From Transition to Transformation: Sustainable and inclusive development in Europe and Central Asia

United Nations
February 2012

This report was launched at the first Global Human Development Forum which brought together high-level experts from governments, corporations, civil society and international organizations to examine the global policy changes required to ensure a sustainable future for people today and for generations to come. The report, supported by 13 U.N. agencies, calls for a transformation to integrated policy making, where social equity, economic growth and environmental protection are approached together. It is a contribution of governments, experts, researchers and development practitioners ahead of the ‘Rio+20’ U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development in June in Brazil where participants will come together to discuss and shape new policies and measures to promote prosperity, reduce poverty and advance social equity and environmental protection.

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Parking policy in Asian cities

Asian Development Bank
July 2011

Most Asian cities are facing an acute parking crisis as a result of rapid urbanization and motorization, and high urban densities. Parking policy is an important component of a holistic approach to sustainable urban transport across the region. The report provides an international comparative perspective on parking policy in Asian cities, while highlighting the nature of the policy choices available. It is a step in building a knowledge base to address the knowledge gap on parking and the lack of adequate guidance for parking policy in Asia.

Contents

• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• Approaches to Parking Supply Policy
• Minimum Parking Requirements and Parking Built with Buildings
• Parking Policy in Streets and Lanes
• Government Resources Devoted to Off-Street Parking Supply
• Policy toward Public Parking as a Business
• Parking as a Mobility Management Tool
• Car Parking Outcomes in Asian Cities
• Motorcycle Parking
• Parking Policy Trajectories?
• Policy Lessons and Conclusions
• References
• Appendixes

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Reducing congestion and funding transportation using road pricing in Europe and Singapore

Federal Highway Administration International Programs
December 2010

Congestion pricing use has been limited in the United States because of political, institutional, and public acceptance concerns. The Federal Highway Administration, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and National Cooperative Highway Research Program sponsored a scanning study of Europe and Singapore to identify ideas and models for integrating road pricing approaches into U.S. practices.

The scan team found that countries with clearly defined and well-understood policy goals were able to achieve targeted outcomes most effectively. The team also learned that a large-scale demonstration project is a good tool to build public acceptance of road pricing.

Team recommendations for U.S. implementation include enhanced outreach and communication on road pricing use and research on public perception issues and implementation barriers. The team also recommended development of a road pricing toolkit to provide transportation professionals with a comprehensive decision analysis tool to assess the merits of road pricing options.

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Executive summary

Financing infrastructure for connectivity: Policy implications for Asia

Biwa Nath Bhattacharyay
Asian Development Bank Institute
Research Policy Brief 33
June 2011

In view of Asia's huge infrastructure needs, as well as the reduced demand for exports due to the ongoing global financial and economic crisis, infrastructure projects offer a way of increasing regional demand and intraregional trade. This policy brief proposes various ways to tap Asia's huge financial resources to fund essential infrastructure. The key challenges include integrating financial markets to mobilize Asian savings for infrastructure, and providing proper incentives to investors, particularly those in the private sector, by developing appropriate policies, regulations, and institutions and long-term innovative financial instruments.

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Environmentally sustainable transport for asian cities: A sourcebook

Lloyd Wright
UNCRD
March 2010

© Photo from the publication

Asian cities are at a crossroads. Along the current path, growing numbers of cars and motorcycles will overwhelm streets and neighbourhoods. Pollution, congestion, and accidents will become Asia’s defining features. The cities will be less a place for human interaction than for storing and operating metal machines. Yet, there is another path. Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST) offers an alternative to uncontrolled motorisation and its related problems. Instead, a complementary package of public transport, quality footpaths and cycleways, vehicle restriction measures, clean fuels, safety programmes, and high standards will create a new paradigm for urban mobility and access.

Many cities in the region, such as Seoul and Singapore, have already adapted many of these elements as part of a comprehensive policy towards a more human urban environment. This EST Sourcebook sets forth the elements of a complete EST strategy for Asian cities.

