Over the past 20 years, improvements in public transport, planning and telecommunications systems have helped to significantly reduce people's preference for travel by car. A look at three Swiss cities: Geneva, Lausanne and Bern.

Despite being 3,000 kilometres apart, a French intellectual and a representative of the Tallinn European Union Office come together to discuss a question which both believe to be crucial for the future: the need for free public transport.

What transportation policy to develop in a sprawling, segregated city like Los Angeles? What place to give the car? Is it better to favor the subway network or the bus network? And why – economic reasons (competitiveness, employment, etc.), environmental reasons (reducing pollution and fossil resources consumption) and/or social reasons (the fight against social and racial inequality)?

Is there a place for public or shared transportation in a rural environment? How can the needs of an isolated person or with reduced mobility be met? How should the ecological issues be dealt with? Here are the responses of an engineer who specialises in such questions, and a local elected representative who has played a significant role in developing the Pilat Regional Park in France.