This document outlines a vision for building resilient, zero carbon cities through sustainable transport. It discusses trends showing that global governance is moving towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2050. The key aspects of a sustainable transport city outlined are: 1) Reducing car use by at least 50%, 2) Transitioning to electric, renewable transport in cities, and 3) Using renewable natural gas for regional and freight transport. The document analyzes transport trends in cities globally and shows progress being made as well as areas needing improvement, particularly in Australian cities.

1. Zero Carbon Transport –
building resilient cities
By
Peter Newman
Professor of Sustainability
Curtin University

2. Climate change and peak oil now make
sustainability essential....
• Global governance is going one way: 50%
less ghg by 2050
• Peak oil happened in 2008 in the
economy…

3. From Island Press or CUSP.

4. History of innovation and crashes….
Each era keeps the best features, disposes worst and builds in the new
dimensions

5. Resilient City includes...
• Renewable Energy
City
• Carbon Neutral City All combine the
• Distributed City digital, smart
• Biophilic City technologies with the
• Eco-Efficient City new technologies of
sustainability….
• Place-Based City
reducing footprint
• Sustainable Transport and making more
City
liveable at the same
time

6. Sustainable Transport City
The Zero Carbon Transport Future:
1 Reducing car use…at least 50%
2 Electric renewable transport in cities…
3 Renewable natural gas in regions and
freight…

7. 1. Reducing car travel…at least
50%

9. The 25 cities in the USA, Canada, Australia and Europe
(and Singapore) involved in this study of trends in urban
transport from 1995/6 to 2005/6.
Adelaide
Note: Not all cities are completed for every variable yet. Data are still being pursued.
Where the averages are created for 1995/6 data and 2005/6 data in the following
slides only cities are used where both years are available, so the trend is correct for
that particular set of cities. In addition a set of 2006 data has been collected for
Adelaide but there is no 1996 set of data, so a trend is not possible.

10. • The US cities have made
significant reductions in their
Sustainability generally up
per capita private passenger But Australian cities down..
transport energy use per energy increased by 16%,
Brisbane 30%
person.
• This is through a
combination of stabilised car
use growth and improving
fuel efficiency of the vehicle
fleet.
• The bad news is they are
still very far ahead of the rest
of the world in this factor.
• Canadian and European
cities and Singapore have
declined in per capita private
passenger transport energy
use per person due to
declining or stabilising car
VKT per person and
improved vehicle efficiency.
• Australian cities on the
other hand continue to rise in
energy use…car use growth
outstrips any car fuel
efficiency gains.

11. • Urban activity density (pop
+ jobs) has clearly reversed
its decades long decline in
all cities. Sustainability generally up -
Major departure from Post-WW2
Density is the sustainability trends
multiplier
Perth

12. There is a critical density of around 35
persons per ha, below which car use tends
to increase rapidly.

13. Urban sprawl is not very smart or
sustainable...
Australian cities like all cities are coming back
in.
City Density 1996 people/ha Density 2006 people/ha
Sydney 18.9 19.5
Melbourne 13.7 15.6
Brisbane 9.6 9.7
Adelaide 11.8 11.9
Perth 10.9 11.3

14. Urban scatter.... is expensive
and unhealthy....
PB-CUSP paper on costs of urban
development shows in Australian cities
each new block on the fringe cf
redevelopment:
1. Is subsidised by $85,000 in
infrastructure.
2. Costs $250,000 extra in transport costs
over 50 years.
3. Produces 4.4 tonnes/yr more in
greenhouse gases, and health issues....
www.sustainability.curtin.edu.au

15. • In US cities, freeway
provision per capita has
stabilized.
• It continues to rise
substantially in Canadian Sustainability trend mixed
and Australian cities Australian cities bad - up 19%

18. Impact of Road Building on Delay –
America’s 20 Biggest Cities – ZERO!
DELAY
Freeway Miles

19. ONE LANE -
people per hr:
Freeway 2,500
Busway 5000
LRT 10-20,000
Train 50,000

20. • Parking in the CBD is a
particularly important factor
in the livability of the city
centre and the use of public
transport to access the Sustainability generally up
centre.
• Parking provision in central
cities has significantly
dropped relative to jobs over
the 10 years.

