Beijing’s peak car transition: Hope for emerging cities in the 1.5 °C agenda

© 2018 by the authors. Peak car has happened in most developed cities, but for the 1.5 °C agenda the world also needs emerging cities to go through this transition. Data on Beijing shows that it has reached peak car over the past decade. Evidence is provided for peak car in Beijing from traffic supp...

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Main Authors: Gao, Y., Newman, Peter
Format: Journal Article
Published: Cogitatio 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/69079
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author Gao, Y.
Newman, Peter
author_facet Gao, Y.
Newman, Peter
author_sort Gao, Y.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © 2018 by the authors. Peak car has happened in most developed cities, but for the 1.5 °C agenda the world also needs emerging cities to go through this transition. Data on Beijing shows that it has reached peak car over the past decade. Evidence is provided for peak car in Beijing from traffic supply (freeway length per capita and parking bays per private car) and traffic demand (private car ownership, automobile modal split, and Vehicle Kilometres Travelled per capita). Most importantly the data show Beijing has reduced car use absolutely whilst its GDP has continued to grow. Significant growth in electric vehicles and bikes is also happening. Beijing’s transition is explained in terms of changing government policies and emerging cultural trends, with a focus on urban fabrics theory. The implications for other emerging cities are developed out of this case study. Beijing’s on-going issues with the car and oil will remain a challenge but the first important transition is well underway.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-690792021-01-05T08:07:08Z Beijing’s peak car transition: Hope for emerging cities in the 1.5 °C agenda Gao, Y. Newman, Peter © 2018 by the authors. Peak car has happened in most developed cities, but for the 1.5 °C agenda the world also needs emerging cities to go through this transition. Data on Beijing shows that it has reached peak car over the past decade. Evidence is provided for peak car in Beijing from traffic supply (freeway length per capita and parking bays per private car) and traffic demand (private car ownership, automobile modal split, and Vehicle Kilometres Travelled per capita). Most importantly the data show Beijing has reduced car use absolutely whilst its GDP has continued to grow. Significant growth in electric vehicles and bikes is also happening. Beijing’s transition is explained in terms of changing government policies and emerging cultural trends, with a focus on urban fabrics theory. The implications for other emerging cities are developed out of this case study. Beijing’s on-going issues with the car and oil will remain a challenge but the first important transition is well underway. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/69079 10.17645/up.v3i2.1246 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Cogitatio fulltext
spellingShingle Gao, Y.
Newman, Peter
Beijing’s peak car transition: Hope for emerging cities in the 1.5 °C agenda
title Beijing’s peak car transition: Hope for emerging cities in the 1.5 °C agenda
title_full Beijing’s peak car transition: Hope for emerging cities in the 1.5 °C agenda
title_fullStr Beijing’s peak car transition: Hope for emerging cities in the 1.5 °C agenda
title_full_unstemmed Beijing’s peak car transition: Hope for emerging cities in the 1.5 °C agenda
title_short Beijing’s peak car transition: Hope for emerging cities in the 1.5 °C agenda
title_sort beijing’s peak car transition: hope for emerging cities in the 1.5 °c agenda
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/69079