The latest edition of Policy futures for urban transport emphasises how a new deal on funding and powers is essential to keep the UK's cities moving forward.

The report sets out the 10 key policy changes that are needed to make cities healthier, fairer and more prosperous.

Over the last decade promoting active travel has moved from the fringes of urban transport policy to a much more central role in the planning of cities and their transport networks. This is because the promotion of active travel, and the creation of places and streetscapes where people want to walk and cycle, is such a good fit with where cities that are going places want to be.

Significant rail expansion is the 'only viable option' to help UK cities achieve their ambitions on economic growth and meeting housing demand, whilst also creating attractive urban centres with less road traffic and better air quality.

Our report, White van cities: Questions, challenges and options on the growth of urban van traffic, shows how van traffic is the fastest growing sector of road traffic with growth forecast to continue.

However, the evidence on what is driving growth in van traffic is limited and under researched.

Our report, Banks, bytes and bikes: The transport priorities of the new economy, highlights how transport needs in urban areas are changing amid the growth of the so-called “flat white economy”.

"A lot has changed in urban transport over the past year," writes Lilian Greenwood MP, and Chair of the Transport Select Committee, in the foreword to the Urban Transport Review 2017.

Regional rail services carry more than three times the numbers of passengers than the much higher profile long distance (Inter-City) services. As the UK’s city regions increasingly develop their service sector economies and concentrate employment in city centres, rail enables large numbers of people to be moved efficiently and effectively into these ever more congested places.

Policy futures for urban transport sets out how, with more focused governance in place, the city regions are delivering major investment programmes including on public transport, highways and active travel, and smart ticketing. The report says that - with the right national policy framework - further and faster progress can be made, including:

‘The Scandinavian Way to Better Public Transport’ shows how transport authorities in three Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Denmark and Norway) are using devolved powers to transform public transport for the better - and sets out the lessons that the UK could learn.

Our ‘Rail Devolution Works’ report argues that further rail devolution will enable other regions and areas to also radically transform rail services in a way that supports economic growth at the same time as improving the journey experience for passengers.

In our vision for smart futures for urban transport we set out the implications of rapid transformative technological change for urban transport, the key principles we have adopted in response and the actions we will take to maximise the benefits and minimise the downsides for both individual travellers and for the future of our cities.