tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/car-culture-25177/articlescar culture – The Conversation2023-11-02T00:51:24Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2144762023-11-02T00:51:24Z2023-11-02T00:51:24ZOur children are victims of road violence. We need to talk about the deadly norms of car use<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556030/original/file-20231026-21-v3jamv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=298%2C0%2C3236%2C2160&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/female-kid-running-front-driving-car-1537350902">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The deaths and injuries caused by car drivers are an everyday occurrence. This road violence has become normalised. We take it for granted as the price we have to pay to use our cars. </p>
<p>Globally, car crashes are the world’s <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/road-traffic-injuries">leading cause of death</a> for people aged five to 25. In Australia, road deaths included <a href="https://www.bitre.gov.au/statistics/safety/fatal_road_crash_database">293 people in this age group</a> in 2022, a rise from 281 in 2019 and 276 in 2018. </p>
<p>These deaths are stark reminders of the structural problem with a deeply entrenched, car-dominated culture. The huge numbers of deaths and injuries on our roads are a result of choosing to build our society around cars. This degree of harm does not seem to draw the same level of outrage as any other form of violence would. </p>
<p>As we argue in a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14733285.2023.2270444">newly published paper</a>, these tragedies will continue unless we recognise the consequences of our ongoing misguided choices. We must act with the urgency this situation deserves.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/despite-lockdowns-1-142-australians-including-66-kids-died-on-our-roads-in-the-past-year-heres-what-we-need-to-do-170021">Despite lockdowns, 1,142 Australians, including 66 kids, died on our roads in the past year. Here's what we need to do</a>
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<h2>Lives lost and lives blighted</h2>
<p>These figures represent real people and real lives. </p>
<p>In March 2023, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-22/teenagers-hit-by-truck-on-kensington-road-at-marryatville/102128556">a truck hit two 16-year-olds</a> who were crossing at pedestrian lights in front of their inner-city Adelaide school. Both were rushed to hospital with serious injuries.</p>
<p>Three months later, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-22/sa-woman-in-serious-condition-after-being-hit-by-car-in-adelaide/102512202">a four-wheel-drive hit a 38-year-old woman and her six-year-old daughter</a> who were crossing the street next to their school in the Adelaide CBD. The woman was pinned under the car. The six-year-old was also dragged under the car and pulled out by another parent.</p>
<p>In September 2023, <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/boy-8-critically-injured-after-car-hits-children-playing-in-melbourne-s-west-20230825-p5dzha.html">a car hit an eight-year-old boy</a> who was playing soccer with his three-year-old brother in a suburban Melbourne laneway. He was trapped between two vehicles for about 20 minutes. He had life-threatening injuries.</p>
<h2>Not some isolated accidents</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262516129/fighting-traffic/">underlying causes</a> of car crashes and their link to planning and transport policies continue to be ignored. </p>
<p>These policies have promoted <a href="https://theconversation.com/were-still-fighting-city-freeways-after-half-a-century-127722">car-based infrastructure</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-sprawl-is-not-a-dirty-word-if-the-priority-is-to-meet-all-kids-needs-it-should-be-208670">urban sprawl</a>. Public transport and active transport such as walking and cycling have <a href="https://theconversation.com/cycling-and-walking-are-short-changed-when-it-comes-to-transport-funding-in-australia-92574">been neglected</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-sprawl-is-not-a-dirty-word-if-the-priority-is-to-meet-all-kids-needs-it-should-be-208670">Urban sprawl is 'not a dirty word'? If the priority is to meet all kids' needs, it should be</a>
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<p>Children are the victims of our obsession with allowing heavy, fast-moving vehicles in our everyday spaces, including around schools. </p>
<p>The freedom of car drivers comes at the expense of the freedom of all others. At the same time, the environment and society bear most of the costs of this car culture. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/japans-old-enough-and-australias-bluey-remind-us-our-kids-are-no-longer-free-range-but-we-can-remake-our-neighbourhoods-187698">Japan's Old Enough and Australia's Bluey remind us our kids are no longer ‘free range’ – but we can remake our neighbourhoods</a>
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<h2>A form of victim-blaming</h2>
<p>In the Adelaide inner-city crash in March, responses included pruning a tree, so it didn’t obscure a traffic light, and <a href="https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/new-safety-measures-will-be-installed-at-pedestrian-crossing-outside-marryatville-high-school/news-story/2bd9d8cb0527b43c7892fe721910d5bb">auditing pedestrian crossings</a>. Red-and-white-striped wrapping was added to the traffic light poles, along with signs telling pedestrians to “stop, look and listen” before stepping on a street. </p>
<p>These inconsequential modifications mostly target the potential victims, which highlights our <a href="https://darajapress.com/publication/dark-pr-how-corporate-disinformation-harms-our-health-and-the-environment">state of denial</a> of the role of cars. It reinforces the privileged position of cars and their drivers –children are the ones who need to be disciplined and reminded to be more alert and careful around cars. </p>
<p>It’s essentially a form of <a href="https://darajapress.com/publication/dark-pr-how-corporate-disinformation-harms-our-health-and-the-environment">victim blaming</a>. Instead of reducing the source of violence, we tell everybody to be more careful around it.</p>
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<img alt="Child on road flings out arms as car approaches – as seen through the windscreen" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556039/original/file-20231026-23-vcv9le.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556039/original/file-20231026-23-vcv9le.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556039/original/file-20231026-23-vcv9le.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556039/original/file-20231026-23-vcv9le.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556039/original/file-20231026-23-vcv9le.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556039/original/file-20231026-23-vcv9le.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556039/original/file-20231026-23-vcv9le.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In focusing our response to road trauma on telling children to be more careful, we are essentially victim-blaming.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/on-windshield-view-motion-image-children-444608659">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Normalisation of crashes must stop</h2>
<p>Neglecting the root causes of these crashes stops us taking more effective action.</p>
<p>We could, for instance, reduce the space allocated to cars by creating car-free or no-parking zones. We could reduce the speed limits for cars to be closer to the average speeds of walking (6 kilometres per hour — the accepted speed in most holiday parks) or cycling (15-20km/h). And we could create disincentives such as higher <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-26/a-new-way-to-curb-the-rise-of-oversized-pickups-and-suvs">registration</a> and <a href="https://www.drive.com.au/news/suv-drivers-in-paris-higher-parking-fees/">parking fees</a> to discourage the use of increasingly large vehicles, which multiply the collision risks for those outside them.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/busted-5-myths-about-30km-h-speed-limits-in-australia-160547">Busted: 5 myths about 30km/h speed limits in Australia</a>
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<p>Car crashes are also normalised through the <a href="https://scribepublications.com.au/books-authors/books/movement-9781922310798">way in which they are brought to public attention</a>. We stop hearing about these crashes a few days after they occur, and we rarely hear about their <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198220300208">long-term and far-reaching effects</a>. </p>
<p>In the crash involving a woman and her six-year-old, the girl was reported to be lucky to avoid severe injuries. Similarly, it was reported the younger brother of the boy trapped between two cars escaped serious injury. </p>
<p>These reports do not capture the trauma of a six-year-old who heard her mother’s screams while both were forced under a moving two-tonne metal object. They overlook the impact on a three-year-old who sees his brother’s body being crushed between two cars. </p>
<p>These reports also rarely capture the trauma other family members and friends endure, probably for the rest of their lives. And don’t forget the severe impacts on the lives of the driver, first responders and bystanders. </p>
<p>The rippling impacts of these crashes remain largely hidden from the public. As does their systemic nature.</p>
<h2>To end this violence we must rethink our priorities</h2>
<p>We should refuse to accept that vehicles hitting children are “<a href="https://www.roadpeace.org/get-involved/crash-not-accident/">accidents</a>” or unavoidable outcomes of our essential lifestyles. </p>
<p>We can choose to reclaim the status we give to cars in our everyday spaces. The price we pay, both social and environmental, is too high to sustain. We have plenty of better and safer travel choices, such as active and public transport.</p>
<p>We need to recognise that the car threatens children’s safety and their right to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17450101.2023.2200146">independently roam public spaces</a>. This directly threatens their <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780128146941/transport-and-childrens-wellbeing">long-term health and wellbeing</a>. </p>
<p>Car drivers’ rights are not more important than children’s rights to be safe on our streets. The interests of those who oppose measures such as reduced car parking or lower speed limits should not be more important than our children’s wellbeing. No benefit of a pro-car policy can be greater than the benefit of children’s active presence in public spaces, where they have a right to be imperfect and distracted. </p>
<p>As a society, a public conversation about reassessing our priorities is well overdue. Only then can we challenge the unquestioned status of the car and our tendency to take the violence that it generates for granted.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214476/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marco te Brömmelstroet received funding from the Dutch organisation for academic research NWO and the European ERC. He is affiliated with the Urban Cycling Institute and works for the Lab of Thought. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hulya Gilbert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We accept the daily toll of road deaths and injuries as the price we pay to be able to drive everywhere, but it doesn’t have to be this way.Hulya Gilbert, Lecturer in Planning and Human Geography, La Trobe UniversityMarco te Brömmelstroet, Professor in Urban Mobility Futures, University of AmsterdamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2122602023-08-31T20:01:04Z2023-08-31T20:01:04ZFewer of us are cycling – here’s how we can reverse the decline<p>Rates of cycling are falling in Australia, a national <a href="https://www.cwanz.com.au/national-walking-and-cycling-participation-survey-2023/">report</a> released today shows. More people started riding bikes early in the pandemic, but that hasn’t lasted. The percentages of people who cycle are lower now than in 2011.</p>
<p>Less than one in six Australians report riding a bicycle weekly. Just over one in three have ridden in the past year. </p>
<p>During the time of pandemic restrictions, when there was less other traffic on the road, people perhaps felt safer to ride. Creating streets that are less busy, noisy and easier to ride on and cross safely encourages more people to cycle and walk.</p>
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<p>Most people want to walk and ride more. <a href="https://irp.cdn-website.com/541aa469/files/uploaded/What_Australia_Wants_Report_.pdf">Two-thirds</a> of people want more transport funding to go into walking, cycling and public transport. </p>
<p>Even if you’re not interested in riding a bike, you should be worried about this decline. Walking and cycling are part of the solution to several of the most pressing issues facing our cities.</p>
<h2>The decline isn’t surprising</h2>
<p>The decline in cycling probably shouldn’t surprise us. In the past 40 years, the percentage of children who walk or ride to school has dropped from <a href="https://www.transport.wa.gov.au/mediaFiles/active-transport/AT_P_Declining_Rate_walking_cycling_to_school_in_Perth.pdf">75% to 25%</a>. </p>
<p>Furthermore, cycling receives only about <a href="https://theconversation.com/cycling-and-walking-are-short-changed-when-it-comes-to-transport-funding-in-australia-92574">2%</a> of transport budgets. The United Nations Environment Program <a href="https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/17030/globalOutlookOnWalkingAndCycling.pdf">recommends 20%</a> of transport funding should go to “non-motorised transport”. </p>
<p>Most of our transport funding goes into building wider and longer roads, embedding car dependency. However, making it easier to drive leads to more driving and ultimately more congestion, an effect known as <a href="https://www.atap.gov.au/tools-techniques/travel-demand-modelling/3-model">induced demand</a>. The problem even featured in <a href="https://twitter.com/BrentToderian/status/1192568535009988608?s=20">an episode</a> of the TV show Utopia. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cycling-and-walking-can-help-drive-australias-recovery-but-not-with-less-than-2-of-transport-budgets-142176">Cycling and walking can help drive Australia's recovery – but not with less than 2% of transport budgets</a>
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<h2>Short trips by car – everyone loses</h2>
<p>Most car journeys in Australian cities are <a href="https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/vista/viz/VISTA-TripsDraft/Trips-methodoftravel">short</a>. Two-thirds of these trips could be done by bike in <a href="https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/map/perth-active-transport-improvements">15 minutes or less</a>. </p>
<p>So, for example, of the 4.2 million daily car trips in Perth, <a href="https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/map/perth-active-transport-improvements">2.8 million are less than 5km</a>. In Victoria, about <a href="https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/vista/viz/VISTA-TripsDraft/Trips-methodoftravel">half of all trips under 2km</a> are driven – that’s more than 2 million a day. </p>
<p>These short car trips – such as the school drop-off, the short drive to the shops or the local park – are bad for public health, emissions and climate change, road safety and congestion. Walking and cycling can help solve all these problems. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545706/original/file-20230831-26-jv0mnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Venn diagram showing intersection of cycling and walking with the problems of road safety, congestion, emissions and public health" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545706/original/file-20230831-26-jv0mnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545706/original/file-20230831-26-jv0mnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545706/original/file-20230831-26-jv0mnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545706/original/file-20230831-26-jv0mnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545706/original/file-20230831-26-jv0mnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545706/original/file-20230831-26-jv0mnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545706/original/file-20230831-26-jv0mnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">How cycling and walking intersect with the issues of road safety, congestion, emissions and public health.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author supplied (data from: 1. DCEEW, 2. AIHW, 3&4. Infrastructure Australia, 5. ISPAH).</span></span>
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<h2>Urban sprawl and car use have a high cost</h2>
<p>Urban sprawl makes it less appealing to walk and cycle to our destination, further entrenching car dependency. </p>
<p>Urban sprawl costs governments too. Last week, the New South Wales Productivity Commission <a href="https://www.productivity.nsw.gov.au/building-more-homes-where-infrastructure-costs-less">reported</a> building homes closer to the city centre, rather than in outer suburbs, can save up to A$75,000 in infrastructure costs. </p>
<p>The extra costs of building farther away include providing schools, roads, parks, water and wastewater infrastructure. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-sprawl-is-not-a-dirty-word-if-the-priority-is-to-meet-all-kids-needs-it-should-be-208670">Urban sprawl is 'not a dirty word'? If the priority is to meet all kids' needs, it should be</a>
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<h2>3 transport priorities</h2>
<p>For people to walk and cycle, we need to provide so-called <a href="https://www.healthystreets.com/">healthy streets</a>: not too noisy, easy to cross, with clean air and where people feel safe. </p>
<p>In 2022, the <a href="https://aspactivity.org/">Asia-Pacific Society for Physical Activity</a> and cycling advocacy group <a href="https://www.weride.org.au/who-we-are/">We Ride Australia</a> proposed <a href="https://aspactivity.org/three-transport-priorities/">three transport priorities</a> for Australia supported by a national alliance of 13 public health, transport, education and climate organisations.</p>
<p><strong>1. Safer default speed limits</strong></p>
<p>The current default speed limit of 50km/h in built-up areas is unsafe and leads to many deaths and injuries each year. </p>
<p>Default 30km/h speed limits in built-up areas are an immediate <a href="https://theconversation.com/busted-5-myths-about-30km-h-speed-limits-in-australia-160547">low-cost</a> way to increase road safety.</p>
<p>Other countries are showing it can be done. For example, this month <a href="https://www.gov.wales/seven-things-you-may-not-know-about-wales-new-20mph-default-speed-limit">Wales</a> is set to adopt a default speed limit of 20 miles an hour (32km/h). </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/busted-5-myths-about-30km-h-speed-limits-in-australia-160547">Busted: 5 myths about 30km/h speed limits in Australia</a>
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<p><strong>2. 1,500m school zones</strong></p>
<p>Most students live <a href="https://www.activehealthykids.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/australia-report-card-progress-report-2015.pdf">within 3km</a> of their school. That’s less than a 10-minute bike ride or a 30-minute walk. </p>
<p>However, to boost walking and cycling to school, parents need to feel it’s safe for their children to do so. The solution is to create safe walking and cycling routes with <a href="https://bubblecane.wordpress.com/2021/02/06/priority-crossings-what-are-they/">pedestrian priority crossings</a> within 500–1,500m of schools. Streets along these routes are easy to cross and not too busy or noisy.</p>
<p><strong>3. E-bike subsidies</strong></p>
<p>Cutting carbon emissions to limit climate change and air pollution requires us to reduce private car use. Focusing <a href="https://www.whichcar.com.au/news/electric-vehicle-incentives-australia">purchase incentives</a> solely on electric cars in Australia is slowing down the race to zero emissions. Indeed, research shows cycling is <a href="https://theconversation.com/cycling-is-ten-times-more-important-than-electric-cars-for-reaching-net-zero-cities-157163">ten times</a> more important than electric cars for achieving net-zero cities.</p>
<p>E-bikes assist the rider with pedalling, which makes them slightly faster than a regular bike. Typically e-bike users ride <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259019821930017X">greater distances</a> than regular push-bike users. </p>
<p>However, the upfront price of e-bikes is one of the main barriers to buying one.
