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The environmental impact of railways
148
Book Reviews
The second section of the book covers air and water pollution in separate chapters. These two chapters are informative without being unnecessarily technical. However, one could argue that the book would still be complete without them. One could cynically argue that this section is included to make it attractive to environmental management students. The third section of the book covers topics which are of current concern for students of planning. The first chapter of this section discusses the guiding ecological principles for sustainable urban development, starting with the premise that prevention is better than cure. It concludes with management guidelines for sustainable urban development. The second chapter of this section, on policy instruments for improving the urban environment, has a very clear discussion of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and an equally clear discussion of the Economic Policy Instruments. Tutors preparing reading lists for modules covering 'sustainability' in planning would be well advised to include this chapter. The final chapter "Towards the Sustainable City" is where I hoped to find the original contribution of this book, but I was disappointed. Upon finishing the book, I remembered Gans' words that "in planning . . . most effects are based on prior predispositions, the planner who wishes to affect behaviour has two alternatives: to develop plans that will achieve these predispositions, or to change people's predispositions so that they will be amenable to his plans." (People and Plans, p. 20.) In developed countries, people are increasingly demanding greener solutions. Although they are reluctant to abandon their cars they want pollution-free cities. Planners, in managing the built and natural environment, have a duty to put forward sustainable solutions. Concentrated decentralisation has a certain promise but it needs to be implemented properly and monitored. The authors would be well advised to study the results of the new planning legislation in New Zealand for a revised final chapter in their second edition. It is important that students and professionals change their predispositions to the environments they are to shape and manage, and approach their tasks with a clearer understanding of sustainability. This very competent text book covers the subject properly and is a good introduction to start the journey towards the sustainable city. Tarter Oc
University of Nottingham
T.G. CARPENTER, The Environmental Impact of Railways. John Wiley, Chichester, 1994, 385 pp., £45.00 hardback. By coincidence, this book was published at the same time as a major report from the UK Royal Commission on the Environment, Transport and Environmental Pollution. This latter report contains a wealth of statistics, largely based on the UK, which illustrate the explosive growth of mobility over the last 40 years, mainly caused by the rise of the automobile. Emissions from road vehicles are shown to be causing huge quantities of environmental pollution, both local and global. Particularly startling statistics are that in the UK, road transport produces 500 times more CO pollution and 44 times more NOx pollution than rail and accounts for 87% of transport related CO 2 emissions. Given the anticipated growth in road traffic, the Commission concludes (unsurprisingly!) that the present position is unsustainable and makes many recommendations for change, including a rapid expansion and improvement of public transport facilities and ambitious targets for vastly increased mode shares for both passenger and freight by rail. The book by Carpenter, the only one of its kind, is therefore extremely timely. The book claims to "bring together the main planning and management issues concerning the way railways, established, newly-constructed, or upgraded, have an
149
Book Reviews
impact on the environment". It is said to "provide a step-by-step assessment of how the engineer, planner, environmental manager, transport specialist or railway operator should approach the resolution of railway development taking into account environmental priorities and the regulatory framework". These claims are fairly met by the book. Essentially the book is divided into three major parts: Railways and Planning, Impacts on People, and Impacts on Resources. Part 1 includes sections on environmental planning, railway planning, passenger traffic and freight. People impacts discusses social impact and public perception, noise and vibration, pollution, visual impacts and construction. Resource impacts are divided into resource use and route selection, residential, commercial and productive land, nature conservation, heritage and amenity, scenic landscapes and the environmental evaluation of land resources. The book concludes with a short section on how environmental rail transport solutions can contribute to planning for the 21st century. All these topics are dealt with adequately, but with varying depths. A useful, but by no means comprehensive, list of references is included. In the engineer's eye of this reviewer, the book is somewhat weak on technological aspects and particularly weak on crucial issues of energy consumption comparisons of competing transport modes and energy issues related to life-cycle costing, vehicle/infrastructure energy costs and the depletion of global liquid fossel fuel. However, the book is designed for a much wider readership than engineers, and for this wider audience represents a valuable collection of ideas and data. The production of the book is excellent, with clear diagrams and tables, together with interesting illustrations. It is sad that Britain has no coherent policies on Energy, Transport and the Environment. The three are intimately connected but the time-scales which are relevant are too long to concern politicians' short-term interests. The target readership of this book could well include our political masters. In many other countries the important role of railways for the future and their environmental benefits over competing modes are well recognised; indeed, the term 'railway renaissance' is common throughout Continental Europe. Short-term financial considerations, which appear to dominate our current thinking in Britain, are merely artefacts resulting from the definition of the system boundary. Energy and the environment know no such boundaries; for this reason this book is to be welcomed, both for its content and its role as a stimulus to further study. It is hoped that it will reach its proposed wide readership and that its readers will be able to exercise influence.
