Using Triple Access Planning to Enhance Urban Accessibility and Connectivity in the Face of Deep Uncertainty (TAP for uncertain futures)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of the West of England
Department Name: Faculty of Environment and Technology
Abstract
Conventional approaches to mobility planning, based on the forecast-led paradigm, have led to unrealised expectations concerning alleviating problems such as congestion and delivering economic, social and environmental outcomes. Evidence shows plans become rapidly obsolete and lack resilience with regard to future developments. This project aims to improve Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs), addressing both the movement of people and goods, through two significant new considerations:
(1) Triple Access Planning (TAP) - future sustainable urban accessibility can be achieved through the transport system (physical mobility), the land-use system (spatial proximity) and the telecommunications system (digital connectivity); together constituting a Triple Access System (TAS).
(2) Accommodating uncertainty - unpredictable change dynamics such as demographics, economic developments, locational choices, regulatory context, technological breakthroughs, travel demand, and stakeholder behaviour can be explicitly taken into account in the plan, in terms of development and implementation.
This research project is highly collaborative and involves seven case study cities in five countries. Through a methodological approach that sequentially addresses theory, practice, design and application, TAP for uncertain futures guidance will be developed and evolved that complements existing SUMP guidelines. The project will strengthen resilience and adaptiveness in SUMPs by advancing theory and translating it into accessible, state-of-the-art, practical guidance.
(1) Triple Access Planning (TAP) - future sustainable urban accessibility can be achieved through the transport system (physical mobility), the land-use system (spatial proximity) and the telecommunications system (digital connectivity); together constituting a Triple Access System (TAS).
(2) Accommodating uncertainty - unpredictable change dynamics such as demographics, economic developments, locational choices, regulatory context, technological breakthroughs, travel demand, and stakeholder behaviour can be explicitly taken into account in the plan, in terms of development and implementation.
This research project is highly collaborative and involves seven case study cities in five countries. Through a methodological approach that sequentially addresses theory, practice, design and application, TAP for uncertain futures guidance will be developed and evolved that complements existing SUMP guidelines. The project will strengthen resilience and adaptiveness in SUMPs by advancing theory and translating it into accessible, state-of-the-art, practical guidance.
Publications
Lyons G
(2021)
Scenario planning for transport practitioners
in Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Lyons G
(2021)
Discovering 'the sweet spot'
in Local Transport Today
Paddeu D
(2024)
Foresight through developing shared mental models: The case of Triple Access Planning
in Futures
Rye T
(2024)
Uncertainty and Triple Access Planning in European Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans: a long way to go yet?
in Transportation Planning and Technology
| Description | This award has established the first Handbook on Triple Access Planning for Practitioners. This is explained as follows: Planning for the future continues to evolve in the face of a changing world. What we did in the past will not work for the future. Even the recent shift, with greater interest in transport planning being vision-led and focused on people rather than traffic, it is still not enough. This Handbook is the next evolutionary step. It supports a way of thinking and acting that is intended to mark a change from transport planning in the 'predict and provide' paradigm to 'Triple Access Planning' in the 'decide and provide' paradigm. This is vision-led ('decide') instead of forecast-led ('predict'). It includes digital accessibility alongside spatial proximity and mobility (together making 'triple access'). It also includes addressing uncertainty about the future. The Handbook is a companion guide for those who are already conversant with transport planning or other planning approaches. It explains the triple access perspective on planning, the handling of uncertainty, addressing access for goods, and the organisational and institutional challenges associated with Triple Access Planning. For each of these themes, four planning phases are examined: (i) Philosophy - why take this approach?; (ii) Preparation and Analysis - assessing the current and future situations; (iii) Strategy Development - determining visions/goals and the approaches to achieving these; and (iv) Measure Planning - identifying more specifically what needs to be implemented to achieve goals. The first of these is an important (informal) orientation phase. The other phases reflect those recognised in European Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning (which also includes 'Implementation and Monitoring'). Whilst Triple Access Planning does not offer an easier approach than established planning practices and institutions, it is more fit for purpose in relation to the challenge and opportunities we now face. This Handbook is a staging post in the onward journey of change in how we make sense of, and seek to be prepared for and shape, the future. Please embrace it. |
| Exploitation Route | As described above, the Handbook is the principal output of the project and is expressly intended to support change in practice in transport planning and other planning approaches. |
| Sectors | Transport |
| Description | The TAP project has been practice-facing and during the lifetime of the project, innovating practitioners have begun exploring and applying Triple Access Planning themselves - this includes certain local authorities in the UK as well as emerging examples in other countries. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
| Sector | Transport |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | Mott MacDonald's application of Triple Access Planning in its support of client transport planning authorities |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or Improved professional practice |
