Abstract:
In their bid to place urban development on a more sustainable footing, many regional governments
and their communities are presently encountering difficulties with transport development. A key reason
for this is the disparity between sustainability objectives and the real outcomes of transport projects
favoured under current evaluation methods. This paper tackles this problem in two parts. The first
describes the working processes of urban systems and the central role that time plays in the many
system feedback processes generic to their organisation. The second examines the way that time is
represented in Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA). The paper shows that how time actually manifests itself
in urban systems is different to the logic used to represent it in evaluation methods. Consequently,
real outcomes from many transport projects - particularly urban motorway developments - fall
short of the aims stated at the outset.
