Rethinking “Vehicles First”: a new discourse on Hong Kong’s sustainable mobility
Private vehicles continue to proliferated in Hong Kong, to the detriment of sustainable mobility, walkability and liveable streets
The dominance of public transport as a means of travel in Hong Kong has bred a complacency about car growth that threatens sustainable mobility in the city.
The private car fleet has grown, surreptitiously, at around four percent per year for the last decade, but this growth is rarely challenged. Officials will claim “Hong Kong’s transport policy is based around public transport” and give stock responses to questions about rising car numbers. In the meantime, roads dominate our limited public space, and rank among the most crowded in the world.
Transit Jam Forum 2020 will address the issue of sustainable transport and mobility and road safety in Hong Kong, with rising car ownership and the “Vehicles First” approach as a challenge to address throughout the event.
Call for papers: topics to be covered
We welcome ideas and papers on all aspects of sustainable mobility, road safety and liveable streets in Hong Kong. Your proposal should ideally fit within one of the three below topic areas, though not necessarily among the suggested sub-topics:
Transport drivers (macro and policy)
- Car centrality in Hong Kong (power and politics)
- Fossil-fuel vehicles as public health threat
- Covid-19 response: new public health issues of transport policy
- EVs: public transport vs private vehicles
- Green finance and green bonds as transport policy driver
- HK2030 and decarbonisation of transport
- Why do people buy cars? Facing the drivers of car growth.
- Government-citizen collaboration on sustainable mobility
Urban engineering (urban and road design)
- Urban space and motor vehicles (economics of physical space)
- Creating corridors for active mobility on HK Island
- Zero-carbon delivery and goods transport
- Public space and minorities – how cars leave Hong Kong’s minorities behind
- Application of overseas models and practice
Traffic enforcement
- Tactical urbanism and other interventions
- Parking Day 2020 Workshop
- Technology in enforcement
- Citizen enforcement – private apps
- The role of ridesharing firms in road safety and enforcement
Presentation details
The one-day conference on Thursday 17 September is expected to draw around 150 attendees with professional, government and NGO interest in the sector. The following day, 18 September, is Parking Day 2020, for which we will hold a number of workshops.
Presentations should run 10-15 minutes, short and to the point. Shorter presentations are also welcome and will be considered for a “5-Minute Thesis” section. Longer papers will be considered if of especial interest to the HK transport community.
Submissions
THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS 26 JULY 2020, 6PM HONG KONG TIME.
Submissions to the Call for Papers should include a brief abstract of the paper (200-300 words), although more detail is welcome, and should also answer the question:
“How does this help Hong Kong address sustainable mobility issues against the backdrop of a city wedded to a ‘Vehicles First’ transport approach?”
Submissions may be made by email to conference@transitjam.com – all queries and idea-bouncing welcome.
About Transit Jam
Transit Jam is Hong Kong’s first and only registered newspaper dedicated to sustainable transport. We cover the city’s transport, mobility and safety issues with daily news and features: visit us at transitjam.com to catch our style and energy. Our first annual conference provides a platform for dialogue and accountability, as well as sharing ideas and research, in this important domain.
