Good day my good friend.

I would hardly say that the new Routemasters are iconic, being the over-specified, inefficient ovens that they are. But this episode of Inside the Factory on BBC iPlayer (if you are outside the UK, you may struggle to access this) is fascinating. Making these things that thousands use every day is strangely compelling watch. Almost as compelling as James May’s review of the same buses.

If you have any suggestions for interesting news items or bits of research to include in this newsletter, you can email me.

You should also join a lot of like-minded people at Mobility Camp in Bristol in September. Get your tickets now. Sponsorship slots are also available.

James

Who benefits from road space reallocation?

Phil Goodwin has written another excellent blog that contests a popular conception about road space, that we are increasingly reallocating away from the car. At the core of his contention is that this is not just a matter of building lanes, but about social beliefs and technology as well. And there may be a case that more road space is being allocated to cars, notably with them getting bigger.

There is a logic to his claim. New developments are car-centric. Pavement parking attitudes are remarkably mixed. But there is also pressure for adopting streets as living spaces as opposed to places for movement. While the debate over jaywalking laws and autonomous vehicles is hardly certain in its outcomes. As always, I heartily recommend reading Phil’s article, and coming to your own conclusion.

Charter Cities as a model to develop new cities quickly

One of the UK Government’s pet projects is the establishment of a series of Freeports across the UK. Yet when you compare this with what a Freeport actually is and its historic use (clue: it was to do with reduced customs regulations at ports to help with trade), it is less a free port and more a charter city. This is essentially where policies and regulations are enacted in a manner that is decidedly pro-business across a city, and to create laws and policies outside the remit of the host country.

This model, proposed by Paul Romer, is being taken more seriously as a means of developing our cities and their associated transport infrastructure. But it is not a demonstrated idea, despite some academic research into the Panama Canal attempting to apply the idea retrospectively. Though the academic literature seems to focus on matters such a neo-colonialism and the moral case for such cities. Its all a bit theoretical. But if you like that sort of thing, its well worth an investigation.

Random things

These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope that you enjoy them.

• African nations expected to make case for big rise in fossil fuel output (The Guardian)

• Three reasons concrete doesn’t live up to its environmental claims (The Conversation)

• Tesla’s German Gigafactory Demonstrates the Difficulty of Delivering Green Industrial Jobs (The New Republic)

• Eastern DRC students build car using waste material (Africa News)

• China boosts hopes Nepal rail link can get back on track (South China Morning Post)

Something interesting

The always-excellent Our World In Data have published a data explorer for different types of air pollutants in different countries. You should explore it, as transport is a major source of quite a few of them!

If you are to do one thing today, then do this

Read and be inspired by this great article on the experience of Brussels in pushing out the car from the city centre. Its amazing what a bit of political leadership can do.