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Estimating Demand for Infrastructure in Energy, Transport, Telecommunications, Water and Sanitation in Asia and the Pacific: 2010-2020

Biswa N. Bhattacharyay
Asian Development Bank Institute
September 2010

Infrastructure plays a key role in promoting and sustaining rapid economic growth. Properly designed infrastructure can also make growth more inclusive by sharing its benefits with poorer groups and communities, especially by connecting remote areas and small and landlocked countries to major business centers. Even if the Asia-Pacific region has witnessed progress in infrastructure development, the growth of infrastructure lags behind its economic growth, and also behind international standards of infrastructure quantity and quality. Inadequate infrastructure can hamper the potential economic growth of Asian countries, weaken their international competitiveness, and adversely affect their poverty reduction efforts. The circumstances and effects of the recent economic and financial crisis provide a number of reasons to further develop national and regional infrastructure in Asia. Among these reasons is that regional infrastructure enhances competitiveness and productivity, which could help in economic recovery and in sustaining growth in the medium to long-term. Regional infrastructure also helps increase standard of living and reduce poverty by connecting isolated places and people with major economic centers and markets, narrowing the development gap among Asian economies. This paper estimates the need for infrastructure investment, including energy, transport, telecommunications, water, and sanitation during 2010-2020, in order to meet growing demands for services and facilitate further rapid growth in the region. By using "top-down" and "bottom-up" approaches, this paper provides a comprehensive estimate of Asia's need for infrastructure services. The estimates show that developing countries in Asia require financing of US$776 billion per year for national (US$747 billion) and regional (US$29 billion) infrastructure during 2010-2020 to meet growing demand.

Contents:

• Main Page
• Introduction
• Infrastructure Connectivity and Competitiveness
• Methodology for Estimation
• National Financing Needs for Connectivity: 2010-2020
• Infrastructure Needs for Regional Projects for Asian Connectivity: 2010-2020
• Challenges For Regional Infrastructure Financing
• References
• Endnotes

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Building India: Transforming the nation’s logistics infrastructure

Transforming India's logistics infrastructure - McKinsey Quarterly - Transportation - Strategy & Analysis

McKinsey & Company
Infrastructure Practice
September 2010

Transforming the nation's logistics infrastructure

The report discusses the losses to the economy due to poor logistics infrastructure, which will substantially increase under current trajectory of infrastructure development, and recommends a new, balanced modal approach for India's logistics infrastructure development. The report reveals that losses to the economy will increase from $45 billion (over 4 percent of GDP) currently to about $140 billion (5.3 percent of GDP) in 2020. The recommended balanced modal approach requires coordinated infrastructure development with increased focus on rail and better utilization of current infrastructure and can reduce losses and India's freight transport energy consumption by approximately 20 percent.

Executive Summary

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Transforming India’s logistics infrastructure

Economic valuation of development projects: a case study of a non-motorized transport project in India

Hua Wang; Ke Fang; Yuyan Shi
World Bank
September 2010

One of the major difficulties in doing cost-benefit analysis of a development project is to estimate the total economic value of project benefits, which are usually multi-dimensional and include goods and services that are not traded in the market. Challenges also arise in aggregating the values of different benefits, which may not be mutually exclusive. This paper uses a contingent valuation approach to estimate the economic value of a non-motorized transport project in Pune, India, across beneficiaries. The heads of households which are potentially affected by the project are presented with a detailed description of the project, and then are asked to vote on whether such a project should be undertaken given different specifications of costs to the households. The total value of the project is then derived from the survey answers. Econometric analysis indicates that the survey responses provide generally reasonable valuation estimates.

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Modernizing Public Transportation: Lessons learned from major bus improvements in Latin America and Asia

EMBARQ

October 2010

Research led by Senior Transport Engineer Dario Hidalgo provides key findings and lessons learned from a comprehensive review of major bus improvements in 13 Latin American (Curitiba, Quito, Bogotá, São Paulo, León, México City, Pereira, Guayaquil, Santiago and Guadalajara) and Asian cities.

"Modernizing Public Transport," a 40-page report released in October 2010, is based on research and interviews with planners and public officials in cities and transport agencies around the world.

The report reviews and synthesizes information regarding challenges experienced by transport system decision makers in three key areas: planning, implementation and operations. In order to assist urban transport planners and implementing agencies, the study also provides recommendations on avoiding or mitigating similar difficulties when introducing bus reforms in developing world cities.

