Introduction

January 2011 - Modernisation and economic development brings many benefits to society and individuals, of which mobility is one. Yet, as Beijing and many other large cities around the world are finding, the private search for increased mobility actually leads to creeping immobility as average traffic speeds in peak periods plummet towards levels found in nineteenth-century cities where private transport was by horse-drawn carriage - about 15 kilometres per hour in London. Though Beijing may boast today an average peak period speeds of nearly 25 kilometres per hour, this is set to fall to ...