blog: What's in a name...?
Tuesday 8th September 2020
“What’s in a name?” mused Juliet Capulet in defence of her new man Romeo Montague… Well, quite a lot actually according to ITP’s Influencing Behaviour Team.
Do you remember back in 2004, the iconic Department for Transport's Research Report 'Smarter Choices: Changing the We Travel' was published. Finally, we thought, a snappy way of referring to sustainable transport measures, that also happened to highlight the cleverness, the smartness, of both the actions and the users.
It seemed like sustainable travel had developed a positive identity; a definitive concept upon which to build. Smarter Choices proved popular over the following decade and carved an important path into national, regional and local transport policy.
As time marched on, it turned out other things could be termed ‘smart’ too, like phones, tv’s, watches and motorways. As the technology industry resolutely adopted the term ‘smart’, so began the dilution of the term ‘smarter’ as we recognised it.
The recent public health pandemic, increasing climate change emergencies and the need to tackle congestion in urban areas has prompted a change in Government thinking, with a re-focus on active and sustainable transport. If you were ever looking for a sign that signalled 'behaviour change' the Government's 'Gear Change: A Bold Vision for Cycling and Walking', was it!
This fundamental shift in vision compelled our team to reflect on our role within the industry, the services we offer, how our work is perceived, how we are perceived and identify exactly what is at the heart of every project that we undertake.
Our common objective is to influence people’s travel behaviour and we feel the time is right to be bold about that objective, be clear about what we are looking to achieve with our clients and continue to deliver our project work in earnest, contributing to our company vision of improving the way the world moves.
We want to work with communities, businesses, educational facilities and individuals to inform, encourage, reinforce and measure behaviour change and the positive outcomes it can deliver. Our Influencing Behaviour Team offers client services in the four key areas below...
Please take a look at our information and experience pages and get in touch with our team leader Jim Bradley (bradley@itpworld.net) to discuss your aspirations and ideas. We’d love to help you achieve your goals.