About the Author

Peter Newman is a renowned Australian academic and planner who invented the term ‘automobile dependence’ to describe how we have created cities where we have to drive everywhere. For 30 years since he attended Stanford University during the first oil crisis, he has been warning cities about preparing for peak oil. Peter’s book with Jeff Kenworthy, Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence was launched in the White House in 1999.

 

Newman is the Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia, where he is best known for his work in reviving and extending the city’s rail system. From 2001-2003, Newman directed the production of WA’s Sustainability Strategy in the Department of the Premier and Cabinet. It was the first state sustainability strategy in the world. From 2004-2005, he was a Sustainability Commissioner in Sydney, advising the government on planning issues. From 2006-2007, he was a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the University of Virginia Charlottesville and he returned there in early 2008 as Harry Porter Visiting Professor. His new book with Tim Betaley and Heather Boyer in late 2008 will be Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change.