Can we have cars in 2020?

14 June 2011

APDIG brings the future of transport design to the House of Lords as the march of the megacity begins.

By 2020, 60% of the world’s total population, 4.5 billion people globally, will be living in cities. In this not so distant future of heaving megacities, our cars may become a luxury – but what will replace them? Tomorrow, the Associated Parliamentary Design & Innovation Group (APDIG) will take this debate on future transport design to the seat of government.

The House of Lords event will focus upon how we can design sustainable transport systems to meet our personal and collective needs in new living structures, at a time when resources such as space and fuel will be stretched.

Baroness Whitaker, chair of APDIG said: "Design is central to facing the challenges of the future. Our personal transport is a right we all take for granted, yet investing time and thought in the design of our transport systems will be crucial if we are to maintain our individual independence in the future".

Lord Adrian Palmer, vice-chair of the Low Carbon Transport APPG, said: "The main source of greenhouse gas emissions in cities is energy use, in industrial production, buildings and transport[ii]. Following the latest announcement by the International Energy Agency of record high emissions in 2010, future transport must be efficient, sustainable and low-carbon. Good design is needed to meet all three challenges".

Cities are currently home to more than half the world’s population, and by 2020 will account for 70% of the world’s energy consumption. Moreover, it will become these megacities, rather than countries, which will drive innovation, wealth creation, jobs and social development[iii]. Today’s event, held in partnership with Frost & Sullivan, will bring together regional and national government, industry, the public sector and academia[iv] to look for sustainable solutions to living life within these masses of humanity, as 2020 rapidly approaches.

The objective of the debate will be to help government and industry think about contrasting future mobility scenarios. On one side will be those in favour of the development of sustainable personal transport (i.e.cars); on the other, those in favour of developing sophisticated multi-modal public transport.

Each panel will discuss the future of mobility within their transport mode and attempt to prove why, where and how government policies should support their industry. A range of key topics will be covered by each panel, including:

-How increasing urbanisation will impact on specific modes of transport
-What impact their solutions will have on factors beyond ease-of use, e.g. noise, air pollution, congestion.
-What support does their industry need in terms of government policy, subsidies and investment?

Sarwant Singh, Partner and Automotive & Transportation Practice Director said: "In future, instead of cities designed around cars, we will have cars designed around [mega] cities. Car companies, as a result of urbanisation, will realise they are not in the business of making cars, but in the market for providing personal mobility."

Whichever way the debate falls, good design will be paramount to ensuring personal mobility can continue.

If you would like to attend the debate, or for more information please contact:

Rosie Shute at Policy Connect, email: rosie.shute@policyconnect.org.uk, tel: 0207 202 8587
Katja Feick, Frost & Sullivan, email: katja.feick@frost.com, tel: +49 (0)69 770 3343

---

Press releases, papers and documents published on this page are the intellectual property of an organisation unrelated to Central Lobby. We promote their parliamentary and political campaigning activities as they are subscribers to the Central Lobby service.

As such, Central Lobby does not edit, endorse, or attempt to balance the opinions expressed on this page. The content of press releases and other such types of content are the responsibility of the originating organisation.