Providing incentives for people to buy an e-bike would increase their uptake. Research shows a return on investment of <a href="https://www.weride.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/WeRide_e-Bike_Subsidy_Report_FINAL-lores.pdf">$2–$3</a> for every $1 spent on these incentives. </p>
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<h2>What else can we do?</h2>
<p>As well as the <a href="https://aspactivity.org/three-transport-priorities/">three transport priorities</a>, we can of course take many more actions that would help increase walking and cycling. These measures include: boosting <a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-sprawl-is-not-a-dirty-word-if-the-priority-is-to-meet-all-kids-needs-it-should-be-208670">housing density</a>, <a href="https://www.streetlevelaustralia.org/">beautifying</a> our neighbourhoods, programs to build people’s confidence and skills to walk and cycle, such as <a href="https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/talks-courses-workshops/cycling-courses">beginners bike tours</a>, and more frequent public transport. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/12-best-ways-to-get-cars-out-of-cities-ranked-by-new-research-180642">12 best ways to get cars out of cities – ranked by new research</a>
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<p>By prioritising walking and cycling for short trips, Australia can reduce the national combined cost of $67 billion a year of <a href="https://www.nrspp.org.au/resources/summary-report-cost-road-trauma-australia/#:%7E:text=the%20total%20cost%20of%20road%20trauma%20is%20estimated%20at%20%2422.2,by%20road%20injury%20was%20%24239%2C000">traffic injuries and deaths</a>, <a href="https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-08/Urban%20Transport%20Crowding%20and%20Congestion.pdf">traffic congestion</a>, <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=cce3914b-82a3-433b-97f6-be0642f692f6&subId=658630#:%7E:text=Air%20pollution%20is%20already%20a,to%20%2424%20billion%20per%20year">air pollution</a> and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31390112/">physical inactivity</a>. </p>
<p>Here are four actions you can take to help boost walking and cycling in your area:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>look for opportunities where you can walk, wheel or cycle short journeys</p></li>
<li><p>join a community-led coalition, such as <a href="https://www.betterstreets.org.au/">Better Streets</a></p></li>
<li><p>score your local neighbourhood for walkability using this <a href="https://walking.heartfoundation.org.au/uploads/pdf-files/Neighbourhood-walkability-checklist.pdf">tool</a></p></li>
<li><p>write to your local MP asking for the <a href="https://aspactivity.org/three-transport-priorities/">three transport priorities</a> to be adopted.</p></li>
</ol><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212260/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew 'Tepi' Mclaughlin receives research funding from the Australian Government's Medical Research Future Fund and The Government of Western Australia's Healthway. He also receives salary support through the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course. He is a member of the Asia-Pacific Society for Physical Activity and a member of the Active Transport Advisory Group of Westcycle. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter McCue receives an Australian Postgraduate Research Award to study a PhD. He is a member of the Executive Committee and Chair of the Advocacy Committee of the Asia-Pacific Society for Physical Activity.</span></em></p>Early in the pandemic, when there was much less traffic on the roads, people took to their bikes. But since then, fewer people are cycling, with rates now lower than in 2011.Matthew Mclaughlin, Adjunct Research Fellow, The University of Western AustraliaPeter McCue, PhD Candidate, School of Population Health, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2086702023-08-14T04:42:11Z2023-08-14T04:42:11ZUrban sprawl is ‘not a dirty word’? If the priority is to meet all kids’ needs, it should be<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541172/original/file-20230804-21-zq8mrd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C6000%2C3979&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Amid Australia’s housing crisis, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-housing-supply-shouldnt-be-the-only-policy-tool-politicians-cling-to-72586">land-supply slogans</a> are once again dominating discussions about the solutions. <a href="https://indaily.com.au/news/2023/03/22/minister-accuses-sa-councils-of-falling-behind-on-planning/">Governments</a> and <a href="https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/builders-accuse-construction-material-suppliers-of-hiking-costs-during-housing-crisis/news-story/808e6dea8e56d1527edd3dae82e7b6d8">private developers</a> often blame housing crises on lack of land for new housing. Their solution? Rezone farmland for housing on the suburban fringe. </p>
<p>Earlier this year, the South Australian government announced the state’s <a href="https://www.premier.sa.gov.au/media-releases/news-items/record-land-release-to-pave-the-way-for-more-accessible-and-affordable-homes">largest ever release of land for housing</a>. Some 23,700 houses are to be built on the fringe of Adelaide. SA Premier Peter Malinauskas has even <a href="https://indaily.com.au/news/2022/08/24/urban-sprawl-not-a-dirty-word-as-planning-review-kicks-off/">said</a> urban sprawl “is not a dirty word”. </p>
<p>Support for the creation of fringe suburbs, while still business as usual in Australia, reflects outdated views. [<a href="https://islandpress.org/books/urban-sprawl-and-public-health">Evidence</a>] of the need to halt urban sprawl is now overwhelming. The <a href="https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/malis-big-build-premier-targets-outersuburban-growth-with-24000-new-homes-in-four-major-land-releases/news-story/ea0524f37370536f74195227e1bd95a8#:%7E:text=Mali's%20big%20build%3A%20Premier%20targets,%E2%80%9Cnot%20a%20dirty%20word%E2%80%9D.">spruiking</a> of these greenfield developments as affordable and good for young families with children is at odds with their experiences of these developments.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nationals-housing-u-turn-promotes-urban-sprawl-cities-and-ratepayers-will-pick-up-the-bill-206762">National’s housing u-turn promotes urban sprawl – cities and ratepayers will pick up the bill</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1624519076000444416"}"></div></p>
<h2>What life is actually like on the suburban fringe</h2>
<p>Greenfield developments are often attractive to young families due to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/outer-suburbs-housing-cost-advantage-vanishes-when-you-add-in-transport-it-needs-to-be-part-of-the-affordability-debate-204807">perception of affordable housing</a> and promises of local schools, childcare, shops and public transport. However, these neighbourhoods rarely live up to such expectations. Instead, they often entrench disadvantage due to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/outer-suburbs-housing-cost-advantage-vanishes-when-you-add-in-transport-it-needs-to-be-part-of-the-affordability-debate-204807">neglect of transport costs</a> when assessing how affordable suburban housing is.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/outer-suburbs-housing-cost-advantage-vanishes-when-you-add-in-transport-it-needs-to-be-part-of-the-affordability-debate-204807">Outer suburbs' housing cost advantage vanishes when you add in transport – it needs to be part of the affordability debate</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Families in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/15/a-broken-dream-the-walkable-melbourne">Truganina</a> and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-09/tarneit-suburb-on-melbourne-fringe-feeling-growing-pains/11537562">Tarneit</a> in Melbourne’s west exemplify the daily struggles of outer suburban life. Nearly a decade after moving in, the promises of local schools and public transport had failed to materialise.</p>
<p>Likewise, in the outer suburbs of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-18/western-sydney-urban-sprawl-lesson-for-other-australian-cities/100072140">Western Sydney</a>, <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/boom-but-not-bus-the-transport-issues-facing-brisbane-s-fast-growing-multicultural-fringe-20220627-p5ax11.html">Brisbane</a> and <a href="https://indaily.com.au/news/2023/06/13/no-buses-no-cars-families-daily-struggle-to-access-sa-preschools/">Adelaide</a>, families with children struggle to get to the services they need without a car. In South Australia, the <a href="https://thrivebyfive.org.au/about/">Thrive by Five</a> alliance cites transport as the <a href="https://indaily.com.au/news/2023/06/13/no-buses-no-cars-families-daily-struggle-to-access-sa-preschools/">second-biggest barrier</a> (after attendance costs) to early learning. </p>
<p>These suburbs all provide stark reminders to governments of the problems associated with the suburban sprawl they have encouraged.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="fenced grassland in front of a new housing development" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541173/original/file-20230804-21-ijijtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541173/original/file-20230804-21-ijijtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541173/original/file-20230804-21-ijijtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541173/original/file-20230804-21-ijijtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541173/original/file-20230804-21-ijijtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541173/original/file-20230804-21-ijijtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541173/original/file-20230804-21-ijijtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Long after moving into their new houses, Tarneit residents are paying the price for the lack of promised services.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Suburban sprawl and car dependence go hand in hand</h2>
<p>The defining feature of suburban sprawl is car dependence. It’s linked with most of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/rapid-growth-is-widening-melbournes-social-and-economic-divide-117244">social and economic downsides</a> of sprawl. Continuing with such developments signals an acceptance of car dependence and the growing <a href="https://theconversation.com/nationals-housing-u-turn-promotes-urban-sprawl-cities-and-ratepayers-will-pick-up-the-bill-206762">social and economic burdens</a> it imposes on future generations.</p>
<p>Life on the fringe without a private car is particularly difficult for families with children due to their <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23800127.2022.2071060">complex travel patterns</a>. For example, trip chaining between children’s schools, extra-curricular activities and parents’ workplaces is common. </p>
<p>The harmful impacts of these car-centric suburbs disproportionally affect children. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/children-in-the-car-era-bad-for-them-and-the-planet-105377">Children in the car era: bad for them and the planet</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>To start with, road deaths are the <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/road-traffic-injuries">leading cause of death</a> for children and young adults globally. It’s easily one of the most underestimated issues in our world. </p>
<p>Concerns for children’s safety in car-dominated neighbourhoods and other accessibility issues make the private car “a must use tool” in outer suburbs. We know the rest: the vicious cycle of car dependence and more and more driving. </p>
<p>So suburban sprawl leads to more high-speed roads, longer distances between centres of daily activity and more time in cars. All these factors <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.93.9.1541">increase the risk</a> of road deaths and injuries. </p>
<p>Car-dependent neighbourhoods <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780128146941/transport-and-childrens-wellbeing">deprive children of opportunities</a> essential for their health and wellbeing. They miss out on physical activity, unstructured play, social interaction and developing social networks. In addition, traffic <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/02/traffic-noise-slows-childrens-memory-development-study-finds">noise</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/12/children-risk-air-pollution-cars-former-uk-chief-scientist-warns">air pollution</a> expose them to a wide range of environmental and health problems. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1557187225355427841"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/were-still-fighting-city-freeways-after-half-a-century-127722">We're still fighting city freeways after half a century</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Having a backyard doesn’t meet all children’s needs</h2>
<p>What does a truly child-friendly neighbourhood look like? It allows for safe and convenient active travel – walking, cycling and “<a href="https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/active-travel-strategies-guidance-for-completion/active-travel-is-walking-wheeling-and-cycling/">wheeling</a>” (using mobility devices) – as well as public transport, to conduct daily activities. Child-friendliness is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0966692318302795">embedded in the everyday places</a>, in streets, parks, square and public transport. </p>
<p>But all too often children’s play opportunities are reduced to the tiny backyards that are now common in fringe suburbs. These suburban restrictions are at odds with globally recognised <a href="https://www.childfriendlycities.org/building-child-friendly-city">principles of child-friendliness</a>. Backyards alone cannot make up for the lack of access to child care, schools, shops, recreation and health services. </p>
<p>How can we develop better planning policies to create neighbourhoods that properly meet families’ needs? Some policies already exist, such as <a href="https://www.future.transport.nsw.gov.au/strategy-highlights/thriving-places">15-minute</a> or <a href="https://www.suburbandevelopment.vic.gov.au/suburban-revitalisation/20-minute-neighbourhoods">20-minute neighbourhoods</a>, to reduce private car use for daily activities. But these policies get sidelined when governments promote suburban sprawl and <a href="https://theconversation.com/were-still-fighting-city-freeways-after-half-a-century-127722">build more freeways</a>. </p>
<p>These governments should not dismiss the suitability of higher-density living in well-serviced neighbourhoods for families with children. Yes, some densification policies have been <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08111146.2011.627834">blind to the needs</a> of children and their families. However, when done well, high-density settings can be <a href="https://www.citiesforplay.com/child-friendly-neighbourhoods">wonderful communities</a> for such families. </p>
<p>With <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07293681003767793?journalCode=rapl20">careful planning</a>, many more families could be housed in established areas without having to significantly increase building heights.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1375403164913000449"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/people-love-the-idea-of-20-minute-neighbourhoods-so-why-isnt-it-top-of-the-agenda-131193">People love the idea of 20-minute neighbourhoods. So why isn't it top of the agenda?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Car-centric planning has failed families</h2>
<p>Car-centric planning dates back to the 1950s. Since then, Australian suburban fringe development has largely failed to create child-friendly neighbourhoods. Given the <a href="https://indaily.com.au/news/2023/02/16/sas-planning-minister-wants-to-reshape-debate-over-urban-sprawl/">pro-sprawl political advocacy</a>, the prospects of Adelaide’s largest ever greenfield development being good for children are rather poor, despite some <a href="https://plan.sa.gov.au/state_snapshot/better-housing-future/infrastructure-planning-and-development-unit">encouraging steps</a> by the government to ensure the new suburbs get adequate infrastructure. </p>
<p>Using aspirations of families with children to justify suburban sprawl is exploitative and misleading. It’s an approach that ignores the real-life challenges residents experience and distracts from government’s responsibility for proper planning. </p>
<p>If governments are serious about the needs of families with children, they could start by acknowledging <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/306341">children’s needs and rights</a> to be able to get to their daily destinations without a car. To deliver neighbourhoods that make this possible, governments need to be bold and decisive in their planning. </p>
<p>Suburban sprawl and car dependence go hand in hand. Our politicians must commit to urban planning where cars are no longer privileged. Otherwise we deny our children basic rights to learn, play and socialise safely in their own neighbourhoods. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-need-to-give-up-on-crowded-cities-we-can-make-density-so-much-better-131304">No need to give up on crowded cities – we can make density so much better</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208670/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Having a small backyard in outer suburban developments doesn’t make up for everything else that’s missing in these new neighbourhoods.Hulya Gilbert, Lecturer in Planning and Human Geography, La Trobe UniversityIan Woodcock, Senior Lecturer in Urbanism, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1964912022-12-21T19:11:33Z2022-12-21T19:11:33ZUber plans a kids service to replace mum and dad’s taxi. What’s wrong with that? Plenty<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501463/original/file-20221216-24-ityp8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C296%2C2995%2C1967&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ride-share company Uber has just <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/uber-installs-child-car-seats-in-melbourne-edges-closer-to-kids-service-20221212-p5c5ib.html">rolled out an option</a> to book vehicles equipped with a children’s car seat across Melbourne. Uber is also considering allowing unaccompanied children to use its service.</p>
<p>In Australia, a recent <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1369847822000341">study</a> found most parents remain unwilling to let their children use a ride-share service unaccompanied. (Uber policy, like <a href="https://www.finder.com.au/apps-like-uber">most ride-sharing companies</a>, currently <a href="https://help.uber.com/driving-and-delivering/article/requests-from-underage-riders---?nodeId=43b84de6-758b-489e-b088-7ee69c749ccd">requires</a> a solo passenger to be over 18.) There appears to be more acceptance in countries such as the United States where child-specific ride-shares are more <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/dfw/news/rideshare-services-cater-to-children/">widespread</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1463923762689191944"}"></div></p>