| Description | Reference to Triple Access Planning in Scotland's Local Development Planning Guidance |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| URL | https://www.gov.scot/publications/local-development-planning-guidance/ |
| Description | Swedish Transport Administration in its national handbook for strategic transport planning has adopted the concept of Triple Access Planning |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| URL | https://bransch.trafikverket.se/contentassets/740b84c13230422e851eeef569fa73f4/trv-handbok-for-trafi... |
| Description | Triple Access Planning addressed City of Gold Coast, Australia |
| Geographic Reach | Australia |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| URL | https://gchaveyoursay.com.au/76440/widgets/367776/documents/235110 |
| Description | Triple Access Planning being applied by Transport for the West Midlands (supported by Mott MacDonald) |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| URL | https://www.tfwm.org.uk/media/tcgf3ik2/local-transport-plan-green-paper-final.pdf |
| Title | TAP-SWOT in a BOX - Digital version |
| Description | The serious card game developed by the project team called TAP-SWOT in a BOX was turned into a digital version by a team of students from the UWE MSc Commercial Games Development under the supervision (as 'clients') of our project team (myself and Daniela Paddeu) |
| Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Impact | This digital version of the serious card game helps make it accessible to practitioners anywhere who have a suitable internet connection and digital device. |
| URL | https://www.tapforuncertainty.eu/serious-game/ |
| Description | 'TAP-SWOT in a BOX' serious game workshop session at Annual Transport Practitioners Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was the first time we ran the serious game designed within the project called 'TAP-SWOT in a BOX'. The game is intended to introduce the core concept of the project - Triple Access Planning - to practitioners and expose them to pre-prepared strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the approach. In a participatory game environment individuals are able to consider what issues are most important when weighing up the merits of the approach for adoption. The intended outcome is that people are more aware of TAP and more inclined to consider it for their own organisation and its practices. We also had a request arising from the session to be able to use the game in teaching at another university. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | 'TAP-SWOT in a BOX' serious game workshop session at European Transport Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was the second time we ran the serious game designed within the project called 'TAP-SWOT in a BOX'. The game is intended to introduce the core concept of the project - Triple Access Planning - to practitioners and expose them to pre-prepared strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the approach. In a participatory game environment individuals are able to consider what issues are most important when weighing up the merits of the approach for adoption. The intended outcome is that people are more aware of TAP and more inclined to consider it for their own organisation and its practices. We had a request arising from the session to be able to use the game in a local UK planning authority. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Association of European Transport Webinar (by Daniela Paddeu) on our experiences with Citizen Engagement in Bristol |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Following our presentation at the European Transport Conference we were invited to share insights from our citizen engagement work in Bristol as part of the TAP project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | FUTURES Relay - an online citizen engagement two-part workshop to explore the future of transport and accessibility in Bristol |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | As part of the project this provided citizens in Bristol the opportunity to engage with Triple Access Planning in a hands-on way to explore the future of their city. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Fireside Chat panel discussion on serious games in the transport sector |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Glenn Lyons organised and chaired this 90-minute online panel discussion on serious games as a form of engagement, knowledge exchange and learning. It was titled "Getting to grips with transport challenges by playing games - are you serious?" and also involved another member of the international project team (Maha Attia) as a panel member. The intention of this and other PTRC Fireside Chats Glenn Lyons develops is to give attention to contemporary issues of relevance to the transport profession and create a lively and informative panel discussion. A write-up of the event was also produced and made publicly available (unpublished). As a result of this session it was agreed that the project team would take forward a Special Issue on Serious Games for the Journal of Transport and Health. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.linkedin.com/posts/glenn-lyons_the-serious-games-fireside-chat-writeup-activity-69936042... |
| Description | Focused engagement sessions on Triple Access Planning in practice with practitioners in Scotland for Aberdeen and for Transport Scotland |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | As part of the project we engaged with public officials and other stakeholders involved in addressing strategic planning locally and nationally in Scotland |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Invited presentation to a Department for Transport internal webinar on serious games to talk about 'TAP_SWOT in a BOX' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Sharing insights concerning the serious game development as part of the project with civil servants within the DfT. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Invited presentation to the Active Travel cafe webinar 'Decide and provide - a diffusing innovation in a climate emergency' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Active Travel Cafe is a forum for shared exchanges on active travel and other contemporary developments in transport - this was an opportunity to share insights into the main topic addressed by the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Invited presentation to transport planning practitioners in Slovenia |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited to present (remotely) and take questions on Triple Access Planning at the Town and Spatial Planning Association of Slovenia national conference. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | http://www.dupps.si/novice-druscarontva/33-sedlarjevo-srecanje-zakljucki |
