This paper examines critically the current understanding of the concept of `sustainable' transport and concludes that it is not adequate for use in Africa because it is weakly related to `sustainable' development. The concept is used to represent systems which will minimize resources consumption rather than those which will meet the needs with a given amount of resources. In addition, it does not adequately relate to local engineering activities. It is proposed that what is needed are `sustainably' developed transport systems, namely systems which maximize people's accessibility and mobility without exceeding the environmental, financial and social capacities. The problem of creating a `sustainably' developed system is defined as a programming problem which most engineers can relate to. Finally, the challenges faced by local engineers in order to create such systems are defined. (A) The French title of the paper is: "Transport urbain durable : problèmes actuels et défis futurs pour les ingénieurs d'Afrique".
Samenvatting