21. • The length of reserved
transit route in cities is
generally on the rise. Sustainability generally up
• Only in Australian cities is Australian cities down 7%. .
it languishing, with Perth
the only Australian city
where significant new
reserved routes have been
built.

22. Opening of new Southern Railway
90% approval ratings and already paid off
55,000 per day cf 14,000 on buses

23. Global success story as it goes
out to the edge of the city. $30
mill per km.

24. Curtin-UWA
LRT
The ‘Knowledge
Arc’ Rail

25. Chatswood built new station as part of a
‘Value Transfer PPP’...

26. Varsity Lakes Station, Brisbane

27. TODs like East Perth can be beautiful..

28. Subiaco TOD – value of land increased 5
times cf to non-rail areas.

29. Freiburg Helsinki
Dublin
Helsinki
Vienna Dublin
Reserved rights-of-way are critical for transit’s speed advantage over cars. Transit,
walking and cycling can compete with cars when given traffic priority. Light Rail Transit
systems can also green the city, as in Freiburg.

30. • The results are very
mixed with Australian
cities improving very Sustainability trend mixed
marginally and a large
improvement in the
European cities
available.

31. • Public transport seat
kilometres per person in
cities is universally on the
rise, which generally means
more rail services are being Sustainability generally up
offered.

32. The greater attractiveness and
significance of rail systems in cities,
is an important factor in explaining
differences in public transport use in
cities, globally.

33. • Public transport use in terms
of boardings is also going up,
albeit only by relatively small
increments, except in Europe. Sustainability generally up
• Australian cities have less
transit use than Canadian
cities, but more service and
infrastructure…greater TOD in
Canada.

34. Annual Total Public Transport
Boardings Per Capita
Strong rail cities have
systematically more public
transport passenger
boardings than weak rail and
no rail cities.
Annual Boardings
Rail systems focus the
city into high density
nodes of concentrated
public transport use -
Transit-Oriented
Development. Car/Bus
systems follow and
support scattered
development.

35. Joyce Station, of housing densities
A range
Vancouver, are people-oriented
that 2004
Vauban Redevelopment, Freiburg, Germany
Joyce Station,
Vancouver, 2004
Generous, people-oriented public Hotel, Offices, Farmers Market,
environments Cafes, Restaurants

36. • Car vehicle kms per person,
is generally showing an
upwards pattern, but there is
a slowing in the upwards
trend (US cities rose by only Sustainability generally down
2%). Australian cities the worst
• In all other groups of cities
per capita car use is still
rising…in Australian cities the
growth was strongest of all
cities (+14%)...Perth up 1300
km per capita in 10 years.

37. • The rate of
transport deaths
per head of
Sustainability generally up
population has
declined markedly
in nearly all cities.

38. US cities...
• Declining in car use
– 4.3% in past year,
plateau over the past
5 years.
• Increasing transit
use – 6.5% in past
year.
• ‘Suburban slums’
and the crash....

41. Australian public transport is taking off...
• Melbourne 34% growth 2006-8
• Perth 14% growth in 2008

42. Infrastructure Australia response

43. Nation Building package –
55% urban rail….historic!

44. The Gold Coast –
built for light rail…

46. Rebuilding
Auto City
as a Smart
Sustainable
City
with real
centres

47. Transit Oriented Developments, TODs...land
development partnerships.

48. Australian Cities – all want TODs, but...
• Melbourne – started, stopped and
started again....
• Sydney – done them for years
• Perth – started...
• Brisbane – started a little
• Adelaide – about to start
NEED A NEW TOD ZONING….