Rodney A. Smith The University of Sheffield
KIOE SHENG YAP, The Urban Poor as Agents of Development. Community Action Planning in Sri Lanka United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, Nairobi, 1993, 88 pp., n.p. This report by UNCHS provides a welcome and timely review of the innovative urban sector programmes instigated during the mid 1980s by the National Housing Development Authority (NHDA) of Sri Lanka. The author is to be congratulated on a clearly written and well presented report and analysis. The first three chapters, covering 52 pages, are essentially factual, describing the background to the NHDA programmes; the key element is that of community action planning. The remaining two chapters, amounting to a further 30 pages, provide a critical commentary on the achievements and lessons learned. It is difficult for a written evaluation to convey the sense of innovation and excitement which predominated in the NHDA during the development and implementation of
Book Reviews
The second section of the book covers air and water pollution in separate chapters. These two chapters are informative without being unnecessarily technical. However, one could argue that the book would still be complete without them. One could cynically argue that this section is included to make it attractive to environmental management students. The third section of the book covers topics which are of current concern for students of planning. The first chapter of this section discusses the guiding ecological principles for sustainable urban development, starting with the premise that prevention is better than cure. It concludes with management guidelines for sustainable urban development. The second chapter of this section, on policy instruments for improving the urban environment, has a very clear discussion of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and an equally clear discussion of the Economic Policy Instruments. Tutors preparing reading lists for modules covering 'sustainability' in planning would be well advised to include this chapter. The final chapter "Towards the Sustainable City" is where I hoped to find the original contribution of this book, but I was disappointed. Upon finishing the book, I remembered Gans' words that "in planning . . . most effects are based on prior predispositions, the planner who wishes to affect behaviour has two alternatives: to develop plans that will achieve these predispositions, or to change people's predispositions so that they will be amenable to his plans." (People and Plans, p. 20.) In developed countries, people are increasingly demanding greener solutions. Although they are reluctant to abandon their cars they want pollution-free cities. Planners, in managing the built and natural environment, have a duty to put forward sustainable solutions. Concentrated decentralisation has a certain promise but it needs to be implemented properly and monitored. The authors would be well advised to study the results of the new planning legislation in New Zealand for a revised final chapter in their second edition. It is important that students and professionals change their predispositions to the environments they are to shape and manage, and approach their tasks with a clearer understanding of sustainability. This very competent text book covers the subject properly and is a good introduction to start the journey towards the sustainable city. Tarter Oc
University of Nottingham
T.G. CARPENTER, The Environmental Impact of Railways. John Wiley, Chichester, 1994, 385 pp., £45.00 hardback. By coincidence, this book was published at the same time as a major report from the UK Royal Commission on the Environment, Transport and Environmental Pollution. This latter report contains a wealth of statistics, largely based on the UK, which illustrate the explosive growth of mobility over the last 40 years, mainly caused by the rise of the automobile. Emissions from road vehicles are shown to be causing huge quantities of environmental pollution, both local and global. Particularly startling statistics are that in the UK, road transport produces 500 times more CO pollution and 44 times more NOx pollution than rail and accounts for 87% of transport related CO 2 emissions. Given the anticipated growth in road traffic, the Commission concludes (unsurprisingly!) that the present position is unsustainable and makes many recommendations for change, including a rapid expansion and improvement of public transport facilities and ambitious targets for vastly increased mode shares for both passenger and freight by rail. The book by Carpenter, the only one of its kind, is therefore extremely timely. The book claims to "bring together the main planning and management issues concerning the way railways, established, newly-constructed, or upgraded, have an
149
Book Reviews
impact on the environment". It is said to "provide a step-by-step assessment of how the engineer, planner, environmental manager, transport specialist or railway operator should approach the resolution of railway development taking into account environmental priorities and the regulatory framework". These claims are fairly met by the book. Essentially the book is divided into three major parts: Railways and Planning, Impacts on People, and Impacts on Resources. Part 1 includes sections on environmental planning, railway planning, passenger traffic and freight. People impacts discusses social impact and public perception, noise and vibration, pollution, visual impacts and construction. Resource impacts are divided into resource use and route selection, residential, commercial and productive land, nature conservation, heritage and amenity, scenic landscapes and the environmental evaluation of land resources. The book concludes with a short section on how environmental rail transport solutions can contribute to planning for the 21st century. All these topics are dealt with adequately, but with varying depths. A useful, but by no means comprehensive, list of references is included. In the engineer's eye of this reviewer, the book is somewhat weak on technological aspects and particularly weak on crucial issues of energy consumption comparisons of competing transport modes and energy issues related to life-cycle costing, vehicle/infrastructure energy costs and the depletion of global liquid fossel fuel. However, the book is designed for a much wider readership than engineers, and for this wider audience represents a valuable collection of ideas and data. The production of the book is excellent, with clear diagrams and tables, together with interesting illustrations. It is sad that Britain has no coherent policies on Energy, Transport and the Environment. The three are intimately connected but the time-scales which are relevant are too long to concern politicians' short-term interests. The target readership of this book could well include our political masters. In many other countries the important role of railways for the future and their environmental benefits over competing modes are well recognised; indeed, the term 'railway renaissance' is common throughout Continental Europe. Short-term financial considerations, which appear to dominate our current thinking in Britain, are merely artefacts resulting from the definition of the system boundary. Energy and the environment know no such boundaries; for this reason this book is to be welcomed, both for its content and its role as a stimulus to further study. It is hoped that it will reach its proposed wide readership and that its readers will be able to exercise influence.
Rodney A. Smith The University of Sheffield
KIOE SHENG YAP, The Urban Poor as Agents of Development. Community Action Planning in Sri Lanka United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, Nairobi, 1993, 88 pp., n.p. This report by UNCHS provides a welcome and timely review of the innovative urban sector programmes instigated during the mid 1980s by the National Housing Development Authority (NHDA) of Sri Lanka. The author is to be congratulated on a clearly written and well presented report and analysis. The first three chapters, covering 52 pages, are essentially factual, describing the background to the NHDA programmes; the key element is that of community action planning. The remaining two chapters, amounting to a further 30 pages, provide a critical commentary on the achievements and lessons learned. It is difficult for a written evaluation to convey the sense of innovation and excitement which predominated in the NHDA during the development and implementation of