<p>Many time-poor families are desperate for better alternatives to having to drive their children everywhere they need to go. There are indeed high <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1353829222000806">social</a>, <a href="https://ubibliorum.ubi.pt/handle/10400.6/10376?locale=en">economic</a> and <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/236476">environmental</a> costs associated with parental taxis. </p>
<p>But outsourcing this role to ride-share services is not the best solution. It will reinforce an over-reliance on cars, which is demonstrably harmful for children’s <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214367X16300734">health and wellbeing</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cars-have-taken-over-our-neighbourhoods-kid-friendly-superblocks-are-a-way-for-residents-to-reclaim-their-streets-187276">Cars have taken over our neighbourhoods. Kid-friendly superblocks are a way for residents to reclaim their streets</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What are parents’ main concerns?</h2>
<p>The Australian <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1369847822000341">study</a> identified several factors that mattered to parents. These included:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>being able to decide the route of the vehicle</p></li>
<li><p>who is able to drive and ride in the vehicle</p></li>
<li><p>the presence of a designated adult waiting at the child’s destination</p></li>
<li><p>technological features such as GPS tracking and two-way cameras to communicate with the child during the trip.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Clearly, a few roadblocks need to be overcome before these services gain broader appeal for families with children in Australia. But what would be the impact if they did go ahead? We should consider both the problems these services could solve and the problems they might create. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/inner-west/rydhero-is-a-new-sydney-ridesharing-service-for-busy-parents-designed-to-ferry-children-to-afterschool-activities/news-story/c23d52188866ee321013bd0ec323d81e">Busy parents</a>” is a phrase that comes up often when talking about children’s transport challenges and solutions. Child-specific ride-sharing seems to be a logical response to that problem. And Uber is <a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/kids/stretch-ride-the-new-car-service-for-kids-travelling-without-their-parents/news-story/3f5d00df3e282d8b437727ff2638b241">not the the first</a> car <a href="https://www.shebah.com.au/ride">service for kids</a> in Australia. </p>
<p>However, the benefits gained from these “care-drivers” (driver/babysitter) are likely to be offset by new anxieties for parents. </p>
<p>In particular, parents worry about their children’s safety in the company of an unknown adult. When it comes to trusting a service to transport unaccompanied children, <a href="https://research.monash.edu/en/publications/parents-willingness-to-allow-their-unaccompanied-children-to-use-">Australian research</a> found parents were more likely to voice concerns about ride-share services than autonomous vehicles. </p>
<p>This is likely to remain the case despite technologies enabling real-time monitoring of the child and other desired features of the ride-share vehicle. And these surveillance technologies raise additional <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/chso.12016">ethical questions</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-covid-anxiety-to-harassment-more-needs-to-be-done-on-safety-in-taxis-and-rideshare-services-149911">From COVID anxiety to harassment, more needs to be done on safety in taxis and rideshare services</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1237723966669754370"}"></div></p>
<h2>There’s also health and wellbeing to consider</h2>
<p>Children’s dependence on cars to get around also affects their health. The risks range from <a href="https://www.unicef.org/documents/unicef-technical-guidance-child-and-adolescent-road-safety">road safety issues</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/02/traffic-noise-slows-childrens-memory-development-study-finds">noise</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/12/children-risk-air-pollution-cars-former-uk-chief-scientist-warns">air pollution</a> to being <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23219100/">less active physically</a>. A ride-share service for children would reinforce their families’ car dependence and the associated health issues.</p>
<p>Any child-specific ride-share service is also likely to magnify existing social and economic issues. To name a few:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>the services would tend to be exclusive in nature, being more accessible for those who are <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/82w2z91j">well-off</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214367X22000722">able-bodied</a></p></li>
<li><p>passive commuting in cars would become even more passive in the absence of adults known to the children, further reducing their opportunities to construct their <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14733281003691418?journalCode=cchg20">social identities</a> and develop <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14733285.2020.1787950">independence</a> and <a href="https://www.achievementprogram.health.vic.gov.au/news/latest-updates/benefits-of-active-travel-to-school.html">self-reliance</a> – parents, too, could have fewer opportunities to interact with each other and the broader community at school or sport events</p></li>
<li><p>both parents and children place a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23800127.2022.2071060">high value on the togetherness</a> aspect of family trips to schools and extra-curricular activities, even when travelling by car. Child-only ride-share services would reduce the time spent together.</p></li>
</ol>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501725/original/file-20221218-61132-9xiiz2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501725/original/file-20221218-61132-9xiiz2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501725/original/file-20221218-61132-9xiiz2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501725/original/file-20221218-61132-9xiiz2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501725/original/file-20221218-61132-9xiiz2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501725/original/file-20221218-61132-9xiiz2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501725/original/file-20221218-61132-9xiiz2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Child-only ride services might relieve parents of driving duties but would reduce the time families spend together.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/designing-suburbs-to-cut-car-use-closes-gaps-in-health-and-wealth-83961">Designing suburbs to cut car use closes gaps in health and wealth</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>It all comes down to car dependence</h2>
<p>The heavy reliance on private cars by families with children is one of the key challenges facing most <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/09/joseph-henrich-explores-weird-societies/">WEIRD</a> (Western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic) countries. The emergence of ride-share services for children highlights the difficulties with children’s lifestyles <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/236476">dominated by the need to get to extra-curricular activities</a>, often at non-local places. </p>
<p>Like any profit-driven approach, this kind of service raises concerns about exploitation of system-wide weaknesses. In this case, it’s the transport challenges faced by families with children.</p>
<p>These “solutions” also undermine various policies and programs that aim to create more socially and environmentally just communities. These include, for example, local living policies – such as so-called <a href="https://theconversation.com/people-love-the-idea-of-20-minute-neighbourhoods-so-why-isnt-it-top-of-the-agenda-131193">20-minute neighbourhoods</a> – which are central to most planning strategies across Australia.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/people-love-the-idea-of-20-minute-neighbourhoods-so-why-isnt-it-top-of-the-agenda-131193">People love the idea of 20-minute neighbourhoods. So why isn't it top of the agenda?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Allowing unaccompanied kids to travel in high-tech, ride-share vehicles might help some parents in the short term. In the long term, though, it will create more complex problems. These parallel many of the well-reported issues associated with lives and societies shaped by the car – known as <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199874002/obo-9780199874002-0206.xml#:%7E:text=obo%2F9780199874002%2D0206-,Introduction,and%20shaped%20by%2C%20the%20automobile.">automobility</a>. </p>
<p>Happier and healthier children should be the lens to look through at any new approaches to how children get around. Plenty of equitable and cost-effective solutions exist. The most obvious involve creating the social and environmental conditions for safe and convenient walking, cycling and public transport. </p>
<p>Having these solutions available instead of having to drive children would help time-poor families. And children can use all these transport options in groups, which eases safety concerns. There are, for example, <a href="http://www.walkingschoolbus.org/">walking school buses</a> and <a href="https://www.walkbiketoschool.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/SRTS_BikeTrain_final.pdf">bike trains</a>. </p>
<p>People and cities have much to gain from a move away from a narrow view of technology – such as retrofitting cars for monitoring and controlling children. Instead, we can use <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279450305_Parental_fear_as_a_barrier_to_children%27s_independent_mobility_and_resultant_physical_activity_Final_Report">technology</a> to promote healthier, greener and more equitable ways of getting around.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196491/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hulya Gilbert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Uber is eyeing a service to take children wherever their parents would otherwise have to drive them themselves. Some might see it as a lifesaver, but it’s problematic for many reasons.Hulya Gilbert, Lecturer in Planning and Human Geography, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1938602022-11-16T01:51:17Z2022-11-16T01:51:17ZHow superblocks can free up and improve CBD space for the people of Melbourne – a step-by-step guide<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494367/original/file-20221109-24-sts1xb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C2210%2C1055&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">frontispiece</span> </figcaption></figure><p>For 185 years, Melbourne’s <a href="https://participate.melbourne.vic.gov.au/hoddlegridheritage">Hoddle Grid</a> – the ordered layout of CBD streets and blocks designed in 1837 – has dictated the flow of people and vehicles in the city centre. But how well does the grid serve 21st-century needs?</p>
<p>Melbourne faces three interconnected challenges that conflict with a business-as-usual, car-based grid. These are: how to end the dominance of cars; how to respond to the reality of the city centre as a residential area; and how to “<a href="https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/business/grow-business/business-events/Pages/reigniting-melbourne.aspx">reignite</a>” post-pandemic activity in the CBD. </p>
<p>Superblocks are an approach, pioneered in <a href="https://theconversation.com/superblocks-are-transforming-barcelona-they-might-work-in-australian-cities-too-123354">Barcelona</a>, to making urban areas more liveable and people-friendly. </p>
<p>A superblock covers an area of multiple city blocks – typically nine in a 3x3 format – that excludes through traffic. In this space, cyclists, walkers and residents have priority, though cars still have low-speed access to all buildings within the area. Superblocks transform formerly car-dominated streets into public spaces that can be used for a range of activities. </p>
<p>We have developed a step-by-step approach to introducing superblocks to Melbourne.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495512/original/file-20221115-17-zsbgg4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Diagram explaining the superblock concept" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495512/original/file-20221115-17-zsbgg4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495512/original/file-20221115-17-zsbgg4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495512/original/file-20221115-17-zsbgg4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495512/original/file-20221115-17-zsbgg4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495512/original/file-20221115-17-zsbgg4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=870&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495512/original/file-20221115-17-zsbgg4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=870&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495512/original/file-20221115-17-zsbgg4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=870&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/superblocks-are-transforming-barcelona-they-might-work-in-australian-cities-too-123354">Superblocks are transforming Barcelona. They might work in Australian cities too</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Colonialism lives on rent-free in our cities</h2>
<p>The Hoddle Grid was used an <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2571-9408/4/3/77/htm">instrument of power</a> for expropriating land from peoples of the Eastern Kulin nation. It asserted formal control over lands that John Batman had acquired <a href="https://deadlystory.com/page/culture/history/Batman_treaty">illegally</a>. </p>
<p>The array of regular blocks would have helped with selling land to distant speculators by signalling equality among bidders, military control and efficient circulation of people and air. </p>
<p>For much of the 20th century, the grid has been open to vehicle through traffic. More recent developments have given nods to pedestrians, laneways and liveability. </p>
<p>Over <a href="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/hdp.au.prod.app.com-participate.files/9815/2635/8912/Transport_Strategy_Refresh_-_Background_paper_-_City_Space.pdf">60% of street space</a> in the grid is still given over to cars, although these account for less than 10% of all trips within the grid. As a result, it is still a significant <a href="https://public.tableau.com/shared/FRK3SNYZR?:display_count=y&:origin=viz_share_link&:embed=y">site of injury</a>, involving both road crashes and colonial dispossession.</p>
<p>While the grid has remained conceptually stuck in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the central business district, despite its name, has become a residential area. Promoted by the <a href="https://architectureau.com/articles/melbourne-releases-most-forward-looking-plans-since-postcode-3000/">Postcode 3000</a> project in the 1990s, there was a <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/from-doughnut-to-metropolis-how-melbourne-banished-its-tumbleweeds-20180216-h0w7gw.html">shift</a> from a “doughnut city” – populated suburbs around a hollow centre – to a cafe society. </p>
<p>The city centre went from <a href="https://www.routledge.com/City-Edge/Charlesworth/p/book/9780750663533">750 registered residential units</a> in the early 1980s to <a href="https://data.melbourne.vic.gov.au/Property/Residential-dwellings/44kh-ty54">more than 28,000</a> today. This spurred a rise in the number of bars, cafes and restaurants. </p>
<p>To reshape the city centre in ways that better meet the needs of Melburnians now and in the future, the grid must be redesigned. It is time, in <a href="https://www.academia.edu/54097541/Hospicing_Modernity_Facing_humamitys_wrongs_and_the_implications_for_social_activism">the words</a> of Canadian scholar <a href="https://ubc.academia.edu/VanessadeOliveiraAndreotti">Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti</a>, to “wake up, smarten up, step up, own up, clean up, grow up, and show up”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/density-sprawl-growth-how-australian-cities-have-changed-in-the-last-30-years-65870">Density, sprawl, growth: how Australian cities have changed in the last 30 years</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How can superblocks improve the grid for people?</h2>
<p>But how can superblocks be applied in car-dominated Melbourne? A staged and bespoke approach to gathering information and planning routes is needed. We suggest the following steps.</p>
<h2>1. Audit the grid</h2>
<p>Hoddle’s innovation was to have a mixture of little and main streets running parallel to one another. As a result, the sizes of junctions vary.</p>
<p>As well as assessing the locations of junctions and what they are like, in Melbourne we must also consider tram routes. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495349/original/file-20221115-21-zirg8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of the area of junctions from 200 to 2000 sqm" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495349/original/file-20221115-21-zirg8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495349/original/file-20221115-21-zirg8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495349/original/file-20221115-21-zirg8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495349/original/file-20221115-21-zirg8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495349/original/file-20221115-21-zirg8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495349/original/file-20221115-21-zirg8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495349/original/file-20221115-21-zirg8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Locations of large and small junctions in the Hoddle Grid.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Map: Alexia Yacoubian and Mónica Suárez</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495351/original/file-20221115-19-wa1y1c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of junctions, cars dominate alongside trams and buses" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495351/original/file-20221115-19-wa1y1c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495351/original/file-20221115-19-wa1y1c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495351/original/file-20221115-19-wa1y1c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495351/original/file-20221115-19-wa1y1c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495351/original/file-20221115-19-wa1y1c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495351/original/file-20221115-19-wa1y1c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495351/original/file-20221115-19-wa1y1c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Junctions categorised by vehicle types crossing at each intersection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Map: Alexia Yacoubian and Mónica Suárez</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Work out what configurations are needed and where</h2>
