Publication: Urban Design Manual for Non-Motorized Transport-Friendly Neighborhoods
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2013-01
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2014-01-29
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China is already the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and transport is the fastest-growing source of these emissions. The international energy agency estimates that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from China's light-duty transport fleet will rise from 65 mega tones (MT) in 2005 to nearly 300 MT in 2020, an increase of 290 percent. In addition to contributing to global climate change, the rapid adoption of motor vehicles in China is also causing growing urban congestion and air pollution. Indeed, national level policy makers have begun to shift directions towards promoting public transport and providing safe environments for walking and cycling as way to improve urban accessibility and address local, national, and global environmental concerns. Yet, despite this shift at the national level, many municipalities lack the tools, knowledge, and resources to effectively address these issues. This publication aims to bridge that knowledge gap by providing a guide on how to improve non-motorized transport (NMT), which is walking and cycling, at the neighborhood scale. The neighborhood is the basic unit of urban development, and as such, in aggregate, neighborhoods' spatial arrangements and physical forms have a high impact on citywide transport practices. The publication centers on explaining a series of basic urban design concepts and features that make NMT-friendly neighborhoods, and therefore can help improve accessibility, and reduce CO2 emissions and pollution. In a first section, seven basic concepts that make up a NMT-friendly neighborhood are described in a concise manner, and images of how they have been implemented all around the world are provided as examples. In second section, a case study of applying those concepts on a real neighborhood development project is presented, to showcase the contrast of traditional neighborhood development practices in China and NMT-friendly, low carbon neighborhood development.
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“Fang, Ke. 2013. Urban Design Manual for Non-Motorized Transport-Friendly Neighborhoods. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16699 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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