Decision-Makers' Guidebook Introduction

The Decision-Makers' Guidebook has been designed to help all those involved in decisions on land use and transport, whether as politicians, professional advisers, stakeholders or individual citizens. Transport and land use planning have become increasingly complex. In section 2 we highlight some of the challenges which cities face. In this brief Guidebook, we suggest a structured approach to tackling these challenges. At each stage we have focused particularly on two questions: why an issue is important, and what the options are for tackling it. We have tried not to be prescriptive, because we appreciate the diversity among cities, and we respect the desire of each city to plan its own future. However, we hope that our suggestions will simplify this complex planning task.

In Section 2 we review the challenges which cities face. In Section 3 we consider the decision-making context, including the freedom which cities have to develop their own policies. In Section 4 we outline a number of possible approaches to decision-making. We consider the relative merits of each, and encourage cities to choose which suits them best. In Section 5 we look at the options for facilitating effective participation to support all these approaches. In Section 6 we propose a logical structure for decision-making, which can be used with any of these approaches, and identify the key steps in that process. Sections 7 to 15 follow the logical structure in Section 6. Section 16 presents four case studies of cities which have adopted some or all of these approaches. Section 17 provides a brief glossary, and Section 18 a bibliography.

The Decision Makers' Guidebook complements the European Commission's more recent guidance on the development of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans.