Cars have been the dominant force of the urban transport landscape for decades and only now are city planning departments beginning to comprehend the wholly inefficient systems in place. The prioritisation of cars over other transport options has led to an automobile ascendency which is simply incongruous to the needs of an efficient and functional 21st century city. This article topic was inspired by a piece on ‘medium.com’ by urban mobility expert Mikael Colville–Andersen called ‘The arrogance of space’. The article offers a scathing assessment of the urban mess created by years of car-centric planning, provoking a reaction from myself as to how both city planners and us, the transport-consuming public, can reverse these problems.
Urban planners have prioritised the automobile for the best part of just under a century – making driving a car the most convenient mode of transport to use in a city. The blatant disregard for pedestrians or cyclists in the planning stages is obvious in the vast majority of major cities which are strewn with wide arterial roads and unnecessarily large junctions. In the US the standard for most state controlled roads is a 12-foot wide lane system – something that is not only pointless but also unsafe. These wide lane streets that cut through the heart of many US cities and towns have a number of problems including pedestrian safety and car incident data. The wider a road is, the further a pedestrian has to walk to cross it and with the short time constraints provided at traffic crossings in order to keep the traffic flowing, pedestrians are often forced to cross in a rushed manner caused only by the arrogance of automobile planning that prioritises cars.
Moreover, most drivers respond to their environment, i.e. a driver is sensitive to the objects around them and thus will adjust their speed accordingly. With a wider gap between vehicles, drivers feel more comfortable advancing to higher speeds and letting their focus slip – serene in the assurance no car is near enough to them to cause an incident. This dangerous increase in speed can be fatal, demonstrated by a an ROSPA study which states pedestrians in the UK are 4.5 times more likely to suffer a fatality from a car travelling between 30-40 mph than a car travelling below 30 mph. 12-feet roads are too problematic to be considered as definitively safe, efficient travel routes. In the image below of Sioux City, Iowa, the lanes are far wider than urban streets would ever need to be. By reducing lane widths and the inflated importance attributed to automobiles, the road architecture requires a greater level of focus from drivers in combination with a degree of respect to other modes of travel.
Compared with other modes of transport, in the context of a simply urban day to day environment, cars are inferior. Not only do they release chemical pollutants as a by-product from combustion (electric cars may not, but as of 2016 they only make up 0.2% of the total cars on the road) but cars require lots of storage space such as multi-storey car parks as well as having high running costs. However, the current urban system driving is facilitated by extensive road networks that allow people more easily to get to their destination. This is highlighted in Colville-Andersen’s concept, AB-ism, in which he described how humans are very good at navigating and finding the quickest routes; much like a river. As such, cars provide humans with a way of reaching places faster, and thus the most logical way to combat this automobile dependence is to invert it by making driving the most inefficient and time-consuming mode of transport. Depicted in Colville-Andersen’s infographic below, the mindset of planners and urban societies in general has to change and be reframed. This solution is the most pragmatic way of dealing with our reliance on cars – Eco-friendly advertising and campaigns look good but don’t combat the heart of the issue – the inherent laziness of humans.
A city that had adopted planning styles to make driving as undesirable as possible is Freiburg, Germany. In 1973, the city centre became completely pedestrianised and main routes were diverted away to reduce automobile access to much of the scenic city centre. Cobblestone roads in certain areas as well as 30 kmph speed limits in residential areas deter drivers from excessive speeds – improving pedestrian safety and re-prioritising human lives as more important that journey times. There is no free, uncontrolled parking in the city centre and out of town parking spaces can be as much as €17,000 – making owning a car a financial strain. A focus on public transport and bicycle routes has allowed for a more balanced, democratic network in the city as Freiburg aims to convert its citizens. Over 400km of cycle lanes and 9000 bike parking spaces make it very clear that cycling around the city is a quick and easy form of navigation. In the chart below it is clear to see the urban transport split of Freiburg is a lot more levelled with no reliance or civic preference to one form of travel.
Reading about the democratic transport focus of cities such as Freiburg and Copenhagen with their extensive cycle focus and pedestrianised areas has shown me there are a plethora of planning policy options available. Closer to home, cities in the UK such as London have an outdated urban transportation network which are well overdue a redesign. Ranked top in Europe for traffic congestion in 2015, London’s growing population and economy is choking the overcrowded roads that attempt to move people through the city. Thankfully, change seems to be on the horizon with Transport for London (TfL) announcing 450km of new cycleways by 2024 but there still needs to be a refocus on the types of vehicles using certain spaces. A big problem facing London is the recent rise in delivery vehicles and private-hire cabs that congest the narrow city roads. The solution here is a change of mindset and while completely outlawing automobile access for the city centre would be a radical option, it would drastically reduce congestion and improve public safety. Other solutions could appear in the form of subterranean bypasses like the ‘Förbifart Stockholm’ being built in the Swedish capital.
Regardless, there needs to be a change in the way urban planners and city boards allocate transportation space. The dominating age of the automobile has to end to make way for a holistic transport network that operates in a coherently interactive manner to best suit the city’s needs. The architecture of our 21st century urban spaces has to be responsive and congruent with the needs of all its users.
[1] https://ecomobility.org/wpdm-package/iclei-cs-210-freiburg-ecomobility-alliance-pdf/?wpdmdl=64851
A cogent argument for weening ourselves off cars and achieving a more balanced approach to getting around. As Vonnegut put it, “Dear future generations: Please accept our apologies. We were rolling drunk on petroleum.”