23rd August 2014

The ITC was delighted to welcome more than 100 supporters and eminent figures from across the transport and land use sectors for its 2014 Annual Lecture. Videos of three of the thought-provoking speeches given at this year’s lecture are now available online (see below).

The topic for the 2014 Lecture was based on one of the most important questions for policy making – what are the fundamental motivations that drive human travel? Often it is assumed that travel is merely a question of getting from A to B; a by-product of the desire to reach a particular destination. Yet research from a wide range of fields of human knowledge, from evolutionary biology, to neuroscience, psychology and anthropology, are indicating that movement is also a purpose in itself, with impacts on our well-being, our thought processes and the value we place on our time. A deeper understanding of these issues should help us develop policy that better serves human needs. The ITC’s Why Travel? project aims to explore these motivations and bring them into public and political debate www.whytravel.org.

In his address, Alan Baxter CBE, Founder of Alan Baxter and Associates and a Trustee of the ITC, explains why an understanding of why we travel is important for policy formation. Alan argues that movement is as important a human function as eating or sleeping, and that it deserves a similar depth of study.

Professor Charles Pasternak, Founder and President of the Oxford International Biomedical Centre, explains how the evolution of bipedalism, the precision grip and the larynx have enabled humans to develop a curiosity which has driven much of human travel throughout the ages.

Stephen Bayley, the renowed author, broadcaster, and founder of the Design Museum, suggests that motivations to travel are led by desire and a sense of freedom but that as the experience of modern travel loses its enchantment, he predicts a decline in the popularity of travel.