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An analysis of various policy instruments to reduce congestion, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions in Beijing

Anas, Alex; Timilsina, Govinda R.; Zheng, Siqi
Policy Research working paper ; No.5068
World Bank
October 2009

Using a nested multinomial logit model of car ownership and personal travel in Beijing circa 2005, this paper compares the effectiveness of different policy instruments to reduce traffic congestion and CO2 emissions. The study shows that a congestion toll is more efficient than a fuel tax in reducing traffic congestion, whereas a fuel tax is more effective as a policy instrument for reducing gasoline consumption and emissions. An improvement in car efficiency would also reduce congestion, fuel consumption, and CO2 emissions significantly; however, this policy benefits only richer households that own a car. Low-income households do better under the fuel tax policy than under the efficiency improvement and congestion toll policies. The congestion toll and fuel tax require the travel cost per mile to more than triple. The responsiveness of aggregate fuel and CO2 are, approximately, a 1 percent drop for each 10 percent rise in the money cost of a car trip.

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BRT city examples

Institute for Transportation and Development Policy
November 2009

Ahmedabad Bus Rapid Transit System
Chris Kost
Presentation

Rea Vaya!
Johannesburg, South Africa
Annie Weinstock
Presentation

Why have CO2 emissions increased in the transport sector in Asia ? underlying factors and policy options

Timilsina, Govinda R.; Shrestha, Ashish
Policy Research working paper No. 5098
World Bank
November 2009

Rapidly increasing emissions of carbon dioxide from the transport sector, particularly in urban areas, is a major challenge to sustainable development in developing countries. This study analyzes the factors responsible for transport sector CO2 emissions growth in selected developing Asian countries during 1980-2005. The analysis splits the annual emissions growth into components representing economic development; population growth; shifts in transportation modes; and changes in fuel mix, emission coefficients, and transportation energy intensity. The study also reviews existing government policies to limit CO2 emissions growth, particularly various fiscal and regulatory policy instruments. The study finds that of the six factors considered, three - economic development, population growth, and transportation energy intensity - are responsible for driving up transport sector CO2 emissions in Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Vietnam. In contrast, only economic development and population growth are responsible in the case of China, India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. CO2 emissions exhibit a downward trend in Mongolia due to decreasing transportation energy intensity. The study also finds that some existing policy instruments help reduce transport sector CO2 emissions, although they were not necessarily targeted for this purpose when introduced.

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Changing Course: A New Paradigm for Sustainable Urban Transport

Asian Development Bank
September 2009



Most Asian cities have grown more congested, more sprawling, and less livable in recent years; and statistics suggest that this trend will continue. Rather than mitigate the problems, transport policies have often exacerbated them. In this book, ADB outlines a new paradigm for sustainable urban transport that gives Asian cities a workable, step-by-step blueprint for reversing the trend and moving toward safer, cleaner, more sustainable cities, and a better quality of urban life.

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Lock-in Effects of Road Expansion on CO2 Emissions: Results from a Core-Periphery Model of Beijing

Policy Research Working Paper 5017
World Bank
August 2009

In the urban planning literature, it is frequently explicitly asserted or strongly implied that ongoing urban sprawl and decentralization can lead to development patterns that are unsustainable in the long run. One manifestation of such an outcome is that if extensive road investments occur, urban sprawl and decentralization are advanced and locked-in, making subsequent investments in public transit less effective in reducing vehicle kilometers traveled by car, gasoline use and carbon dioxide emissions. Using a simple core-periphery model of Beijing, the authors numerically assess this effect. The analysis confirms that improving the transit travel time in Beijing’s core would reduce the city’s overall carbon dioxide emissions, whereas the opposite would be the case if peripheral road capacity were expanded. This effect is robust to perturbations in the model’s calibrated parameters. In particular, the effect persists for a wide range of assumptions about how location choice depends on travel time and a wide range of assumptions about other aspects of consumer preferences.

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Infrastructure for a Seamless Asia

Asian Development Bank Institute
September 2009



In view of Asia's enormous untapped economic potential and the ongoing global economic and financial crisis, the challenge now is to build efficient and seamless connections across Asia and thus to the rest of the world for a more competitive, prosperous, and integrated region.