<p>The rectangular form, mix of large and little streets, tram lines and existing pedestrian areas all suggest departures from the “classic” 3x3 superblock that looks like a hashtag. We’re looking at including some 2x3 superblocks. All these forms should be considered to increase and improve space for pedestrians. </p>
<p>We propose four different options. In the following maps the green dots are junctions that have been made highly accessible for pedestrians. The more green dots, the better. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495356/original/file-20221115-15-4qw9ls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing the largest number of superblocks for Melbourne" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495356/original/file-20221115-15-4qw9ls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495356/original/file-20221115-15-4qw9ls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495356/original/file-20221115-15-4qw9ls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495356/original/file-20221115-15-4qw9ls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495356/original/file-20221115-15-4qw9ls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495356/original/file-20221115-15-4qw9ls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495356/original/file-20221115-15-4qw9ls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Option 1: Yields the largest number of superblocks by rerouting traffic along the roads with tramways. This involves sending traffic down Bourke Street Mall and rerouting Swanston Street trams along Russell Street.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Map: Alexia Yacoubian and Mónicá Suarez</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495360/original/file-20221115-21-6qlwcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Option 2 with less green dots and superblocks" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495360/original/file-20221115-21-6qlwcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495360/original/file-20221115-21-6qlwcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495360/original/file-20221115-21-6qlwcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495360/original/file-20221115-21-6qlwcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495360/original/file-20221115-21-6qlwcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495360/original/file-20221115-21-6qlwcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495360/original/file-20221115-21-6qlwcg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Option 2: Yields fewer green dots and maintains the Bourke Street pedestrian mall, but moves the Swanston Street tram line to Russell Street.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Map: Alexia Yacoubian and Mónicá Suarez</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495365/original/file-20221115-21-jmwzqc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Option 3: a more conservative proposal that works around the current pedestrianisation of Bourke and Swanston streets and maintains the tram where it is." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495365/original/file-20221115-21-jmwzqc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495365/original/file-20221115-21-jmwzqc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495365/original/file-20221115-21-jmwzqc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495365/original/file-20221115-21-jmwzqc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495365/original/file-20221115-21-jmwzqc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495365/original/file-20221115-21-jmwzqc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495365/original/file-20221115-21-jmwzqc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Option 3: A more conservative proposal that maintains current tram locations. However, in a superblock plan the centre junctions should not be a location for movement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Map: Alexia Yacoubian and Mónicá Suarez</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495367/original/file-20221115-22-je45wr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of the most conservative approach, leaving everything as is and include trams in the superblocks" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495367/original/file-20221115-22-je45wr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495367/original/file-20221115-22-je45wr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495367/original/file-20221115-22-je45wr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495367/original/file-20221115-22-je45wr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495367/original/file-20221115-22-je45wr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495367/original/file-20221115-22-je45wr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495367/original/file-20221115-22-je45wr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Option 4: Acknowledges that some junctions may have to include trams in the centre of the superblock.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Map: Alexia Yacoubian and Mónicá Suarez</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Assess the success of different options</h2>
<p>Option 1 above increases the area of footpaths from around 169,000 square metres to 385,480 square metres - an increase of around 11 MCGs. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495371/original/file-20221115-17-6cpasl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing existing footpaths with an area of 169,076 square metres." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495371/original/file-20221115-17-6cpasl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495371/original/file-20221115-17-6cpasl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495371/original/file-20221115-17-6cpasl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495371/original/file-20221115-17-6cpasl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495371/original/file-20221115-17-6cpasl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495371/original/file-20221115-17-6cpasl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495371/original/file-20221115-17-6cpasl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Existing footpaths in the Hoddle Grid.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Map: Alexia Yacoubian and Mónica Suárez using data from City of Melbourne</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495369/original/file-20221115-19-w5cpj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing the footpaths in green" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495369/original/file-20221115-19-w5cpj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495369/original/file-20221115-19-w5cpj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495369/original/file-20221115-19-w5cpj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495369/original/file-20221115-19-w5cpj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495369/original/file-20221115-19-w5cpj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495369/original/file-20221115-19-w5cpj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495369/original/file-20221115-19-w5cpj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Option 1 produces a 2.3 times increase in footpath space and greater pedestrian connectivity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Map: Alexia Yacoubian and Mónicá Suarez</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Placing open spaces in junctions radically changes the pedestrian experience. Using a <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.06.515356v1">method from ecology</a>, we can calculate a pedestrian connectivity index – the probability that a pedestrian can get from one point on a footpath to another in the grid without crossing a road. For the current grid, the probability is 0.2%. For the superblock model, it’s 4% – a 20-fold increase. </p>
<p>Even though pedestrians have more access, unlike a pedestrianisation plan, vehicle access to the buildings remains largely the same.</p>
<h2>4. Decide how to use all this new open space</h2>
<p>Once the questions shift from a matter of “if” to “how”, other questions come into play. What to do about car parking? We know <a href="https://assets.researchsquare.com/files/rs-1671673/v1_covered.pdf?c=1655396502">off-street garages within 200 metres</a> of on-street car parks could accommodate half of this parking. </p>
<p>How can these new spaces in junctions be used? The renderings below (by Mónica Suárez and Alexia Yacoubian using Google Street View images) provide some ideas. The first shows a “green dot” space where a car-only junction has been converted to pedestrian space. The second shows a “yellow dot” junction shared by trams and pedestrians.</p>
<hr>
<h3>Before and after: corner of Exhibition and Little Lonsdale streets</h3>
<iframe frameborder="0" class="juxtapose" width="100%" height="300" src="https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/juxtapose/latest/embed/index.html?uid=cad95b86-6174-11ed-b5bd-6595d9b17862"></iframe>
<hr>
<h3>Before and after: corner of Swanston and Lonsdale streets</h3>
<iframe frameborder="0" class="juxtapose" width="100%" height="300" src="https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/juxtapose/latest/embed/index.html?uid=f6c6b6c0-6175-11ed-b5bd-6595d9b17862"></iframe>
<hr>
<p>These are pilot ideas - e.g. the discussion should continue to how the grid interacts with surrounding streets and with Birrarung. But it could also act as a template for other cities in Australia that are similarly modern, colonial and grid-based.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cars-have-taken-over-our-neighbourhoods-kid-friendly-superblocks-are-a-way-for-residents-to-reclaim-their-streets-187276">Cars have taken over our neighbourhoods. Kid-friendly superblocks are a way for residents to reclaim their streets</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>5. It’s a marathon not a sprint</h2>
<p>For more than 30 years, cities around the world from Curitiba to Barcelona have in effect been saying: thank you, dear car, for all you have given us in the 20th century, but now it is time to move on. </p>
<p>In practice, this needs to be a gentle and caring process with many steps, learning as we go. It is as de Oliveira Andreotti might argue, low-intensity activism and a marathon rather than a sprint.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Acknowledgments: The ideas in this article were developed as part of a workshop at RMIT. Participants included Zena Cumpston, Leanne Hodyl and representatives from City of Melbourne, Department of Transport, Yarra Trams, Infrastructure Victoria, RACV, RMIT, Melbourne and Monash Universities. Any errors remain the authors’.</em></p>
<p><em>Correction: This article has been updated to correct an error in the number of registered residential units in the central Melbourne area (postcode 3000). The figure of 96,000 should have been 28,000.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193860/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marco Amati receives funding from a variety of organisations including AURIN, ARC, Hort Innovation, State and Local Government. He is currently a co-convenor of this course: <a href="https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/green-corridors-for-clean-air">https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/green-corridors-for-clean-air</a> </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris De Gruyter receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC). He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Traffic Planning and Management (AITPM).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Salvador Rueda receives funding from multiple multilateral and national government sources. He is working pro bono on the Melbourne superblocks concept.</span></em></p>The Hoddle Grid that dictates the flow of vehicles and people in central Melbourne has had its day. It can be remade to reduce the dominance of cars and create a liveable city for the 21st century.Marco Amati, Associate Professor of International Planning, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT UniversityChris De Gruyter, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT UniversitySalvador Rueda, Co-Director, Maestría Online en Ciudades, Instituto de Arquitectura Avanzada de Cataluña (IAAC) Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1876982022-08-03T20:04:25Z2022-08-03T20:04:25ZJapan’s Old Enough and Australia’s Bluey remind us our kids are no longer ‘free range’ – but we can remake our neighbourhoods<p>In the popular Japanese TV series <a href="https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/how-is-old-enough-made">Old Enough</a>, very young children are sent out into their neighbourhood on their first solo errand. The release of this long-running series on Netflix this year <a href="https://slate.com/business/2022/04/old-enough-netflix-do-japanese-parents-really-send-toddlers-on-errands.html">created</a> a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/apr/07/old-enough-the-japanese-tv-show-that-abandons-toddlers-on-public-transport">buzz</a> among Western viewers about children travelling around their neighbourhoods on their own when only two to four years old. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/on-television/the-gentle-thrills-of-old-enough-a-show-about-toddlers-running-errands">Some viewers</a> felt it would be challenging, if not impossible, in their own neighbourhoods to give children such liberty. <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/04/20/1093153651/a-4-year-old-can-run-errands-alone-and-not-just-on-reality-tv">Many</a> expressed longing for a time when children in their countries had similar freedoms. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qA_AUMxSZUM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Old Enough is an eye-opener for viewers outside Japan.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another popular TV show, Bluey, depicts the realities of children’s transport in Australia today. The family’s young children are mostly seen travelling in the back seats of their parents’ 4x4s, roaming only houses or childcare centres. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://iview.abc.net.au/video/CH2003Q015S000">one episode</a>, the father recalls a time when at age 10 he and his peers roamed freely on BMX bikes around a holiday town. His children are shocked that he walked alone to a campsite shower block (<em>“hey, it was the 80s!”</em>).</p>
<p>The contrasts with Japan raise the question: how can we rethink our cities so children can once again get around safely on their own and benefit from diverse neighbourhood experiences?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/everyone-loves-bandit-from-bluey-but-is-he-a-lovable-larrikin-or-just-a-bad-dad-184239">Everyone loves Bandit from Bluey – but is he a lovable larrikin, or just a bad dad?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The cultures and policies are different</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14733285.2018.1453923">For decades</a> in Japan, <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2012.300913?casa_token=-rThDoWBCnoAAAAA%3AlQEQLQypJIXnH32jLvdmuzTJMGC5LpcBts-G-HMMiwllm_Csu53FppDVrEZCMBhmzyLx-DrU">roughly 98%</a> of children have walked or cycled to and from school. Even <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/walking-home-from-kindergarten-should-be-childs-play-20120228-1u0uj.html">kindergarten kids</a> manage the trip on their own. Children’s levels of independent mobility are <a href="https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/item/98xyq/children-s-independent-mobility-an-international-comparison-and-recommendations-for-action">among the highest in the world</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/27/astonishing-errands-old-enough-japanese-creator-on-the-child-star-tv-hit">social practice of “first errands”</a> gently initiates children into community participation. In Old Enough, community members keep an eye on the children and help them along the way as they complete their errands. The youngsters develop confidence to navigate their local neighbourhoods.</p>
<p>Beyond personal and community values, what changes might make this possible for our own children? Our research on Japanese and Australian cities explores <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692318302795">multiple factors</a> that make cities child-friendly.</p>
<p>In many Japanese cities – <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2304/gsch.2011.1.3.226">though not all</a> – urban policies support low-traffic neighbourhoods with people-centred streets. People can walk to nearby shops and services because <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfm2xCKOCNk&t=306s">mixed-use zoning</a> creates a neighbourhood blend of housing, retail and public services, while transit-oriented design means communities are built around public transport hubs. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-lessons-from-tokyo-a-city-of-38m-people-for-australia-a-nation-of-24m-78335">Five lessons from Tokyo, a city of 38m people, for Australia, a nation of 24m</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476649/original/file-20220729-14-y2iwbr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476649/original/file-20220729-14-y2iwbr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476649/original/file-20220729-14-y2iwbr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476649/original/file-20220729-14-y2iwbr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476649/original/file-20220729-14-y2iwbr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476649/original/file-20220729-14-y2iwbr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476649/original/file-20220729-14-y2iwbr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476649/original/file-20220729-14-y2iwbr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A typical neighbourhood in Nakano, Tokyo, with parking-free streets and a small parking lot.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image: Rebecca Clements</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Japan’s <a href="https://www.reinventingparking.org/2014/06/japans-proof-of-parking-rule-has.html">parking policies</a> also reduce neighbourhood car traffic. A <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128152652000066">nationwide ban</a> on overnight street parking is strictly enforced. Street parking is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128146941000166">especially</a> <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016718506001758">risky</a> for young children. </p>
