For Immediate Release
6 December 2017
Robert Cervero, Professor Emeritus of City & Regional Planning at the College of Environmental Design, co-authored a new book emphasizing the importance of accessibility in city planning titled Beyond Mobility: Planning Cities for People and Places (Island Press, 2017). In the book, Cervero and co-authors Erick Guerra and Stefan Al consider the increasing challenges and costs associated with transportation and how recalibrating planning and design to focus on the safety, health, and access of people could solve those issues.
The authors argue that cities, which have been designed with a primary goal of moving people around quickly, are now faced with negative consequences like smog, sprawling suburbs, traffic congestion, and over 1.25 million traffic fatalities each year. Beyond Mobility seeks to shows how a stronger focus on accessibility and place ultimately creates better communities, environments, and economies.
Throughout the book, the authors provide an optimistic outlook on the potential to transform places for the better. Drawing on their own experiences as well as case studies from a range of cities and countries around the globe, they show how planning for people is already underway. From car-free districts in Cambridge, England, to suburban transformations in Tysons, VA, to urban greenways and land reclamation in Seoul, South Korea, the book cites examples of communities working to create a cohesive fit between transit and surrounding land uses.
Beyond Mobility also seeks to rethink how projects are planned and designed in cities and suburbs at multiple geographic scales, from micro-designs such as parklets to corridors and city-regions. The book closes with a reflection on the opportunities and challenges in moving beyond mobility, with attention to emerging technologies such as self-driving cars and ride-hailing services and social equity topics such as accessibility, livability, and affordability.
“Robert Cervero and his colleagues have produced what may become the most influential book of this generation and land use and transportation, providing an elegant conceptual framework, excellent case studies, and cutting-edge thinking,” said Reid Ewing, Chair and Professor of the City & Metropolitan Planning Program at the University of Utah.
Beyond Mobility presents an optimistic outlook on the potential for a shift in global thinking about place and mobility as well as the creation of better urban environments for all.
Read more about Beyond Mobility and purchase a copy of the book here.