GM China Group will publish a report detailing a vision for future transportation following the conclusion of its six Sustainable Urban Mobility Forums being held in conjunction with World Expo 2010 Shanghai.
GM China President and Managing Director Kevin Wade says the study, to be called “Roadmap to 2030 Blue Paper,” will be the first of its kind published in China focusing on the future of urban mobility.
Speaking at the first of the GM China forums last week, Elizabeth Deakin, former director of the Transportation Research Center and now professor of city and regional planning at the University of California at Berkley, predicts by 2025, 60% of the world’s 8 billion people will live in cities.
“New ways of organizing and managing transportation and urban development will be needed to deliver a better quality of life,” she says.
Feng Fei, director general-industry and economy at the Development Research Center of China’s State Council, forecasts China will reach a 65% level of urbanization by 2030.
China spent RMB2 billion ($293 million) to support research on energy-efficient vehicles and on new vehicle-energy sources during the past two 5-year plan periods, Feng notes. He says the government will continue to support efforts to move away from a reliance on vehicles with internal-combustion engines.