| Description | Invited speaker at First Principles Workshop with Capetown Government and its Mayor |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Cape Town is considering its transport strategy development and was interested in Triple Access Planning as an approach and I was invited to share insights. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | KiM Symposium - keynote speaker on "Rethinking Transport Planning for a Changing World" - addressing staff from KiM and its parent organisation, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Following involvement with the International Transport Forum on co-authoring its report "Travel Transitions: How Transport Planners and Policy Makers Can Respond to Shifting Mobility Trends", Glenn Lyons was invited by the Netherlands Institute for Transport Policy Analysis (KiM) to be the keynote guest speaker at the annual sympsium (online) which addresses a substantial gathering of officials from the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. His presentation (and the work for the ITF) is integral to and further informed by the TAP for Uncertain Futures Project. At a national level, the Ministry is keen to understand how it can address planning for an uncertain future. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Online Panel discussion (as part of the PTRC Fireside Chat series) - 'Triple Access Planning: changing transport planning in a changing world' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | An online panel discussion with key innovation players bringing forward Triple Access Planning |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://youtu.be/N1qV_yaZTSs?si=duiRrMA88f4FTDiK |
| Description | Online roundtable with practitioners to discuss Triple Access Planning and the draft practitioners' Handbook |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | An online workshop/meeting to discuss latest views on Triple Access Planning and reactions to the draft Handbook for Practitioners |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Podcast with Annette Smith from Mott MacDonald to discuss FUTURES which has informed and become part of the Triple Access Planning project |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This podcast was produced by UWE Bristol involving interviewing myself and Annette Smith from Mott MacDonald |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://soundcloud.com/uwebristol/changemaker-podcast-futures-toolkit-for-vision-led-transport-plann... |
| Description | Presentation at the European Transport Conference on 'Engaging Citizens in Exploring Mobility Futures' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presenting upon our experiences with a novel citizen engagement methodology adapted and applied as part of the project with citizens of Bristol in the UK. We are invited as a result of this to present subsequently as part of an Association of European Transport webinar. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Presentation at the European Transport Conference on 'UK practitioners' view on the past, present and future of urban mobility planning' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presenting the findings from the project from undertaking a series of '7 Questions' interviews with practitioners in the UK. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Presentation at the European Transport Conference on 'You say scenario, I say scenario - making sense of future possibilities when we plan' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This presented shared thinking from Glenn Lyons, Stephen Cragg and Vincent Marchau on some of the challenging aspects of making sense of scenario planning. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Presentation by Kiron Chatterjee at the European Transport Conference on 'Shifting from a mobility to an accessibility perspective: motivations, barriers and a practical way forward' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presenting the findings from one of the literature reviews within the project that examined understanding of the notion of accessibility and how this is being addressed as part of transport planning. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Presentation to Slovenian Ministry of Infrastructure |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Glenn Lyons was invited as an international expert from the project to introduce the national ministry to the Triple Access Planning approach and to discuss how this might form part of an approach to developing its own national strategy. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Roundtable experts workshop on Accessibility |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | As part of the project the UWE team convened a roundtable of experts relating to accessibility and transport planning to critically examine the concept of Triple Access Planning. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | TAP-SWOT in a BOX serious game with Aberdeen City Council and Transport Scotland |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | As part of the project we are engaging with practitioners including our public authority partners Aberdeen City Council and Transport Scotland. We ran two one-day sessions (one with each organisation, both in the same week) in which we were able to engage policymakers and consultants in the serious game 'TAP-SWOT in a BOX'. We also ran an exercise to consider and discuss the key elements and their sequencing for the process of developing an (urban) mobility plan. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | TAP-SWOT in a BOX serious game workshop session at the UWE Centre for Transport & Society annual conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Running a game play session of the serious game TAP-SWOT in a BOX (as well as launching the digital/online version) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |