Mobility and Environment: Humanists versus Engineers in Urban Policy and Professional Education

Mobility and Environment calls for a mobility revolution which does not simply mean taking a bus instead of a car: it implies a dramatic shift in the political debate from a technical to a political culture. The author introduces his book by disputing “non-political” Sustainable Development policies which are among the major culprits for the conservatism in environmental policies. For at least forty years, urban mobility policies, based on compulsive infrastructure building, have failed both in satisfying transportation demand and in coping with high environmental impacts. Nonetheless decision-makers keep employing the same professionals and therefore they act as shepherds who commit their sheep in the wolf’s custody. Corrado Poli treats mobility policy as a political, ethical, social and educational issue rather than as a mere civil engineering one. Mobility and Environment challenges some deeply entrenched professional and economic monopolies which negatively affect urban and transportation planning in North America and Europe, and argues the old idea which bounded transportation and communication. A real environmentalist effort in traffic planning should begin from new technologies and from the analysis of citizens preferences. A series of new projects are presented which include mobility demand reduction and focus on democracy in planning.