<p>Most buildings are exempt from minimum parking regulations and many homes and businesses have no parking. They lease nearby <a href="https://theconversation.com/empty-car-parks-everywhere-but-nowhere-to-park-how-cities-can-do-better-99031">off-street spaces</a> if needed. Parking lots in cities like Tokyo are typically small (the size of one housing plot or less) and some use space-efficient car-stacking technology.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/empty-car-parks-everywhere-but-nowhere-to-park-how-cities-can-do-better-99031">Empty car parks everywhere, but nowhere to park. How cities can do better</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Because of these policies, many Japanese urban neighbourhoods function like “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/Supergrid-and-Superblock-Lessons-in-Urban-Structure-from-China-and-Japan/Chen/p/book/9780367478889">superblocks</a>”. Most car traffic and parking is around main roads. Inner-neighbourhood streets have very low speed limits (often around 20km/h) and are relatively car-free. </p>
<p>Cars are “guests” passing through neighbourhoods that belong to walkers and cyclists. Drivers give way to pedestrians, including the little ones in Old Enough, when they raise a hand (or flag made by their parents) to cross the road.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A satellite view of a neighbourhood in Nada, Kobe. Five small monthly parking lots are highlighted in red." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476806/original/file-20220801-13683-4syvcd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476806/original/file-20220801-13683-4syvcd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476806/original/file-20220801-13683-4syvcd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476806/original/file-20220801-13683-4syvcd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476806/original/file-20220801-13683-4syvcd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476806/original/file-20220801-13683-4syvcd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476806/original/file-20220801-13683-4syvcd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A satellite view of a neighbourhood in Nada, Kobe, with parking lots highlighted in red.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Source: PhD work by Rebecca Clements, adapted from Google Maps</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476805/original/file-20220801-44070-yomp0d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing parking space numbers within 800m of a rail station in a neighbourhood in Nakano, Tokyo. " src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476805/original/file-20220801-44070-yomp0d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476805/original/file-20220801-44070-yomp0d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476805/original/file-20220801-44070-yomp0d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476805/original/file-20220801-44070-yomp0d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476805/original/file-20220801-44070-yomp0d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476805/original/file-20220801-44070-yomp0d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476805/original/file-20220801-44070-yomp0d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Parking space numbers within 800m of a rail station in a neighbourhood in Nakano, Tokyo. Largest facilities are near transport corridors. Dark blue points are usually residential parking spaces (only collected in northern half of study area).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Source: PhD work by Rebecca Clements</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/superblocks-are-transforming-barcelona-they-might-work-in-australian-cities-too-123354">Superblocks are transforming Barcelona. They might work in Australian cities too</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Our streets were once the domain of children</h2>
<p>Australian children had <a href="https://www.elsevier.com/books/children-s-active-transportation/larouche/978-0-12-811931-0">similar freedoms</a> before we became a car-based society. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23289971">In the early 20th century</a>, children as young as four were able to venture out on their own. </p>
<p>While children’s ability to get about on their own in their local neighbourhood <a href="https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/sites/default/files/files/7350_PSI_Report_CIM_final.pdf">varies widely</a> <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14733285.2014.952186">by country</a>, in Australia independent mobility has plummeted in only a generation or two. What parents once did unthinkingly, their children now cannot contemplate.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14733285.2015.1082083?journalCode=cchg20">Only about 20%</a> of children were driven to school in the 1970s. By 2003, it was nearly 70%. Australia’s overall rates of walking and cycling to and from school <a href="https://www.activehealthykids.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Australia-report-card-long-form-2022.pdf">haven’t improved</a> since then.</p>
<p>School drop-off chaos is a recent phenomenon. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6267483">Common reasons given</a> by parents include increased distances to school and other destinations, and fears of abduction or even others’ judgments. Escorting children on their travels is often seen <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/306341">as solely the responsibility of parents</a>, and not <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/when-can-kids-walk-to-school-and-play-outside-alone/11770324">the community as in Japan</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1263267434170990598"}"></div></p>
<p>While risks to children are real, <em>perceptions</em> of risks and of who is responsible for children’s safety reshape places and lives. The priority given to car traffic and street parking has led to cities being <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-elephant-in-the-planning-scheme-how-cities-still-work-around-the-dominance-of-parking-space-8709">redesigned to accommodate cars</a> rather than children and their needs.</p>
<p>When cars first appeared in American (and Australian) cities, the street was seen as the domain of children. <a href="https://case.edu/ech/articles/v/village-euclid-v-ambler-realty-co">Planning decisions of that time</a> made now-surprising <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Cases_Materials_and_Problems_in_Property/Re5tr2e-LGcC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=the+occupation,+by+moving+and+parked+automobiles,+of+larger+portions+of+the+streets,+thus+detracting+from+their+safety+and+depriving+children+of+the+privilege+of+quiet+and+open+spaces+for+play&pg=PT442&printsec=frontcover">references</a> to children having a right to public space, protected from:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[…] the occupation, by moving and parked automobiles, of larger portions of the streets, thus detracting from their safety and depriving children of the privilege of quiet and open spaces for play”.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Since then, zoning, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMnEyLfqGbw">road rules</a> and even responses to unsafe roads such as <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Design-Childhood-Material-Shapes-Independent/dp/1632866358">playgrounds</a> have deprived children of the freedom to experience their neighbourhood on their own. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-elephant-in-the-planning-scheme-how-cities-still-work-around-the-dominance-of-parking-space-87098">The elephant in the planning scheme: how cities still work around the dominance of parking space</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Many good reasons to reverse the trend</h2>
<p>Allowing children freedom to move safely around their neighbourhoods has <a href="https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781789900460/9781789900460.00048.xml">well-established benefits</a>. These include physical and mental health, sense of belonging and place, socialisation and <a href="https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/abs/10.1680/muen.2001.145.2.191">participation in public life</a>, and even <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jpc.15754">meaningful climate action</a>. </p>
<p>People-oriented streets also have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n443">community-wide benefits</a>: improved public health and safety, better air quality, less noise, more green space, reduced heat and flooding, and more equitable communities because of non-car transport options.</p>
<p>The contrast between Australian cities and Japan, and our suburbs of the not-so-distant past, raises challenging questions. Perhaps the remarkably child-friendly outcomes we’re seeing in Japan can inspire us to rethink what kinds of neighbourhoods are possible – and what kinds of lives our children can have.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187698/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Clements receives funding from the Henry Halloran Trust at the University of Sydney. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Taylor receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI). She has previously received funding from the Henry Halloran Trust, the City of Melbourne, Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hulya Gilbert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Seeing Japanese parents send toddlers out on their own to do errands has shocked viewers. But not that long ago our neighbourhoods were also child-friendly, and we can make them so again.Rebecca Clements, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of SydneyElizabeth Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning & Design, Monash UniversityHulya Gilbert, Lecturer in Planning and Human Geography, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1827352022-05-31T12:10:25Z2022-05-31T12:10:25ZDeaths and injuries in road crashes are a ‘silent epidemic on wheels’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465585/original/file-20220526-20-xx46kf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C10%2C6699%2C4456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pedestrians pass the aftermath of a crash in Gaza City in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 11, 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/palestinians-walk-next-to-a-car-that-was-involved-in-a-news-photo/1235821622">Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID-19 pandemic has generated mind-numbing statistics over the past two years: half a billion cases, 6 million deaths, 1 million in the U.S. alone. But another, less-publicized global scourge preceded it and is likely to outlast it: traffic deaths and injuries. </p>
<p>Around <a href="https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/indicators/indicator-details/GHO/estimated-number-of-road-traffic-deaths">1.35 million people die each year</a> on the world’s roads, and another 20 million to 50 million are seriously injured. Half of these deaths and many of the injuries involve pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists – the most vulnerable users of roads and streets. </p>
<p>Around the world, someone dies from a road accident every 25 seconds. The head of the United Nations Road Safety Fund has called road deaths and injuries <a href="https://genevasolutions.news/global-news/road-accidents-are-a-silent-epidemic-on-wheels-says-un-road-safety-fund-boss">a “silent epidemic on wheels</a>”.</p>
<p>I have <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=oMPNYhQAAAAJ&hl=en">studied cities and urban policy</a> for many years, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-the-u-s-unwilling-to-pay-for-good-public-transportation-56788">transportation</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-us-cities-are-becoming-more-dangerous-for-cyclists-and-pedestrians-111713">road safety</a>. In my view, making <a href="https://www.iii.org/insuranceindustryblog/reducing-traffic-fatalities-and-injuries-through-vision-zero/">transportation systems safer</a> is <a href="https://www.un.org/en/un-chronicle/role-united-nations-system-improving-road-safety-save-lives-and-advance-sustainable">feasible</a> and isn’t rocket science. The key is for governments to prioritize safer roads, speeds and vehicles, and to promote policies such as <a href="https://www.ite.org/technical-resources/traffic-calming/traffic-calming-measures/">traffic calming</a> that are known to reduce the risk of crashes. </p>
<p><iframe id="APeot" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/APeot/6/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>The costs</h2>
<p>It may seem like hyperbole to talk about road deaths as equivalent to pandemic diseases, but the numbers make the case. Road fatalities are now the <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death">top cause of death</a> for children and young adults worldwide between the ages of 5 and 29, and the <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death">seventh-leading cause of death</a> overall in low-income countries. </p>
<p>Crashes cause serious economic harm to victims and their families, as well as to the broader society. A 2019 study estimated that between 2015 and 2030, road injuries will cost the global economy almost <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(19)30170-6">$1.8 trillion</a>. </p>
<p>Because death and injury rates are highest in low- and middle-income countries, dangerous roads add to the costs of being poor and are a <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2018/01/09/road-deaths-and-injuries-hold-back-economic-growth-in-developing-countries">major inhibitor of economic growth</a>. That is why one of the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals is to <a href="https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/topics/sdg-target-3_6-road-traffic-injuries#cms">halve the number of global deaths and injuries</a> from traffic incidents by 2030. </p>
<p><iframe id="LbxTf" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/LbxTf/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>More deaths in lower-income countries</h2>
<p>There is <a href="https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/indicators/indicator-details/GHO/estimated-number-of-road-traffic-deaths">considerable variation in traffic fatality rates worldwide</a>. Road traffic death rates range from 27 per 100,000 population in Africa to only 7 per 100,000 in Europe. </p>
<p>Richer nations have had mass automobile traffic longer than lower-income countries, so they have had more time to develop strategies and tactics to reduce accidents and fatalities. For example, in 1937 – in an era when traffic death in the streets of cities like New York was considered a <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/down-the-asphalt-path/9780231083911">routine part of metropolitan life</a> – the U.S. road death rate was <a href="https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor-vehicle/historical-fatality-trends/deaths-and-rates/">31 per 100,000</a>. That’s about the same as today’s rate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. </p>
<p>Lower-income countries tend to have vehicles that are less safe; poorer roads; more vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists, sharing urban space with vehicles; and poorer medical care, which means injury can more easily lead to death. These nations also have less ability to introduce or enforce traffic laws. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465167/original/file-20220524-21-fbg07g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A crowded minibus moves through an urban square" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465167/original/file-20220524-21-fbg07g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465167/original/file-20220524-21-fbg07g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465167/original/file-20220524-21-fbg07g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465167/original/file-20220524-21-fbg07g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465167/original/file-20220524-21-fbg07g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465167/original/file-20220524-21-fbg07g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465167/original/file-20220524-21-fbg07g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Traffic in Manila, Philippines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Rennie Short</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Traffic incidents in higher-income counties often only involve one or two people. In lower-income countries, incidents tend to involve multiple passengers. </p>
<p>For example, in 2021 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a fuel truck collided with a crowded bus 110 miles outside the capital of Kinshasa, <a href="https://www.trtworld.com/africa/deadly-crash-between-bus-and-fuel-truck-leaves-dozens-dead-in-drc-48866">killing 33 people</a>. Deadly road incidents are frequent in the DRC, where the roads are poor, there are many unsafe older vehicles, many drivers are not properly trained and drinking and driving is common. </p>
<p>For many <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iatssr.2020.12.006">middle-income countries</a>, the challenge is a very rapid increase in vehicular traffic as the population becomes more urban and more people earn enough money to buy motorcycles and cars. This quick rise can overwhelm the carrying capacity of urban roads. </p>
<h2>In the US, less regulation and more deaths</h2>
<p>There also are differences among richer countries. In 1994, Europe and the United States had the same traffic death rates, but by 2020 Americans were over <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/05/21/road-deaths-fatalities-safety/">three times more likely to die on the road</a> than Europeans. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jLMm83I4dqc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Traffic deaths in the U.S. rose by more than 10% from 2020 to 2021.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, 12 people are killed in traffic per 100,000 annually in the U.S., compared to 4 per 100,000 in the Netherlands and Germany, and only 2 per 100,000 in Norway. The difference reflects more aggressive programs across Europe to reduce speeds, greater investment in mass transit and stricter drunk driving enforcement. </p>
