In the world of globalisation and fast-growing cities, the balance between an effective transport system and the environment becomes crucial. Current challenges, research, and possible improvements (in Poland and Latin America) were the matter of our interview with prof. Luis A. Guzman - a renowned scholar and expert in urban planning and transport in Colombia, who is also involved in implementing Sustainable Mobility Plans in Latin American cities. Prof. Guzman visited the Faculty of Economics in July 2024 at the invitation of dr hab. Monika Bąk, prof. UG within the UG Visiting Professors Programme.

Karolina Żuk-Wieczorkiewicz: - Referring to your field of research: what is sustainable mobility? How would you describe it? Why is it important?

Luis Guzman: - It’s a very current question. The matter is quite important, especially these days. Cities are growing, there are more and more people, more of the carbon footprint, greenhouse gases emissions etc. Particularly, urbanisation in the Global South can reach 70-80% very quickly, as is the case in Latin America. A huge part of unsustainable behaviours is happening in our cities. Sustainable mobility is a part of improvements that are to enhance the ways you move through the cities, change behaviours, and improve technologies. When I talk about technologies, I mean efficient engines, more ‘green’ sources of energy, and so on. What is also important is the change of behaviours: for example, trying to reduce car use (especially excessive car use). Another important issue is active mobility. Active transport could be an interesting way to start to make new decisions for a healthy society and more social capital.

- Do you observe connections between sustainable mobility and human wellbeing?

- Yes, definitely. I learned an important thing in Colombia, living in Bogotá, a huge city with around 8 million people. Beyond Europe, the cities are growing so fast; motorisation is growing so fast - this is happening in most parts of the globe: megacities. Bogotá isn’t as big as some cities in Southern Africa or Asia (in which the population can reach up to 20 or 30 million), but it is growing and expanding even faster. In our last line of transportation research, we started to try to identify the factors that have an impact on urban mobility and wellbeing. For example: why do politicians or decision-makers want to build or implement cycle paths or more public transport? We have also started to change our mentality as transportation engineers: we want to go from asking how to move the biggest possible quantity of passengers per hour into public transport systems (such as bus, underground, or railway system), which is important but shouldn't be the final goal, to how these systems can have a positive impact on people's wellbeing and quality of life. And this involves improving accessibility.

- And what did you come up with?

- In line with the above, public systems (including public transport) should be developed to improve the quality of life. And that’s the role of all its elements: healthcare system, educational system - why not public transport? We started to do some research which would have an impact on the public transport system: in physical activity, in subjective wellbeing, in quality of life, and social capital and perception. We found (in the case of Bogotá) that the quality of the public transport system has a direct relationship with the quality of life in the city. An important part of this is affordability. However, the quality of life is not related only to the transport system (I mean to the cars, motorcycles, buses, or cable cars). The key issue here is to integrate the built environment and the public transport. That is a crucial issue to improve the quality of life. We also found that - for instance - in most parts of the world in developing cities, the public transport system is not of the best quality - and in several cases it is unaffordable. So affordability and improving the level of transport system are key issues to improve the quality of life. And that requires large investments, not only for construction but for operation.

- Some research in Poland shows a connection between time one need to get to work and the quality of life in the city: the shorter that time is, the higher the level of wellbeing.

- We need to find a balance. If we want to try to reduce the travel time to a minimum, perhaps some people (some politicians) will be thinking of increasing speed limits. If we increase the speed, particularly for cars or motorcycles, we’ll probably have undesirable results, such as more car crashes, more emissions and so on.

- So we need to find a balance?

- Yes. We need a balance between reducing travel time and increasing the quality of life. Perhaps if we want to increase the speed, we should also think of more highways with more capacity - and that is not a good idea in the long term for cities.

- Based on your observations: do you see any similarities (or maybe differences) between Colombia and Poland?

- The contexts are different but I think these two countries are similar in the sense that we have a long way to reach the level of several countries in Western Europe. I think, though, that the development in several areas is very similar. I think we both have time to decide the pattern of urban development we want: cities for cars or people. On the other side, I found two main important differences. The first one is urban density, the population. Cities in Colombia (and Latin America) are much more dense. Another difference is car use. Here, in Poland, people depend much more on their cars than in Latin America. That is why in Latin America the public transport system is used much more often - but the quality and the level of the service in the system are not the best. So people who once used the public transport system look for other alternatives. They’re seeking to get out of the system, try to buy a car or even walk or motorcycle.

- Do you think that’s a challenge? To improve public transport?

- It is a challenge - and a very expensive challenge.  To build a high-quality transport system and maintain it - it’s quite expensive. So another challenge is to try to find sources to fund and maintain these improvements, to support the cost of all operations. Last week, I went to visit the bus and trolley yards in Gdynia and Gdańsk - and I found it very interesting. Gdańsk is not the biggest city in Poland, of course, but the scales are completely different. For instance, just for one field that surprised me: the subsidies for public transportation or the cost of public transportation here, in this region, is around 50 million dollars (more or less), whereas just in Bogotá the cost of the transport system is more than 1,3 billion. The scale difference is huge and the quantity of money to try to improve the system is totally different, especially in Global South countries, where the necessity of funding is more challenging.

- So it’s a matter of money?

- Yes. But political decisions are also very important.

- Referring to your research and cooperation with prof. Bąk - are there any research ideas that came up during your visit?

- Yes, we’ve talked a lot about that. Tomorrow, we have a meeting with her team, too. One important topic that we found is mobility of the tourism. Especially here in Europe, in summertime, the tourist movement in several cities is not well managed. Those cities have a lot of problems with sustainability, related to travel patterns, housing, congestion in the centres, and so on. We found that there are several phenomena seen in Latin America and Colombia as well. Tourism is the first issue. Imagine that - for instance - in Sopot the situation is completely different now than in February. Right now it’s full of people, traffic congestions are worse…

- Do you have any idea how to improve it?

- It’s a very good question. It’s not just one thing. To improve mobility, we need a battery of instruments and diverse measures because one isolated pick for will not work - and even if it works, people are very flexible and they adapt their behaviour, so we may have negative side effects.

- So that’s why a battery is needed? And changing people’s behaviour?

- Yes, at least we need to try. We need to be flexible all the time to try to adapt the measures to current circumstances.

- What do you like most in Poland?

- The beaches are super nice: the sand is white. What I really want to highlight is the infrastructure for walking and cycling: that you can use the bike in almost every part of the city. There’s a very good infrastructure and connectivity. You can ride even into the forest - and walk there as well. I have to say that I really like that.

- It seems it’s our commitment to sustainable transport.

- Exactly. I find the bicycle infrastructure here very nice. You have wide cycle paths by every single roadway we can see here in the city. And because I like to run, I run a lot in that infrastructure: in Gdańsk, in Gdynia, in the forest… And I found it amazing.

- I wish your research is successful, then, and that it helps to improve the transportation quality. Thank you!