Resource information
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.
