Yesterday, 6th March 2025, CIHT’s Policy and Technical Team delivered a session at  Futurebuild in London on “Moving towards a fairer transport system”.  

The event brought together industry professionals from the built environment to explore the latest innovations, tackle key challenges, and make an impact on placemaking.  

CIHT’s session, which took place at the Placemaking Impact Stage, focused on one of the three strategic aims of the Institution, ensuring Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. 

Justin Ward, Head of Policy and Technical Practice, opened the session by emphasising that transport should offer greater choice, safety, and accessibility for all, without exclusion or harm 

Antoneta Horbury, Director of Policy and Technical Affairs then summarised the key points from the CIHT 2024 report, Creating a Public Realm for All. 

Key recommendations from the report include: 

Co-creation over consultation – Engaging people with lived experiences to better understand how infrastructure impacts them throughout the whole lifecycle of a scheme from the initial idea to monitoring its operation when built. 

Inclusive design principles – Ensuring public spaces remove barriers that cause undue effort or exclusion. 

Recommending Government-funded disability awareness training for local authority personnel involved in designing or changing the public realm. 

Sara Zuin, Senior Policy Advisor at CIHT, then introduced the Policy Brief on Ensuring a Just Transition to Net Zero Transport. The brief outlines the need to fairly distribute both the benefits and costs of decarbonisation, ensuring that vulnerable groups are not disproportionately affected as the UK moves towards a low-carbon transport system. 

Key points from the brief include: 

Addressing social justice in decarbonisation – Rapid changes required for Net Zero by 2050 risk overlooking fairness in implementation. 

Recognising different starting points – Policies must consider economic, physical, and psychological barriers that impact individuals’ ability to reduce emissions. 

Balanced policy approach – Encouraging low-emission transport choices through incentives while avoiding penalties that unfairly impact those with limited options. 

Preventing negative externalities – Ensuring that benefits for one group do not inadvertently create disadvantages for another. 

With the urgency of achieving Net Zero, CIHT calls for policies that integrate social equity into transport decarbonisation efforts, ensuring fair and inclusive mobility for all. 

If you are interested in knowing more or getting involved in future work of the CIHT’s Policy and Technical Team, please email technical@ciht.org.uk 

Sara Zuin, Senior Policy Advisor, and Antoneta Horbury, Director of Policy and Technical Affairs at Futurebuild