WRI ROSS CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE CITIES JOINS GPIT AS STRATEGIC PARTNER
February 28, 2021 — Press
The Global Partnership for Informal Transportation (GPIT) welcomes its latest strategic partner, WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities.
WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities is the World Resources Institute’s program dedicated to shaping a future where cities work better for everyone. The Center’s global research and on-the-ground experience in Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Mexico, Turkey and the United States combine to spur action that improves life for millions of people.
WRI Ross Center has worked on integrated transport in cities for two decades, recently releasing a landmark report, Informal and Semiformal Services in Latin America: An Overview of Public Transportation Reforms. The report, funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (Banco Interamericano de Desarollo), found that investing in and integrating informal transport services will improve access to opportunity for millions of people.
GPIT works hand-in-hand with informal urban transportation systems of the Global South to advance innovation, improve services, and change business models. GPIT is a project of NewCities, initiated by Agile City Partners, and supported by CoMotion Inc.
Informal transportation—ojeks, tuktuks, jeepneys, matatus, colectivos, etc.—dominate the urban mobility systems of the rapidly growing metropolitan regions of the Global South. These regionwide, privately provided transport modes emerge to meet the demand for cheap, flexible mobility. They move billions, employ millions, and support the sizable informal sector in urban economies.
Despite this near ubiquity, informal transportation is often seen as a local problem. The sector suffers from haphazard, discriminatory policies and regulations and is often despised in urban and transportation planning. Even transportation experts tend to favor strategies oriented toward eliminating and replacing these services. Ignoring the potential of these services negatively impacts millions of users, many of them from the most vulnerable groups in society.
GPIT and WRI Ross Center want to change this narrative and bring long overdue visibility to the important role informal transportation plays. The two organizations believe informal urban transit systems are engines for connecting people with opportunity and creating more sustainable and inclusive cities.
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About NewCities
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About CoMotion
CoMotion is a global platform where leaders of the most innovative transportation and technology companies around the world meet with urban policymakers to share ideas, do business and plan the new mobility future. CoMotion organizes exclusive world-class events such as CoMotion LIVE, CoMotion LA and CoMotion MIAMI, and is the new mobility industry’s premiere source for news, insights, and analysis.
About Agile City Partners
Agile City Partners is a boutique global urban consulting company. ACP’s singular goal is to bring the agile mindset to the cities it serves. We face planetary challenges and global disruptions, so our cities need to learn quickly, to respond, to move fast. ACP believes agility helps cities to be truly inclusive, to fight climate change, and to be resilient.