<p>The U.S. doesn’t just <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2016/11/30/13784520/roads-deaths-increase-safety-traffic-us">lag behind</a> other rich countries in promoting road safety. In recent years, traffic deaths in the U.S. have increased. After a gradual reduction over 50 years, fatalities soared to a 16-year high in 2021 when almost 43,000 people died. Pedestrian deaths hit a 40-year high at 7,500. </p>
<p>What caused this <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-12-08/traffic-deaths-surged-during-covid-19-pandemic-heres-why">surge in deaths</a>? Roads were less busy during COVID-19 lockdowns, but proportionately more people engaged in riskier behaviors, including <a href="https://newsroom.aaa.com/2022/02/solving-a-puzzle-with-fewer-drivers-on-the-road-during-covid-why-the-spike-in-fatalities/">speeding, drinking and driving, distracted driving and not using seat belts</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-us-cities-are-becoming-more-dangerous-for-cyclists-and-pedestrians-111713">Cyclist and pedestrian traffic deaths</a> were rising even before the pandemic, as cities encouraged walking and biking without providing adequate infrastructure. Painting a white line on a busy street is not a substitute for providing a fully protected, designated bicycle lane. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1513646739139571725"}"></div></p>
<h2>Two harmful narratives about traffic safety</h2>
<p>Two narratives often cloud discussions of traffic fatalities. First, calling these events “accidents” normalizes what I view as a slaughter of innocents. It is part of the cult of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2018.10.008">automobility</a> and the primacy that the U.S. affords to fast-moving vehicular traffic. </p>
<p>Automobility has created a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2021.1981118">special form of space</a> – roads and highways – where deaths and injuries are considered “accidents.” In my view, this is an extreme form of environmental injustice. Historically disadvantaged groups and poorer communities are <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26622434?seq=1">overrepresented in traffic deaths and injuries</a>.</p>
<p>The second misleading narrative holds that nearly all road deaths and injuries <a href="https://usa.streetsblog.org/2020/10/14/the-94-solution-we-need-to-understand-the-causes-of-crashes/">are caused by human error</a>. Public officials regularly blame poor drivers, distracted pedestrians and aggressive bicyclists for street deaths. </p>
<p>People do take too many risks. In recent years, AAA’s annual traffic safety culture survey has found that a majority of drivers view unsafe driving behaviors, such as texting while driving or speeding on highways, as extremely or very dangerous. But significant numbers of drivers report <a href="https://aaafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2020-Traffic-Safety-Culture-Index-October-2021.pdf">engaging in those behaviors anyway</a>. </p>
<p>But as urban studies expert <a href="https://www.davidzipper.com/">David Zipper</a> has pointed out, a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/11/deadly-myth-human-error-causes-most-car-crashes/620808/">persistent myth</a> often cited by government agencies and the media asserts that 94% of accidents in the U.S. are caused by individual drivers. This bloated figure has successfully shifted responsibility away from other factors such as <a href="https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/suvs-other-large-vehicles-often-hit-pedestrians-while-turning">car design</a>, <a href="https://smartgrowthamerica.org/dange;%20rous-by-design/">traffic infrastructure</a> and the need for <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3893966/">more effective public policies</a>. </p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Former New York City transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan visits a street in Queens that was closed to cars during the COVID-19 pandemic. Advocates are campaigning to make the closure permanent.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Governments have the tools</h2>
<p>As I see it, road traffic deaths and injuries are not accidents. They are incidents that can be <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/road-traffic-injuries">prevented and reduced</a>. Doing that will require governments and urban planners to reimagine transportation systems not just for speed and efficiency, but also for safety and livability. </p>
<p>That will mean protecting motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians from vehicular traffic and reducing traffic speed on urban roads. It also will require <a href="https://www.pps.org/article/livememtraffic">better road design</a>, <a href="https://extranet.who.int/roadsafety/death-on-the-roads/#speed">enforcement of traffic laws</a> that make the roads safer, and more effective and enforceable measures that promote safety devices like seat belts, child restraints, and helmets for bikers and motorcyclists. </p>
<p>Unlike the COVID-19 pandemic, making streets safer doesn’t require designing new solutions in laboratories. What’s needed is the will to apply tools that have been shown to work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182735/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Rennie Short does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Traffic crashes kill and injure millions worldwide every year and are a major drain on economic development. Improving road safety would produce huge payoffs, especially in lower-income countries.John Rennie Short, Professor, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1619832021-06-15T20:07:57Z2021-06-15T20:07:57ZMany of us want to take our dogs on public transport, but others shudder at the thought — what’s the solution?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405837/original/file-20210611-13-12faehd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C17%2C5725%2C3785&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/girl-hugs-her-dog-spaniel-train-1852870276">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We’ve been looking at the ways people travel with dogs and what it says about attempts to shift towards a more sustainable and healthier transport system. Our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0965856417302161">research</a> first established that trips with dogs in Australia are both common and car-dependent. This is because Australia has some of the <a href="https://animalmedicinesaustralia.org.au/report/pets-in-australia-a-national-survey-of-pets-and-people/">highest rates of dog ownership in the world</a> but we are relatively unusual compared to other countries in that we restrict people taking dogs on public transport. </p>
<p>We are interested in how this situation might be changed. Our recent <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15568318.2021.1919798">research</a> explores why some people might not want dogs on public transport, and how these concerns can be managed. </p>
<p>This research, published in the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15568318.2021.1919798">International Journal of Sustainable Transportation</a>, reports the results of an analysis of 163 comments made on a <a href="https://theconversation.com/riding-in-cars-with-dogs-millions-of-trips-a-week-tell-us-transport-policy-needs-to-change-87094">Conversation article</a> about dogs on public transport. About 40% of comments supported the idea. A similar proportion expressed disapproval. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/riding-in-cars-with-dogs-millions-of-trips-a-week-tell-us-transport-policy-needs-to-change-87094">Riding in cars with dogs: millions of trips a week tell us transport policy needs to change</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The trouble with dogs</h2>
<p>Many of the negative comments included simple statements about the smell of dogs. Others referenced more complex concerns such as hygiene and disease. </p>
<p>Several focused on the impact on people with allergies to dogs. These comments often pointed out that the rights of people with allergies and of those who do not like dogs should take precedence over the rights of dogs and dog owners. </p>
<p>Some comments referred specifically to concerns about the operation of the transport system. They raised issues such as the increased cleaning workload for facilities, the need to replace upholstery more regularly, as well as concern about who would pay the costs of accommodating dogs on public transport. </p>
<p>There were several passionate comments about dog attacks. Statements that dogs are dirty and dangerous often either implicitly or explicitly referenced the notion that dog owners cannot be trusted to control, or minimise the impact of, their dog. </p>
<p>Many claimed that canine and transport contexts are different in Australia, suggesting a policy that works in, for example, a European country would not work in Australia. Sentiment that Australia is somehow “behind” countries in Europe often underpinned these comments.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australians-love-their-pets-so-why-dont-more-public-places-welcome-them-112062">Australians love their pets, so why don't more public places welcome them?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>We need to listen to objections, but there are solutions</h2>
<p>Many of the comments contained opinions that were obviously posted with some emotion. Dogs are, indeed, a polarising issue. This polarity reflects the common perception that there are “<a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2010-17399-001">dog people</a>”. Policy change proposals must consider the opinions of those who support pets on public transport and those who don’t.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two dogs with paws up on fence" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404447/original/file-20210604-27-811o33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404447/original/file-20210604-27-811o33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404447/original/file-20210604-27-811o33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404447/original/file-20210604-27-811o33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404447/original/file-20210604-27-811o33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404447/original/file-20210604-27-811o33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404447/original/file-20210604-27-811o33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dogs can evoke very different responses in people, from finding them cute to seeing them as dirty and dangerous.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our analysis, however, does provide several reasons Sydney’s public transport agencies should consider a policy to allow dogs to travel on public transport. </p>
<p>First, negative comments were more likely to demonstrate unfamiliarity with the operational details of a policy that permits dogs to travel on public transport. For example, physical separation of those travelling with dogs could overcome many of the concerns about smell and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10696858/">even allergies</a>. This separation is easily attainable on trains and also possible on buses. </p>
<p>Similarly, concerns about payment could be resolved by ensuring a ticket must be bought for dogs prior to travel, with the fare based on the cost to the system. This may also go part way to alleviating the sense that allowing dogs on transport is a clash of rights between dog owners and non-owners. </p>
<p>Third, negative comments suggesting Australia’s dogs and dog owners are somehow less responsible than their European counterparts are not supported by <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/animal-bites">empirical evidence</a>. Positive local experiences of travelling with well-behaved dogs could soften negative perceptions.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-a-better-understanding-of-how-we-manage-dogs-to-help-them-become-better-urban-citizens-64749">We need a better understanding of how we manage dogs to help them become better urban citizens</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What might a policy change look like?</h2>
<p>The analysis does suggest opposition could be allayed in time. However, the policy would have to be applied with care. </p>
<p>Other cities that have managed this shift could be consulted for strategies to ensure the policy works well in practice. In <a href="https://www.atm.it/it/AtmNews/AtmInforma/Pagine/regolebuonviaggio.aspx">Milan, Italy</a>, for example, dogs are allowed only on the first and last carriages of the metro. No more than two dogs are allowed on a bus at any one time.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two dogs sitting on a bench at a bus top" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405838/original/file-20210611-15-14dwdew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405838/original/file-20210611-15-14dwdew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405838/original/file-20210611-15-14dwdew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405838/original/file-20210611-15-14dwdew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405838/original/file-20210611-15-14dwdew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405838/original/file-20210611-15-14dwdew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405838/original/file-20210611-15-14dwdew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dogs are allowed on buses in Rome, Italy, but no more than two at a time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-shelties-sitting-outside-on-green-1130447459">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="https://www.vasttrafik.se/en/travel-with-us/during-the-trip/Pets/#Husdjur">Gothenberg, Sweden</a>, only one dog is allowed per bus and the dog must board at the rear of the bus. On trains, dogs are permitted to travel in the last carriage only. In <a href="https://www.irishrail.ie/en-ie/travel-information/travelling-with-animals">Dublin, Ireland</a>, dogs over a certain size must travel near the guard’s bay on trains. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-is-it-true-dogs-dont-like-to-travel-108670">Curious Kids: is it true dogs don't like to travel?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>It’s not just about the dogs</h2>
<p>Travel with dogs might not seem like a priority issue for public transport systems. We argue, though, that Australia’s heavily car-dependent cities need public transport that meets our need for the less obvious, “messy” trips that make up modern lives in cities. By looking beyond the car for these trips, we can develop a system that Australians can use for more than just the journey to work. </p>
<p>This analysis, however, demonstrates the complexity of dragging our public transport systems up to the task of competing with the private car.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161983/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Kent receives funding from the Australian Research Council. She volunteers for the Cat Protection Society.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Corinne Mulley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many Australians are dog owners but feelings run high over the issue of allowing dogs on public transport. Despite polarised opinions, experience overseas shows how concerns can be managed.Jennifer L. Kent, Senior Research Fellow in Urbanism, University of SydneyCorinne Mulley, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1617312021-06-15T12:26:10Z2021-06-15T12:26:10ZWith Ford’s electric F-150 pickup, the EV transition shifts into high gear<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405774/original/file-20210610-15-1vxmnj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C7380%2C4142&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ford calls its all-electric F-150 Lightning "the truck of the future."</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2021/05/19/all-electric-ford-f-150-lightning.html">Ford</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When President Joe Biden took Ford’s electric F-150 Lightning pickup for a <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2021/05/19/biden-ford-f-150-lightning-track-dearborn/5152825001/">test drive</a> in Dearborn, Michigan, in May 2021, the event was more than a White House photo op. It marked a new phase in an accelerating shift from gas-powered cars and trucks to electric vehicles, or EVs. </p>
<p>In recent months, global auto manufacturers have released plans to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-40505671">electrify their vehicle fleets by 2030 or 2035</a>, setting up a race to see who can most quickly shift entirely away from producing vehicles <a href="https://www.caranddriver.com/news/g35562831/ev-plans-automakers-timeline/">powered by gasoline</a>. </p>
<p>Like Biden, former President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/trump-biden-both-boast-about-creating-auto-industry-jobs-differ-n1240000">promised to create jobs in the auto industry</a>. But Trump sought to do it by perpetuating a fossil-fueled system that is the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/inventory-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-sinks">largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions</a>. Automakers benefited from some Trump policies in the short term, including <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-autos-emissions/trump-finalizes-rollback-of-obama-era-vehicle-fuel-efficiency-standards-idUSKBN21I25S">the rollback of fuel economy standards</a>. Now, however, they seem to be embracing the challenge of competing globally in a climate-constrained future. </p>
<p>As an <a href="https://bcb47.wixsite.com/bcb4">environmental historian</a>, I see this moment as pivotal because unlike EVs from manufacturers like Toyota or Tesla, the electric F-150 does not entirely rely on green consumer choice. It places the electric vehicle transition squarely in the hands of mass-market consumers who don’t choose cars based on environmental considerations, and who are buying far more light trucks – pickups, sport utility vehicles and minivans – than cars today.</p>
<p><iframe id="GT7dC" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/GT7dC/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>The century of gasoline</h2>
<p>America’s 20th-century affair with gas-powered cars was not inevitable. From 1890 through about 1915, vehicles powered by <a href="https://theconversation.com/energy-transitions-are-nothing-new-but-the-one-underway-is-unprecedented-and-urgent-104821">horses, coal, electric batteries and gasoline</a> jockeyed for position on U.S. streets. And electric-powered vehicles had some clear advantages. Many consumers feared that gas-powered cars were prone to explode, and there was no nationwide fueling infrastructure. </p>
