Commuters all at sea as governments lose the plot

Perhaps less tangible than the threat of cannonballs or invaders at the city walls are the converging crises of peak oil prices and global warming. These events now comprise the greatest threat to our current concept of the city. Their confluence will, one way or another, bring about decisive action by governments on the urban transport problem.

Broader approaches to transport policy and planning are needed. The critical question is: what will be the new paradigm within which planners will create transport and urban design visions for our cities, and will it be one that consists of car tunnels, minimum car-parking standards and new, public transport-less suburbs? Or will it be one which acknowledges the reality of our environmental future?

The Age