Critical questions include:

• What are the major challenges confronting the seamless connectivity in Asia?
• What are the costs and benefits of regional infrastructure in Asia?
• What are the priority regional infrastructure projects for Asia?
• What are the financing requirements for developing Asian infrastructure?
• How can Asia meet its infrastructure financing needs?
• Can we learn from European and Latin American experiences?
• What institutions, policies and frameworks are needed to foster regional cooperation for creating a seamless Asia?

This ADB and ADBI flagship study analyzes the major challenges in developing regional infrastructure, particularly transport and energy—both hard and soft infrastructure—through fostering regional cooperation towards a seamless Asia. It evaluates existing regional infrastructure programs, policies, and institutions, and makes recommendations on what the region needs to address to meet these challenges and provides a framework for pan-Asian infrastructure cooperation.

The key message of the book is that now is the time to forge ahead with the goal of integrating this vast and diverse region—for the benefit of all its citizens and for a lasting and shared prosperity—through building pan-Asia infrastructure connectivity.


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Biofuels in Asia: An Analysis of Sustainability Options

USAID Asia
2009

The US Agency for International Development's Regional Development Mission for Asia (USAID/RDMA) released a report called , Biofuels in Asia: An Analysis of Sustainability Options. The purpose of this report is to provide an objective and comprehensive regional analysis summarizing the benefits and risks of biofuels development in Asia, and examining the distribution and use of biofuels through the lens of global climate change; biodiversity conservation; energy alternatives; food security; economic development; and local livelihoods. This report does not undertake a detailed evaluation of biofuels in comparison to other clean energy supply options for power generation and transport.

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Determinants of the adoption of technological innovations by logistics service providers in China

Lin, Chieh-Yu
International Journal of Technology Management & Sustainable Development
2008, Vol. 7 Issue 1, p19-38, 20p

The growth of China's economy hinges to a large extent on the ability of the logistics industry to operate more efficiently and effectively in the global supply chain system. China's logistics service providers should pay attention to adopt more efficient logistics technologies to provide better services for their customers. This article studies the factors influencing the adoption of technological innovations by logistics service providers in China and investigates the influences of adopting new technologies on supply chain performance. A questionnaire survey is conducted to study the adoption of technological innovations by China's logistics industry. Technological innovations are classified into data acquisition technologies, information technologies, warehousing technologies, and transportation technologies. The influencing factors include technological, organizational, and environmental characteristics. We find that the adoption of technological innovations is significantly influenced by technological, organizational and environmental characteristics and that adopting new technologies will increase supply chain performance for the logistics industry in China.

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Win-Win Solutions to Climate Change and Transport

United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD)
February 2009

This document has been developed in preparation for the Fourth Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST) Forum, being held in Seoul, Republic of Korea, from 24 to 26 February 2009 and seeks to encourage the strategic adoption of integrated and sustainable transport solutions for Asian nations and offers Asian decision-makers the opportunity to reshape urban transport systems to better meet the needs and realities of today's world.

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Training course on the design and construction of low volume rural roads

Research for Development
June 2009

The objective of the project is the effective transfer of appropriate knowledge on the selection, design, construction and management of Low Volume Rural Roads (LVRRs) to provincial and district engineers operating under the Cambodian National Decentralisation and De-concentration (NCDD) programme. The NCDD is investing in rural access and rural roads and is consequently interested acquiring knowledge relevant to improving the performance of these investments. Training Module 1 was conducted from 4th to 7th May 2009: LVRR paving and surfacing training. This is a 4 day course based on the materials developed for DF 55 in Vietnam, but amended and upgraded to suit Cambodian rural infrastructure needs and environments. Documents attached are course details and summary, and presentations for the course. The presentations are:

- 1: LVRR Principles
- 2: Surfacing and Paving Options
- 3: Pavement Option Selection and Design
- 4: LVRR Pavement Construction
- 5: Environmentally Optimized Design
- 6: Desk Exercise.

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Economic Evaluation for Low Volume Rural Road Upgrading

SEACAP 19. Technical Paper No. 5
Research for Development
2009

This document aims to identify the way forward for developing practical procedures to evaluate and justify the upgrading of unsealed LVRRs in Cambodia. The role of economic evaluation is summarised and existing procedures are briefly reviewed as to their usefulness within the Cambodian rural infrastructure environment. Knowledge gaps are identified and a Concept Note for taking the research forward is attached as an Appendix.

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