<p>But World War I combined with a moment of technological convergence that favored the internal combustion engine. Massive new petroleum discoveries in Texas, and later in the Middle East, produced a glut of oil, just as electric lighting replaced kerosene lamps. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405777/original/file-20210610-11008-dxhvtk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Soldiers assess a plank bridge over a gully." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405777/original/file-20210610-11008-dxhvtk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405777/original/file-20210610-11008-dxhvtk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405777/original/file-20210610-11008-dxhvtk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405777/original/file-20210610-11008-dxhvtk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405777/original/file-20210610-11008-dxhvtk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405777/original/file-20210610-11008-dxhvtk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405777/original/file-20210610-11008-dxhvtk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In a photo captioned ‘Another fine example of modern engineering,’ members of the 1919 Transcontinental Motor Convoy decide whether a rickety bridge will support their vehicles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/research/online-documents/1919-transcontinental-motor-convoy">Eisenhower Presidential Library</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1919, Capt. Dwight D. Eisenhower <a href="https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/research/online-documents/1919-transcontinental-motor-convoy">joined a small convoy</a> that crossed the U.S. in gas-powered military vehicles to test Army mobility. It took them 62 days – clear evidence that <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-world-war-i-ushered-in-the-century-of-oil-74585">modern vehicles required better roads</a>. </p>
<p>By World War II, gasoline-powered personal transportation and road-building to support it had become planks of American economic growth. In the 1950s, President Eisenhower furthered that commitment with the construction of the <a href="https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/history.cfm">most extensive system of highways</a> the world had ever seen.</p>
<h2>Car culture and the pickup truck</h2>
<p>Americans’ particular contribution to 20th-century transportation patterns was making automobiles part of a competitive consumer marketplace. Starting in the 1950s, a complex economy of easy financing and advertising drove consumers to buy new and buy often. Every aspect of a car was a potential marketing point, from <a href="https://www.motorcities.org/story-of-the-week/2020/the-1958-buicks-were-fins-and-chrome-models">chrome styling</a> to <a href="https://www.hotrod.com/articles/hemi-engines-ford-chevy-oldsmobile-ardun-big-small-block/">hemi-powered hot rod engines</a> and more modern options like <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/car-maintenance/how-to-add-remote-start-to-your-car/">remote starting</a> and <a href="https://www.motorbiscuit.com/5-family-friendly-suvs-with-fab-rear-seat-entertainment-systems/">rear-seat theaters</a>.</p>
<p>Another uniquely American marketing achievement was framing trucks – utilitarian vehicles designed for work – as rides that could also serve consumers. Advertisers used themes of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdP-xTIipXc">grit and power</a> to sell trucks, depicted in the muddy expanses of western landscapes, to suburban drivers. </p>
<p>Federal fuel efficiency standards enacted in 1978 unintentionally reinforced the idea of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-federal-government-came-to-control-your-cars-fuel-economy-94467">trucks as a consumer product</a>. These <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/mission/sustainability/corporate-average-fuel-economy-cafe-standards">Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards</a> classified pickups as “light trucks,” along with sport utility vehicles and minivans, and set separate fuel efficiency standards for them. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405779/original/file-20210610-28-nt9fmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Biden at the wheel of an electric F-150." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405779/original/file-20210610-28-nt9fmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405779/original/file-20210610-28-nt9fmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405779/original/file-20210610-28-nt9fmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405779/original/file-20210610-28-nt9fmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405779/original/file-20210610-28-nt9fmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405779/original/file-20210610-28-nt9fmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405779/original/file-20210610-28-nt9fmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Joe Biden, a self-described ‘car guy,’ drives a test model F-150 Lightning truck at Ford’s Dearborn Development Center on May 18, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Biden/f6ff6bb8cf8e4da09cd19c60c109705a/photo">AP Photo/Evan Vucci</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By the year 2000, pickup trucks were U.S. automakers’ <a href="https://www.manufacturing.net/automotive/news/21415625/gm-profit-surges-on-truck-sales">most profitable models</a>, and manufacturers were looking for ways to make these vehicles <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/199980/us-truck-sales-since-1951/">more powerful and luxurious</a>. Ford’s F-150 became the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-ford-f-150-became-king-of-cars-96255">best-selling vehicle in the nation</a> in 1982 and held that spot for the next four decades.</p>
<h2>Lightning in a bottle?</h2>
<p>Modern hybrid and electric vehicles emerged in the 1990s, driven by Japanese manufacturers’ innovations. Early versions – the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Insight">Honda Insight</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Prius">Toyota Prius</a>, and later the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Leaf">Nissan Leaf</a> – allowed consumers to choose automobiles that burned much less gasoline, or none in the case of the Leaf. Options like these had been unavailable during the gas crises of the 1970s. </p>
<p>While the Prius, which was the first mass-produced hybrid electric vehicle, will likely be remembered as transformational in the electric transition, <a href="https://www.tesla.com/">Tesla</a> was the first manufacturer to take the possibility of an alternative vehicle and combine it with style and prestige. Tesla brought bling and sex appeal to early EVs, many of which had functioned more like their golf-cart cousins.</p>
<p>Today’s hybrids and EVs aren’t just little sedans. Manufacturers including Honda, Toyota and Ford offer popular hybrid SUVs, and all-electric versions are entering the market. And now the electric F-150 breaks new ground. It’s targeted at small businesses and corporate customers, particularly construction and mining companies, which purchase many trucks. These buyers are the auto industry’s bread and butter.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3-YOvl8ygeg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Car-buying guide Edmunds suggests thinking of the electric F-150 as “a battery you can drive.”</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To satisfy their needs, the Lightning has a battery large enough to travel <a href="https://www.autoweek.com/news/green-cars/g36492134/ford-f-150-lightning-things-to-know/">more than 200 miles per charge</a> (320 kilometers), and paying a bit more gets customers over 300 miles (480 kilometers). An <a href="https://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/f150-lightning/2022/">electric motor on each axle</a> provides faster acceleration than gas-powered models and enough torque to tow 10,000 pounds (4,535 kilograms). </p>
<p>In a unique feature, the truck’s battery pack can be configured to produce 9.6 kilowatts of power – enough to <a href="https://www.autoweek.com/news/green-cars/g36492134/ford-f-150-lightning-things-to-know/">run an average home for three days</a> during an outage. The Lightning also has 11 outlets that enable it to double as a worksite power station for charging tools and gear. </p>
<p>The base model has a <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/most-radical-thing-about-ford-f-150-lightning-cost/">sticker price just under US$40,000</a>, and the Lightning qualifies for a <a href="https://www.cars.com/articles/which-electric-cars-are-still-eligible-for-the-7500-federal-tax-credit-429824/">$7,500 federal tax break</a> for electric vehicle purchases that the Trump administration <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-budget-autonomous/trump-budget-proposes-ending-electric-vehicle-tax-credit-idUSKBN1QS27Q">tried unsuccessfully to end</a>. Combined, those factors can make it <a href="https://www.motor1.com/news/508418/ford-f150-lightning-price-cheapest/">cheaper to buy than its gas-powered sibling</a>.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>Ford’s 1908 Model T may look like ancient history by comparison, but experts chose it as the <a href="https://europe.autonews.com/article/20000103/ANE/1030709/model-t-beats-mini-to-the-car-of-the-century-award">car of the 20th century</a> because it put gas-powered cars within reach for mass consumers. Judging from early consumer buzz, the electric F-150 could play a similar role for EVs today. Ford received <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/09/business/ford-jim-farley-electric-vehicles.html">100,000 preorders in three weeks</a> for the new model, which is scheduled to start rolling off the assembly line in spring 2022. </p>
<p>As one analyst put it, “If this truck is successful, it means <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/todayspaper/quotation-of-the-day-top-selling-us-vehicle-could-be-make-or-break-in-bid-to-cut-emissions.html">you can sell an electric version of any vehicle</a>. It could be the domino that tumbles over the rest of the market for EVs.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161731/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian C. Black does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ford’s electric F-150 pickup won’t roll off assembly lines until early 2022, but the company has received thousands of preorders already for a vehicle aimed at the mass market, not eco-buyers.Brian C. Black, Distinguished Professor of History and Environmental Studies, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1609332021-06-03T20:10:33Z2021-06-03T20:10:33ZDon’t forget the need for zero-emission buses in the push for electric cars<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403699/original/file-20210601-25-1v0qzgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C23%2C5168%2C3422&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nh53/11048683445">NH53/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As part of efforts to decarbonise urban transport, <a href="https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/news-and-events/media-releases/first-electric-bus-for-sydneys-south-west">Australian</a> <a href="https://transport.vic.gov.au/our-transport-future/future-directions-for-transport/our-strategic-directions/environmentally-sustainable-transport/transport-sector-emissions-reduction-pledge">states</a> and the <a href="https://www.cmtedd.act.gov.au/open_government/inform/act_government_media_releases/chris-steel-mla-media-releases/2021/strong-interest-in-the-acts-zero-emission-bus-transition">ACT</a> have <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/the-future-now-solar-powered-bus-takes-first-passengers-20210412-p57ijq.html">announced</a> various zero-emission bus trials and targets for replacing diesel buses. These trials are designed to help resolve some of the complex technical and contractual issues facing bus operators and public transport agencies. </p>
<p>It is important to remember the vital role of buses, and public transport more generally, in decarbonising the transport sector — Australia’s <a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/data-and-publications/national-greenhouse-gas-inventory-quarterly-update-december-2020#download-the-full-report-and-data">third-largest source</a> of greenhouse gas emissions. We fear this point has been lost in recent <a href="https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/5bEMBARGOED5d-AGE-EV-tax.pdf">climate advocacy</a> highlighting the slow pace of the transition to green propulsion for private cars in Australia. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403730/original/file-20210601-19-1r9uw3v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart showing Australian transport sector greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 to 2020" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403730/original/file-20210601-19-1r9uw3v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403730/original/file-20210601-19-1r9uw3v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403730/original/file-20210601-19-1r9uw3v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403730/original/file-20210601-19-1r9uw3v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403730/original/file-20210601-19-1r9uw3v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403730/original/file-20210601-19-1r9uw3v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403730/original/file-20210601-19-1r9uw3v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.industry.gov.au/data-and-publications/national-greenhouse-gas-inventory-quarterly-update-december-2020#download-the-full-report-and-data">Chart. The Conversation. Data: National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Quarterly Update December 2020</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/transport-is-letting-australia-down-in-the-race-to-cut-emissions-131905">Transport is letting Australia down in the race to cut emissions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Our research aims to learn more about the obstacles to an effective transition to zero-emission buses. We are engaging mainly with groups connected with the trial announced by the <a href="https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/investing-buses-future">Victorian Department of Transport</a> in late 2020, but the issues are similar across Australia. </p>
<h2>Why can’t we rely on electric cars?</h2>
<p>Even if Australia’s transition to green-electric cars is successful, the climate benefits will be less than we need. The <a href="https://51431d88-662c-4884-b7bc-b5b93a225b7d.filesusr.com/ugd/d0bd25_bbeb4c905a2b4121b0ef3870648f78cf.pdf">carbon costs</a> of manufacturing replacements for Australia’s <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/industry/tourism-and-transport/motor-vehicle-census-australia/latest-release">20 million-strong</a> vehicle fleet will be equivalent to around 20 years’ emissions from Australia’s <a href="https://environmentvictoria.org.au/our-campaigns/safe-climate/yallourn-australias-dirtiest-power/#:%7E:text=Yallourn%20power%20station%20is%20producing,1.34%20tCO2%2De%2FMWh.">dirtiest brown coal generator</a> at Yallourn. And tonnes of concrete and bitumen will continue to be laid for new toll roads and car parks. </p>
<p>A city of electric vehicles will also perpetuate the fatal burdens of car dependence: <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-need-for-speed-transport-spending-priorities-leave-city-residents-worse-off-94166">urban sprawl</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-policy-that-relies-on-a-shift-to-electric-cars-risks-entrenching-existing-inequities-160856">inequitable access</a> to the riches of city life, <a href="https://theconversation.com/cycling-and-walking-can-help-drive-australias-recovery-but-not-with-less-than-2-of-transport-budgets-142176">suppression of cycling and walking</a>, and a host of <a href="https://theconversation.com/designing-suburbs-to-cut-car-use-closes-gaps-in-health-and-wealth-83961">health risks</a> ranging from physical inactivity to air pollution. Even if exhausts were cleaner, recent <a href="https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/library/reports.php?report_id=992">UK research</a> shows a significant proportion of damaging particulates come from worn tyres and brake linings. </p>
<p>To protect the climate and to make city life safer, fairer and healthier, we need policies that take cars off the roads, regardless of how they are fuelled. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Late afternoon congestion in both directions on the Kwinana Freeway (looking north towards and onto the Narrows Bridge) in Perth, Western Australia" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403702/original/file-20210601-23-oh8d75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403702/original/file-20210601-23-oh8d75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=212&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403702/original/file-20210601-23-oh8d75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=212&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403702/original/file-20210601-23-oh8d75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=212&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403702/original/file-20210601-23-oh8d75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403702/original/file-20210601-23-oh8d75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403702/original/file-20210601-23-oh8d75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Apart from emissions, electric cars won’t solve the other problems associated with heavy car use – such as traffic jams – and could even make them worse.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kwinana_Narrows_heavy_traffic_Dec_2020.jpg">Orderinchaos/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/think-taxing-electric-vehicle-use-is-a-backward-step-heres-why-its-an-important-policy-advance-150644">Think taxing electric vehicle use is a backward step? Here's why it's an important policy advance</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Bus services are under-utilised — we can fix that</h2>
<p>The technical complexities of the transition to zero-emission buses could, if we are not careful, lead governments to lose sight of this bigger picture. Buses can help reduce demand for car travel, but only if they operate as effective links in a seamless public transport network. </p>
<p>In Melbourne, for example, many buses run <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/running-on-empty-secret-data-reveals-melbourne-s-ghost-buses-20190424-p51gpm.html">almost empty</a>. Routes are convoluted and services infrequent. It would be a travesty to invest millions in moving to greener buses without improving services in ways that increase patronage. </p>
