WE see more cars on the road every day. The assumption is that if roads are filled with cars, more roads are needed to accommodate the growing number of motor vehicles. This is unfortunately a flawed prescription, leading to greater traffic, more pollution and faster climate change. Building more roads for cars provides only temporary relief and eventually attracts greater car use, making things worse.

Given our climate and mobility crisis, transportation planning and traffic management should not be about making cars travel faster or providing for increased motorization. It is about shaping travel behavior and demand in the direction required for our collective welfare and survival. We need to design and plan in order to shape the kind of future that we want and need, rather than keeping us on a downward spiral.