Transform Urban Transport System Towards Sustainability

In this paper, we introduced the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) to help the urban transport system transform towards sustainability. The FSSD, a five level framework including system, success, strategic, actions and tools level, was used to (a) set up a system boundary for this analysis, (b) develop a shared vision of success of sustainable transport, and (c) propose a suitable action plan to reach the envisioned future. Thereby, the ABCD process provided by the FSSD was adopted to optimize and prioritize actions. The GreenCharge Sydost project was taken as one of the case studies of applying the FSSD to the planning process. A course roadmap was sketched based on the proposed vision for sustainable transport. Moreover, additional experiences were gotten to improve the generic planning approach for future research on sustainable transport systems.This paper also investigates the difference between Swedish and Chinese public attitudes to sustainable transport policies. Using open-ended questionnaires, we collected valid responses from 87 Swedish and 91 Chinese respondents. Attitude scales and preference ranking were used to compare the results. Explanations of understanding of Strategic Sustainable Development (SSD), current transport problems, expected changes and awareness of barriers to sustainable transport were also compared. Both samples show a desire to have sustainable transportation. Cultural discrepancies between Swedish and Chinese participants were reflected in their acceptance to this sustainability concept and attitude towards sustainable transport policy. Attitudes to SSD vary in two samples but acceptability of SSD does not show an obvious relationship to their attitude towards sustainable transport policies. The Swedish respondents were focused on changing lifestyle by themselves, while the Chinese sample preferred to have strong policy to drive the change. Different transportation and environmental problems are also a factor of difference. Some traditional cultural concepts have impact on attitude towards sustainable transport as well.