Urban Transport in the OIC Megacities
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consideration of total CO2 emissions from an average car showed that 76% were from fuel usage
whereas 9%was frommanufacturing of the vehicle and a further 15%was from emissions and losses
in the fuel supply system (Chapman, 2007).
All transport sectors are experiencing expansion and there is a general trend that the modes which
are experiencing themost growth are also the most polluting. Aviation andmotor cars are increasingly
the favoured modes for passenger transport, but are also significantly the most damaging. The case is
similar for freight where again aviation and road freight are both the sectors with the biggest growth
and highest CO2 emissions. There are many good examples of reductions in energy use and improved,
multimodal planning as well as positive signs that sustainable urban lifestyles are being adopted by
many people. However, the question remains if whether there is commitment and leadership
reconsider the modern mobility patterns (Banister, 2011; Chapman, 2007).
3.10.2. Climate change of megacities in developed countries
It is considered that the development patterns that themajority of the developedworld countries have
followed have had a detrimental effect on climate. Although most countries have included emissions
reduction targets in their national agendas, the measures that they have taken are often not sufficient
to achieve the scale required. The actions at a city level are more promising as local governments have
taken on a leadership role in addressing the transport problems as they relate to carbon emissions,
but there is still considerable variation between cities.
Developed world megacities are more resilient than those in the developing world but still vulnerable
to climate change. For example, the Thames flood barrier was built between 1974 and 1983 to prevent
London from flooding as a result of high tides and sea surges for the ‘100 year event’. Between 1986
and 1996 the barrier was raised 27 times, but in the period between 1996 and 2006 it was raised 66
times. The costs of extreme weather phenomena for developing world megacities increase
exponentially because of the high concentration of assets in these cities. The repair costs after
Hurricane Sandy in New York were estimated above 30 billion USD, especially due to the extensive
damages to the subway system. In addition, the impacts of disasters are inequitable. The strike of
Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, USA in 2005 showed that poorer populations were more
vulnerable and therefore social inequities and poor disaster response can worsen the total toll of a
natural disaster (Campbell-Lendrum and Corvalan, 2007; Forbes, 2012; Banister, 2011).
The high income cities andmegacities have the opportunity to substantially reduce emissions through
a combination of sustainable planning and behavioural practices, which will be the basis for a
paradigm shift in transport planning . Four key areas of actions towards this direction can be
identified. These are substitution, modal shift, distance reduction and efficiency increase. Substitution
of travel practically means that a trip is no longer made, as it has either been replaced by a non-travel
activity or it has been substituted through technology, for example internet shopping. There is also
the possibility of several activities into one longer trip instead of single journey trips. Modal shift can
be supported by transport policy measures encouraging walking and cycling and developing a new
transport hierarchy. Demand management is effective in restricting access and reallocating space, and
making better use of existing capacity. A much wider notion of the street can be created so that it is no
longer considered only as a road, but also as a space for people, green modes and public transport.
Land use planning can address the physical separation of activities and build sustainable mobility into
the patterns of urban form and layouts. Finally, technological innovation can increase efficiency of
operations in the freight and passenger transport. Except for vehicle and fuel technology, there are
substantial opportunities to use the new technologies creatively to enable sharing and match up
journeys or loads to increase occupancy levels and to reduce the overall numbers of vehicles using the
transport system (Banister, 2011).