ITS and the developing world
In developing nations, the migration of people from rural to urbanized habitats has
progressed differently. Many areas of the developing world have urbanized without
significant motorization and the formation of suburbs. In areas like Santiago, Chile,
for example, a high population density is supported by a ‘multimodal’ system of walking,
bicycle transportation, motorcycles, buses, and trains.
A small portion of the population can afford automobiles, but the automobiles greatly
increase the congestion in these multimodal transportation systems. They also produce
a considerable amount of air pollution, pose a significant safety risk and increase
the gap of inequities in the society.
Other parts of the developing world such as China remain largely rural, but are rapidly urbanizing and industrializing. In these areas a motorized infrastructure is being developed alongside motorization of the population. In China, there is a great disparity of wealth which means that only a fraction of the population can motorize. Therefore the highly dense multimodal transportation system for the poor is ‘cross-cut’ by the highly motorized transportation system for the rich. In these areas the urban infrastructure is being rapidly developed, providing an opportunity for building new systems which incorporate ITS from the very start.
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