“Ideal” Decision Making Processes for Transport Planning: A Comparison between Europe and South East Asia

In the recently finished European Union (EU)-funded research project entitled Procedures for Recommending Optimal Sustainable Planning of European City Transport Systems (PROSPECTS) the decision making process of sustainable urban transport planning issues was investigated and an “ideal” decision making process for sustainable transport planning decisions in the European context was identified. A further EU-funded networking project entitled Sustainability Planning for Asian Cities making use of Research, Know-How and Lessons from Europe (SPARKLE) considered the relevance of the PROSPECTS process to South East Asia, through seminars and workshops in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. This paper summarizes various conclusions reached in these events. While it was generally found that the basic elements of the PROSPECTS approach transferred reasonably well to South East Asia, various key factors require revisions. The most important of these factors are: (1) differing traditions in planning; (2) different weights in the transport related objectives; (3) use of only a limited set of potential policy instruments; (4) fast growth rates (in both economic and travel terms); (5) differences in types of vehicle used; and (6) lack of data for use in assessment and modeling. These factors can be addressed in more detail in future research projects.