits context sensitive design.
• The project exceeds the expectations of both designers and stakeholders and achieves a level of excellence in people's minds.
• The project involves efficient and effective use of the resources (time, budget, community) of all involved parties.
• The project is designed and built with minimal disruption to the community.
• The project is seen as having added lasting value to the community.

The CSS Process: Characteristics of the Process That Yield Excellence
"The Characteristics of the Process that will Yield Excellence in Transportation Design" are:

• Communication with all stakeholders is open, honest, early, and continuous.
• A multidisciplinary team is established early, with disciplines based on the needs of the specific project, and with the inclusion of the public.
• A full range of stakeholders is involved with transportation officials in the scoping phase. The purposes of the project are clearly defined, and consensus on the scope is forged before proceeding.
• The highway development process is tailored to meet the circumstances. This process should examine multiple alternatives that will result in a consensus of approach methods.
• A commitment to the process from top agency officials and local leaders is secured.
• The public involvement process, which includes informal meetings, is tailored to the project.
• The landscape, the community, and valued resources are understood before engineering design is started. A full range of tools for communication about project alternatives is used (e.g., visualization).

CSS, Transportation and Smart Growth
"Providing people with more choices in housing, shopping, communities, and transportation is a key aim of smart growth. Communities are increasingly seeking these choices -- particularly a wider range of transportation options -- in an effort to improve beleaguered transportation systems ... [They] are beginning to implement new approaches to transportation planning, such as better coordinating land use and transportation; increasing the availability of high quality transit service; creating redundancy, resiliency and connectivity within their road networks; and ensuring connectivity between pedestrian, bike, transit, and road facilities. In short, they are coupling a multi-modal approach to transportation with supportive development patterns, to create a variety of transportation options." -Smart Growth Online

Template for Sustainable Transportation
Prepared by Don Forbes and Jean Britingham.