Focus of work
John Whitelegg’s fellowship collaborated with Phil Goodwin’s to explore the theme of transport and climate change. The research produced is available in a series of blog posts:
- Lund sets a very high standard on its approach to transport decarbonisation
- Banning the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030 is not good enough to deal with climate change
- Electric vehicles will not deliver net zero carbon targets
- Are councils’ plans for local road schemes compatible with the declaration of a climate emergency?
- Space: the final frontier. To boldly go where no man (or woman) has gone before
- When in a hole stop digging. All local road schemes promoted by local authorities must be cancelled
- The time is right for free fare local public transport
- Ludlow sets out a net zero carbon transport future
- Bus service improvement plans must prioritise carbon reduction and modal transfer from car to bus
- Car-free towns and cities
- Behaviour change
- The case for a new approach to transport appraisal
- This is Gothenburg
About John Whitelegg
John Whitelegg, BA PhD LLB, is visiting professor, School of the Built Environment, Liverpool John Moores University and was formerly professor of geography and head of department at Lancaster University and a staff member of the global science policy organisation, the Stockholm Environment Institute.
He has worked with the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Energy and the Environment (Germany) and is an associate of the Kassel Centre for Mobility Culture (Germany) and a board member of the Californian organisation “Transportation Choices for Sustainable Communities”.
John has edited the journal World Transport Policy and Practice for 25 years and has written 10 books. In his book Mobility, he presents an evidence-based case for a transformation of the totality of transport and mobility policy to achieve three zeroes (zero carbon, zero deaths and injuries and zero air pollution).
He has worked extensively on practical measures to achieve 100% decarbonisation of land transport.
Selected publications
Shropshire Bus Project Summary Report
John Whitelegg, 2020
Towards a zero carbon vision for UK transport
John Whitelegg, Gary Haq, Howard Cambridge and Harry Vallack, Stockholm Environment Institute, 2010
How much transport can landscape tolerate: new ways of thinking about traffic, landscape and nature?
Koerner, S, Holzapfel, H and Bellin-Harder, F (eds) Landschaft und Verkeher, University of Kassel, Germany, ISBN 978-3-86219-358-5, pp 93-114 (2012)
Mobility: A New Urban Design and Transport Planning Philosophy for a Sustainable Future
Straw Barnes Press. ISBN 13: 978-1530227877 (2015)
Key research themes on regulation, pricing, and sustainable urban mobility
Nash, C and Whitelegg, J (2016), International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 10,1,33-39
Cars and climate change: the need for more ambition
Responsible Science (2019)
Safety, risk and road traffic danger: towards a transformational approach to the dominant ideology
The Politics of Cycling Infrastructure. Spaces and (in)equality edited by Peter Cox and Till Koglin, Policy Press, University of Bristol, 95-112 (2020)
Recent blog posts
This is Gothenburg
Gothenburg (Sweden) and what it tells us about the close links between world-leading economic success and transport decarbonisation.
The case for a new approach to transport appraisal
Clear, consistent, robust and independent information on claims made for road schemes is now needed more than ever.
First in a new series of FIT webinars
FIT hosted its first ever webinar last Wednesday, 27 April, on the topic of Transport Appraisal & Carbon.
Behaviour Change
In his latest blog, John Whitelegg talks about the importance of behavioural change in relation to achieving net zero carbon by 2030.
Car-free towns and cities
John Whitelegg discusses the urgent need for a transformational, paradigm shift, and a completely new and totally integrated approach to transport choices, and of the co-benefits which arise from reducing our dependence on motorised mobility.
Bus service improvement plans must prioritise carbon reduction and modal transfer from car to bus
John Whitelegg sets out how we can maximise the contribution of bus service improvements to decarbonisation objectives.
Ludlow sets out a net zero carbon transport future
The Ludlow net zero carbon project has shown that if its main recommendations are accepted by Shropshire Council and implemented by ...
Electric vehicles will not deliver net zero carbon targets
The focus on EVs is misplaced and will not deliver the degree of decarbonisation we require to achieve net zero carbon targets.