Social Change and Sustainable Transport, by William R. Black and Peter Nijkamp (eds.), Indiana University Press, 2002 [Review]

The last decades of the twentieth century witnessed the transforming processes of metropolitan economic restructuring (e.g., flexible production, growth of information and telecommunication technologies) along with social changes that have been created by and, in turn, propel that restructuring. These forces have had considerable impacts on urban transportation systems. The twenty-first century will undoubtedly see a variety of new social and technological trends that will continue to influence the ways in which transport and communication systems are supplied and utilized. Although at the present time a wide range of speculation exists about future transport systems, two trends that are apparent are increasing vehicle size and fuel consumption, and the increasing ubiquity of technologies with the potential to significantly alter transport patterns. The former trends are worrisome for their implications for the ability of society to maintain increasing levels of energy consumption, manage pollution, and control traffic safety. Some automakers are even reclassifying their sedans as sports utility vehicles to avoid fuel mileage requirements, clearly suggesting that at least some of today's technological advancements in transportation are unsustainable