建筑学-城市规划 专业英语 翻译 英汉 15.docVIP

学 院 建筑学院 班 级 城市规划2011-1 姓 名 学 号 课程名称 专业外语2 学 期 2013-2014第二学期 成 绩 Reading Material A Reduce the Need to Travel through Planning Travel is traditionally viewed as a derived demand, with the co.sts of travel being outweighed by the benefits deriving from the activity undertaken at the destination (for example,shopping or work). This would suggest that travel d.istances should be as short as possible, but this has not been the case and travel distances have been increasing. Reducing the need to travel is important for economic reasons as travel is not a productive activity, but a cost directly incurred by the traveller or indirectly incurred by the consumer through high prices. As transport is a major user of energy and producer of pollution, there are strong environmental reasons to reduce the amount of travel, particularly by motorised forms of transport. Not everyone has equal access to the car and so there are social reasons why trip lengths should be kept short, as this makes it easier for the majority without their own car to get to the widest possible range of opportunities. In addition , transport produces a range of negative externalities (including accidents , land consumption , noise , visual intrusion and communitv severance)which would all be reduced if there was less travel. For all of these reasons , it does seem essential that the need for travel should be reduced. There is now a general realization by most commentators, but perhaps not yet by the general public, that it is no longer possible or desirable to meet expected levels of road traffic demand by further road construction. There is currently a healthy debate within the transport Iiterature about looking at ways to reduce the need to travel. Two basic arguments foim the focus of attention. On the one hand, there are the economists who say that the price of travel is t