49. 2. Electric renewable
transport…

50. A million Electric Vehicles to be
produced in 3 years…
Chevy Volt Toyota FT-EV Mitsubishi iMiEV Toyota Prius PHEV Smart ed
Nissan Leaf Ford Focus EV Subaru Stella Mini E Mercedes Bluezero EV
Tesla Roadster Th!nk City Coda Automotive Detroit Electric Renault Fluence EV
BYD E6 Chery S18 Vauxhall Trixx Dodge Circuit Fisker Karma

51. RENEWABLES STORAGE PROBLEM SOLVED!
Al Gore’s moon shot:
Smart Grid + Plug-in EVs + Renewables

52. Electric vehicles help make a renewable city…
Onsite renewable energy
and water production
Building efficiency
and zero-waste
Smart grids
Transit-oriented development
with electrified public transit
Plug-in vehicles

53. EV Recharging Infrastructure
Better Place
Toyota Industries
Elektromotive
Coulomb Technologies / Charge Point
NB: Standardized EV infrastructure is essential.

54. Public transport vehicles can be PEVs
too
Alstom battery-powered light rail in Bordeaux
Tindo solar-electric bus in Adelaide

55. Enabling Renewables: Solar EV Charging

56. Regional
renewables…

57. Linking the solar centres of the
globe to cities by renewable
electricity…
and HVDC

58. Desertec dream can link renewables
from Australia to China…at least
across Australia – gas and power

59. 3. Renewable natural gas

60. Regions?
Renewable natural gas…
• CO2 + 2H20 CH4 + 2O2
• Needs solar energy to make it happen and
catalysts; like photosynthesis.
• Enables us to keep building infrastructure
for gas. No longer the ‘transition fuel’….
• Who needs Hydrogen or any other
storage?

61. Regional and freight transport…
• Freight - CNG for all large vehicles and
regional travel….powered eventually by
renewably-derived natural gas.
• Agriculture – Biofuels from ‘grow-your-
own’.
• Long distance - telepresence, fast trains,
airships and planes (renewably derived
LNG?)

62. Natural Gas in Vehicles
• Easy option for heavy vehicles; CNG
buses have shown how to do it. Australian
technology used to convert Mumbai and Chenai buses.
• Australia has 77% of its population on
natural gas distribution system.

63. Can we make renewable natural gas a major
development focus for regional Australia?

64. What will be needed for this
transition…?
• National plan for decarbonising cities…
• National electricity grid – linking
renewables to cities and across states;
• National gas grid – linking gas production
to regional transport routes and major
industries.
• Demonstrations

65. Infrastructure Australia
• Board of 12 from across Australia, with Sir
Rod Eddington Chair.
• IA and the Infrastructure Co-ordinator
(Michael Deegan, ex NSW DGT) based in
Sydney with the Major Cities Unit.
• Part of DITRDLG....
Infrastructure Australia Council
Sir Rod Eddington, Mr Anthony Kannis
Hon Mark Birrell, Mr Terry Moran (Mike
Mrdak), Mr Jim Hallion, Prof Peter
Newman
Mr Phil Hennessy, Ms Heather Ridout
Dr Ken Henry (Jim Murphy), Mr Ross
Rolfe

66. National Strategic Priorities
• Expand Australia’s productive capacity
• Increase Australia’s productivity
• Diversify Australia’s economic capabilities
• Build on Australia’s global competitive
advantages
• Develop our cities and regions
• Reduce greenhouse emissions
• Improve social equity, and quality of life, in
our cities and our regions

67. Infrastructure Australia 7 themes
and how it can help sustainability
1. A national broadband network – for
smart infrastructure
2. A true national energy grid – for
renewables
3. Competitive international gateways –
for exports, including our green products
4. A national rail freight network – for
reduced carbon freight carriage.

68. Infrastructure Australia 7 themes
and how it can help sustainability
5. Adaptable and secure water supplies -
resilient to climate change
6. Transforming our cities – for a low
carbon future
7. Providing essential indigenous
services – for sustainable communities.