Delivering Inclusive Access: A Framework to Guide Researchers, Policymakers, and Practitioners Working in Urban Transport

Abstract

Across the world, rapid urban growth offers enormous opportunity to those living in cities and suburbs. Urban residents tend to earn higher incomes than their rural peers, and enjoy the benefits of living in closer proximity to vital services and commerce. However, the same influx of people and economic activity also places enormous pressure on the built environment, straining existing transportation systems across the developed and developing world. In turn, residents and businesses increasingly struggle to reach one another, and they often place a premium on locating in neighborhoods with the greatest urban access. In other words, people want to live where it is easy to reach key destinations. This can drive up the price of land and contributes to a toxic mix of income inequality and spatial inequity. In response, urban leaders need to plan, design, and deliver transportation services and develop land in a way that prioritizes inclusive access. Striving for greater and more inclusive access requires a new vision for urban areas in the years to come and should inform longer-term strategies and policy decisions. This new framework should aim to optimize access for all people regardless of demographic characteristics, ensure the built environment is responsive to their needs, and promote development of a transportation system in line with an urban area’s long-term fiscal and financial health.