Towards Sustainable Mobility

The impact of transport and its infrastructure on our natural environment is undeniable. Whilst this has been offset by many positive effects on human quality of life, we can no longer avoid acting on the many negative impacts of transport. This has become a matter of urgency. In fact much of the research work in the transport field is now informed to varying degrees by this agenda. Most of the other projects within BRASS also have a transport dimension, for example. The Sustainable Mobility Research Theme is therefore an essential element within the broader BRASS research agenda. In combining under this theme expertise from a range of different disciplines, including engineering, business, city and regional planning, as well as law, we are particularly well placed to address the complexity of the sustainable transport agenda, as well as the UN’s sustainable production and consumption theme and to carry out and coordinate research in this complex area, which often combines engineering, business, planning and legal/regulatory needs in any solution.

BRASS has a long track record of studying motorised personal mobility in particular and this is therefore the main focus of this work. The move towards sustainable ‘automobility’ covers many areas, including in the production phase concerns about raw materials extraction and potential shortages of supply, manufacturing impacts and transport impacts. In the use phase issues around energy use and emissions to air are primary concerns, while the end-of-life phase is attracting increasing attention. During the use phase social issues such as vehicle demand, vehicle and modal choice, use patterns, issues of equity and consumer attitudes more generally are all relevant. Many of these areas are considered by our research such that we will be able to build a global picture of the automobility system and its potential for change.