Urban sprawl has continued to spread in the Nordic countries over the past few decades, increasing the amount of transportation and transport-related greenhouse gas emissions. Urban planners need to take measures to reduce these ecological effects. Accessible, functional public transportation and high-quality cycling and walking networks will help reduce greenhouse gases, improve air quality and traffic safety, and create a more livable urban environment. We can further control the development of urban form and transportation systems through urban design, certain types of taxation, financing of urban infrastructure, traffic pricing, and parking policies. Planning alone cannot stop the urban sprawl. When considering and assessing different measures on a national level, we need to seriously consider legislative and fiscal issues, citizen participation, and other background forces. We need cooperation between researchers, politicians, civil servants, and citizens to better understand the economic, social, and environmental long-term effects of decisions concerning urban development, and we need a continuing discussion of urban-form problems in the Nordic countries to develop national solutions. This publication explores these issues.

Based on a comprehensive study review by leading urban planning researchers, this investigative document demonstrates how urban development is both a key contributor to climate change and an essential factor in combating it -- by reducing vehicle greenhouse gas emissions.

"Reviews the relationship between urban planning and GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions as a key component of climate change, provides characteristics of GHG decision support tools, and evaluates the strengths and limitations of a cross section of existing tools using those characteristics." - page ii.

"Both the public and private sectors are grappling with decisions regarding policies that will lead to reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Moving Cooler analyzes and assesses the effectiveness and costs of almost 50 transportation strategies for reducing GHG emissions, as well as evaluates combinations of those strategies. The findings of this study can help decision makers coordinate and shape effective approaches to reducing GHG emissions at all levels - national, regional, and local - while also meeting broader transportation objectives." --Book Jacket.

The report presents an in-depth analysis of various policies that aim to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of urban transport. Decarbonising transport lies at the core of efforts to mitigate climate change and has close links to urban sustainability and housing affordability. The report identifies the drivers of rising emissions in the urban transport sector and offers pathways to reduce them through a combination of transport and land use policies.