Future 2050 – Breaking the mould of current thinking

Announcing a new high level summer transport discussion Tuesday, 10th of June 2025 Regent’s College, London NW1 Discussion 10.30-6pm Evening Reception 6-9.30pm

At the beginning of the year LTT launched a ‘Deep Thinking’ initiative, aimed at encouraging an open discussion around a vision for the future of transport in our changing society. We have had a series of excellent and diverse contributions and LTT is now delighted to announce that a partnership has been established for SYSTRA to support the creation of a new style summer event. This will put ‘what if/why not’ thinking centre stage for discussion, and explore the content of a realistic, feasible and sustainable multi-element 25-year vision for transport planning and provision that fits where we are heading through to 2050 and beyond.

Duncan Irons, Market Director at SYSTRA, said: “We are excited that this event could provide the first steps in the delivery of a transport planning revolution for the UK. Our aspiration is that it will provide the basis for a new innovative and imaginative transport vision for the UK, which can respond to existing and future challenges to create a sustainable and equitable future for generations to come.”.

Peter Stonham, LTT/Landor director, added: “Now is the moment for new ideas, greater insight and imagination and more open discussion about possibilities and necessary responses to challenges that must be recognised and addressed before it is too late. We are really looking forward to creating the right environment for that conversation with the support of SYSTRA.”

Background to the event

Not surprisingly, new governments look to set new policy directions and achieve different outcomes from their predecessors. But do they think radically and imaginatively enough about the deep- seated problems they seek to tackle, and do they embrace the broadest possible ideas and opportunities available to address them? Indeed, does the transport profession itself do that necessary difficult and imaginative thinking?

Transport was near the top of the ‘to do’ list when the last Labour Government came to power nearly 30 years ago and John Prescott unveiled his 10-year National Transport Plan just after the millennium. It was ambitious, but in the end did not seem to move things on that much.

That Prescott 2000 Transport Plan identified several key targets and aspirations, and with some notable exceptions for specific areas of the country, many of these have failed to fully materialise:

• To reduce congestion – road miles travelled has increased by around 14%.

• To improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions – progress made but mainly due to vehicle technology enhancements rather than UK transport policies.

• Top increase rail use - target achieved with a 67% increase to 2023 rather than 2010.

• Increase bus usage - `around 9% reduction in passengers since the millennium.

• Tripling of cycle use – around 15% increase in cycling trips from 2006 to 2023.

The report card on the achievements of our approach to transport over the last 25 years surely should read “could do much better”. The world has changed significantly since then, and radical change is arguably even more urgent now.

The climate emergency has reached a critical point and is now culminating in regular extreme weather events in the UK and throughout the world; the economic and social structure, cultural and behavioural values and expectations are different; the technology revolution is influencing our day-to-day lives in ways that many of us do not comprehend; and there is so much data relating to our daily lives that we are struggling to focus on what really matters in terms of messages about appropriate policy responses.

The pandemic meanwhile accelerated trends in working from home and home deliveries and has changed the transport and travel landscape in the UK - although some of these impacts have eroded over time.

Some of us believe that Transport Planning has gone through a more reactive Darwin style adjustment and gentle evolution, rather than reflecting the revolution the wider world has been witnessing.

There is now a new window of opportunity for change – if we are prepared to grasp it and apply our insight and understanding to smarter solutions to both familiar and emergent challenges in the creative space between the supply and demand for transport – and the alternatives to traditional thinking about the place of mobility and connectivity in our changing world.

It may or may not have been Einstein who said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” however, this may persuasively apply to the UK’s transport planning approach. So maybe we need to at least start to do some things rather differently to respond to the challenges we can both perceive now and envisage facing over the next 25 years.

To find out more about the event, visit

https://bit.ly/448UUsR

If you would like to be involved as a contributor or partner, contact Jason Conboy at jason@landor.co.uk or call 020 7091 7895