Dear All,
Please allow me to announce the publication of a major new book, Traffic Jam: Ten Years of 'Sustainable' Transport in the UK.
It is now just over a decade since the publication of A New Deal for Transport: Better for Everyone. The first integrated transport policy in the UK for 20 years, A New Deal was supposed to improve our transport system and change the way we travel. Key to this strategy was persuading us all to be more sustainable by 'using our cars a little less and public transport a little more'.
Traffic Jam: Ten Years of 'Sustainable' Transport in the UK offers and informed and lively analysis of the government's transport policy in the wake of A New Deal. Written by prominent transport experts[1], the book identifies the modest successes and, sadly, the far more significant failures, in government policy over the past decade. The authors:
* Review the links between the idea of sustainability and transport policy
* Provide an up-to-the-minute analysis of the political realities surrounding the delivery of a sustainable transport agenda in the UK
* Evaluate the extent to which the principal components of A New Deal have - or have not - been delivered
* Explore why delivering sustainable transport policies seems to present particular difficulties to ministers across the UK, and
* Consider the UK's transport experience in European perspective
Professor Glenn Lyons, Director of the Centre for Transport & Society at the University of the West of England, Bristol, comments that the book is "[a] rigorous, candid and thoughtfully edited account of the policies and politics of a decade in transport. Essential reading for new ministers and scholars alike if our pursuit of a more sustainable future is to progress." Jim Steer, Director of Steer Davies Gleave, notes that it is "[a] pungent analysis that slices apart the last 10 years' transport policy. The authors intend it to make waves - and it will. Required reading for an incoming government."
Traffic Jam: Ten Years of 'Sustainable' Transport in the UK is published by The Policy Press on 15 October 2008 and is already available on Amazon.
[1] Foreword by Christian Wolmar and conclusion by Phil Goodwin; other chapters by academics Pedro Abrantes, Iain Docherty, Geoff Dudley, Brian Graham, Richard Knowles, Danny MacKinnon, Graham Parkhurst, David Pinder, John Preston, Tom Rye, Jon Shaw, Rodney Tolley, Geoff Vigar and Peter White. The book is edited by Iain Docherty (University of Glasgow) and Jon Shaw (University of Plymouth).
On a complementary theme, Diverging Mobilities: Devolution, Transport and Policy Innovation was published by Elsevier Science (and now Emerald) earlier this year. The book, by Danny MacKinnon (University of Aberdeen), Jon Shaw (University of Plymouth) and Iain Docherty (University of Glasgow), presents a thorough investigation into the impact of devolution on the formulation and delivery of transport policy in the UK. The analysis draws upon detailed interviews with key policy makers, transport providers, business organisations and user groups as well as concepts and ideas from across the social sciences. The book has been described as "ideal reading... incisive, timely and impeccably researched" (Professor Brian Graham, University of Ulster); "a model for serious policy analysis post-devolution" (Professor James Mitchell, University of Strathclyde) and "a key reference point for those seeking to understand the divergent mobilities that are now emerging across the UK" (Professor Mark Goodwin, University of Exeter). It is also available on Amazon.
Many thanks,
Jon.
Dr Jon Shaw
Reader in Human Geography / Director of the Centre for Sustainable Transport
Associate Editor, Journal of Transport Geography
School of Geography
University of Plymouth
Drake Circus
Plymouth PL4 8AA
England
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www.plymouth.ac.uk/pages/dynamic.asp?page=staffdetails&id=jshaw1
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www.ssb.plymouth.ac.uk/CST
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[1] Foreword by Christian Wolmar and conclusion by Phil Goodwin; other chapters by academics Pedro Abrantes, Iain Docherty, Geoff Dudley, Brian Graham, Richard Knowles, Danny MacKinnon, Graham Parkhurst, David Pinder, John Preston, Tom Rye, Jon Shaw, Rodney Tolley, Geoff Vigar and Peter White. The book is edited by Iain Docherty (University of Glasgow) and Jon Shaw (University of Plymouth).
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