<p>We can use internationally <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/53363">proven techniques</a> to restructure the network so buses provide practical and convenient alternatives to the car. We can then attract a new generation of riders who currently <a href="https://trid.trb.org/view/1850927">think</a> that “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/melbourne/programs/mornings/mornings/8257746">buses are not for me</a>”. This is achievable within <a href="https://researchbank.swinburne.edu.au/file/b3d823ed-2030-45cf-b19c-f32a47b3c95e/1/PDF%20(Accepted%20manuscript).pdf">current Australian urban densities</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-cities-planning-to-spend-billions-on-light-rail-should-look-again-at-what-buses-can-do-156844">Why cities planning to spend billions on light rail should look again at what buses can do</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What other challenges must be overcome?</h2>
<p>The first technical challenge is to decide between electric battery and hydrogen power. Most governments are leaning towards batteries. This is largely because the technology and its support systems are more evolved. </p>
<p>However, not all battery buses are created equal. One configuration might work well for a bus that will operate on short routes and can easily return to base to recharge. A bus that will operate on longer or steeper routes might need a different set-up. Operators will need to understand these trade-offs before they order new vehicles.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="electric bus operating on the Balmain route in Sydney" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403700/original/file-20210601-27-1wj2h3p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403700/original/file-20210601-27-1wj2h3p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403700/original/file-20210601-27-1wj2h3p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403700/original/file-20210601-27-1wj2h3p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403700/original/file-20210601-27-1wj2h3p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403700/original/file-20210601-27-1wj2h3p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403700/original/file-20210601-27-1wj2h3p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of Sydney’s ‘Electric Blu’ buses running on the Balmain route – operators must select battery-powered buses that suit their intended route.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ElectricBusSydney.jpg">MDRZ/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As established supply chains and cost structures for fossil fuels become obsolete, operators will also need to come to grips with the intricacies of Australia’s electricity market. At the same time, the power industry is grappling with new forecasts for <a href="https://aemo.com.au/en/newsroom/news-updates/report-highlights-data-needs-for-a-smooth-transition-to-evs">demand</a> and the infrastructure required for <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336733804_How_many_electric_vehicles_can_the_current_Australian_electricity_grid_support">secure supply</a>. Added to this, there are fears of a repeat of the “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-18/australian-gold-plated-power-grid/8721566">gold-plating</a>” by private energy providers and distributors that has plagued the industry in recent years.</p>
<p>The change of power source also creates new challenges for fleet managers. If the transition takes several years, how will an operator manage the changing demands on depot space for refuelling and maintenance? Are depots in the right locations for new patterns of refuelling and deployment? How will the workforce gain the new skills they will need? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-explained-why-switching-to-electric-transport-makes-sense-even-if-electricity-is-not-fully-renewable-136502">Climate explained: why switching to electric transport makes sense even if electricity is not fully renewable</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Issues won’t be resolved overnight</h2>
<p>These issues and other technical questions can certainly be resolved. However, the institutional framework in which this must occur makes it hard to imagine it can be done quickly. </p>
<p>In Melbourne, buses operate under more than 15 <a href="https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/footer/customer-service/operator-contact-details/#metropolitanbus">different contracts</a>, some with multinationals and others with tiny family businesses. These contracts vary in their provisions for determining routes and frequencies, for fleet and depot ownership, and for rollover or re-tendering. This complexity is a historical legacy compounded by decades of political and bureaucratic inertia. </p>
<p>The challenge for governments is to find a path to introducing zero-emission buses and reforming bus networks that deals with the technical uncertainties and the allocation of cost and risk in a fragmented market. The arrival of new commercial players — offering combined bus procurement, operation, charging infrastructure and energy supply — makes the market all the more complex. Nevertheless, success is crucial for the climate and for the health of our cities.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-policy-that-relies-on-a-shift-to-electric-cars-risks-entrenching-existing-inequities-160856">Climate policy that relies on a shift to electric cars risks entrenching existing inequities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160933/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Stone has received funding from the ARC and other Australian and international research bodies and has consulted to state and local governments. He provides volunteer support to the Friends of the Earth Sustainable Cities campaign. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Iain Lawrie and Nat Manawadu do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Transport is the one sector where Australia hasn’t reined in the growth in greenhouse gas emissions. Electric cars will cut emissions but still leave us with all the other problems of car use.John Stone, Senior Lecturer in Transport Planning, The University of MelbourneIain Lawrie, PhD Candidate and Sessional Lecturer in Planning, The University of MelbourneNat Manawadu, Research Assistant, Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1578782021-05-06T20:06:20Z2021-05-06T20:06:20ZFarewell the utopian city. To cope with climate change we must learn from how nature adapts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396699/original/file-20210423-21-jvv6ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5464%2C3631&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/Zeu57mprpaI">Denys Nevozhai/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>“Among all species, it is perhaps only humans who create habitats that are not fit to live in.” – <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Cities-Design-and-Evolution/Marshall/p/book/9780415423298">Stephen Marshall</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>It’s a damning statement but one that can be reasonably <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-12-cities-impacts-biodiversitya-global-overview.html">argued to be true</a>. We don’t have the best track record in creating lasting and sustainable habitats, especially if one considers cities built in the past century. </p>
<p>The next 50 years will demand a new model of urban development. For a more sustainable future in a world of climate change, 21st-century cities must be based on models of adaptation that learn from natural systems. We now have the digital modelling technology to design such cities, rather than the fixed urban form that now dominates our world. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/future-cities-new-challenges-mean-we-need-to-reimagine-the-look-of-urban-landscapes-151709">Future cities: new challenges mean we need to reimagine the look of urban landscapes</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The legacy of cities built for cars</h2>
<p>We are witnessing firsthand the destructive impact of an urban model that dates back to the early 1900s. The automobile was seen as the future of city planning. The city itself was designed like a machine: finite, predictable, perfect and, of course, shiny! </p>
<p>The “ideal” or “utopian” city, put forward as a visionary model for the 20th century, changed the course of city planning. It abandoned the traditional urban fabric of the previous five millennia for a modern urban order in which the car took centre stage. Car manufacturers even <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurama_(New_York_World%27s_Fair)#:%7E:text=Futurama%20was%20an%20exhibit%20and,automated%20highways%20and%20vast%20suburbs.">invested in 20th-century city design</a> in the continuous pursuit of Utopia.</p>
<p>One of the most influential architects and urban planners of the 20th century, Le Corbusier, did not shy away from the role the automobile would play in city design. He even <a href="http://mitp-content-server.mit.edu:18180/books/content/sectbyfn?collid=books_pres_0&id=9008&fn=9780262015363_sch_0001.pdf">pursued sponsorship</a> from companies like Citroen, Michelin and Peugeot to realise his vision. “The motor must save the great city,” he <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Toward_an_Architecture.html?id=4tHX_xHEfC0C&redir_esc=y">wrote</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Model of the Plan Voisin for Paris by Le Corbusier displayed at the Nouveau Esprit Pavilion in 1925" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399094/original/file-20210506-13-62gus8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399094/original/file-20210506-13-62gus8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399094/original/file-20210506-13-62gus8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399094/original/file-20210506-13-62gus8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399094/original/file-20210506-13-62gus8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399094/original/file-20210506-13-62gus8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399094/original/file-20210506-13-62gus8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This 1925 model presented Le Corbusier’s vision of the ordered city of the future.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plan_Voisin_model.jpg">Siefkin DR/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A one-size-fits-all model of repetition</h2>
<p>The vision for this city followed similar patterns: separated pedestrians and vehicles, sprawling low-rise suburbs and scattered open spaces of inordinate sizes – sound familiar? </p>
<p>Most important to this model was the concept of repetition. If it works in Chicago, it will work in Chandigarh.</p>
<p>As the “utopian” urban movement dominated, “Utopia” turned out to be not necessarily a good thing. As early as the 1960s this had become clear through the works of critics like <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-death-and-life-of-great-american-cities-9781847926180">Jane Jacobs</a> and <a href="https://www.patternlanguage.com/archive/cityisnotatree.html">Christopher Alexander</a>. As Jacobs <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-death-and-life-of-great-american-cities-9781847926180">wrote</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Le Corbusier’s dream city was like a wonderful mechanical toy. But as to how the city works, it tells nothing but lies. </p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-might-jane-jacobs-say-about-smart-cities-58278">What might Jane Jacobs say about smart cities?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Cities throughout the world, across a range of scales and locales, exemplify this. Brasilia (Brasil), Detroit (USA), Milton Keynes (England), Norilsk (Russia) – the list goes on – were designed as modernist visions of a single, finite solution. However, this vision quickly unravelled. Overpopulation, climate change, diminishing resources, rampant commercialisation and demographic change have destabilised the urban fabric of modernist cities.</p>
<p>This unfortunately did not deter the continued planning and construction of this “universal city”. All too often the urban pattern was repeated blocks distributed across a grid with little adjustment to the local ecology or environment. Factor in a rapidly changing climate and exponential population growth and mobility, and these cities no longer seem utopian.</p>
<h2>Cities unable to adapt</h2>
<p>The problem with a city detached from its context – one that is generic, repetitive and built around vehicle traffic – is that it resists adaptation. After all, it was not designed to adapt – it is “visionary”, a fixed solution to an ever-changing problem. </p>
<p>Unfortunately for us, the problem has been changing at an alarming rate. The original “solution” is becoming ever more problematic. </p>
<p>The paradox is that repetitive urban form seems to be the quickest solution for the <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html">rapid growth of urban populations</a> globally, unfortunately with dire impacts. Cities are a leading <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/09/1046662">source of carbon emissions</a> that have made them increasingly vulnerable to climatic events, with rising sea levels <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/the-world-s-coastal-cities-are-going-under-here-is-how-some-are-fighting-back/">threatening coastal cities</a> around the world. In some cases, failed cities lie completely abandoned – such as in <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/spain-ghost-towns-photo-gallery/">Spain</a> or <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/pdf/7209">China</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/townsville-floods-show-cities-that-dont-adapt-to-risks-face-disaster-112607">Townsville floods show cities that don't adapt to risks face disaster</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Abandoned high-rise apartment blocks in China" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399098/original/file-20210506-13-1mct5oz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399098/original/file-20210506-13-1mct5oz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399098/original/file-20210506-13-1mct5oz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399098/original/file-20210506-13-1mct5oz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399098/original/file-20210506-13-1mct5oz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399098/original/file-20210506-13-1mct5oz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399098/original/file-20210506-13-1mct5oz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Abandoned residential complexes in the Chenggong district of Kunming, China.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under-occupied_developments_in_China#/media/File:Chenggong,_Kunming,_Yunnan_province,_China.jpg">Chinaunderground/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, some cities – examples include Shibam in Yemen, Fes el Bali in Morocco or the Hutongs in Beijing – have evolved over many centuries as they adapted to changes in their environment and climate. These cities survived in the face of changing conditions. They were built on a model of continuous change. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, changing the built forms and spatial patterns of a city is a slow process. The evolving cities described above managed this by being able to change at a rate that matched changes in local climatic conditions. Today, the pace of global climate change makes it almost impossible for mature cities to adapt.</p>
<p>We need a more sustainable model of urban development. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-next-after-100-resilient-cities-funding-ends-116734">What next after 100 Resilient Cities funding ends?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Technology’s new role in designing cities</h2>
<p>Technological advances in computation and data analysis allow us to create digital simulations of the evolution of cities over centuries. It is now possible to understand the inherent complexity of these systems. We can then replicate the conditions that result in an adaptive city as a whole.</p>
<p>These computational models draw on concepts from the natural world. They learn from how species adapt to their environment and how evolution enables adaptation. The result is urban models based on variation instead of repetition. </p>
<p>Research in this field by the likes of <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/The+Architecture+of+Emergence%3A+The+Evolution+of+Form+in+Nature+and+Civilisation-p-9780470066324">Michael Weinstock</a>, <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/new-science-cities">Mike Batty</a> and many others has increased over the past decade. This work builds on the criticisms made by Jacobs and Alexander in the 1960s, but is now supported by advanced technologies and digital simulations.</p>
<p>The stresses on future cities demand an approach that enables them to adjust to rapid change. Up to now, we have designed a city that is geared towards permanent configurations. It’s the opposite of what is required in a world going through radical changes across multiple frontiers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157878/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mohammed Makki does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The utopian 20th-century model of a modern city – one that has been replicated around the world – is being exposed as unsuitable for adapting to the pace of change in the 21st century.Mohammed Makki, Senior Lecturer in Architecture, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1503802020-12-02T19:08:38Z2020-12-02T19:08:38ZWhy Australian cities need post-COVID vision, not free parking<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371054/original/file-20201124-17-1frvx4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C3%2C1116%2C836&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/BrentToderian/status/1271139167691366401/photo/1">Brent Toderian/Twitter</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many Australian cities have fallen back on offering free car parking to attract visitors back to the CBD after the pandemic. In contrast, cities around the world are basing their recovery strategies on bold and evidence-based urban transformations. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-covid-all-but-killed-the-australian-cbd-147848">How COVID all but killed the Australian CBD</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In August, Adelaide City councillors voted for <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-12/adelaide-to-hold-drivers-month-to-boost-retail-amid-coronavirus/12549148">incentives for people to drive and park within the CBD</a>, including a controversial “driver’s month” promotion. In Perth, <a href="https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/zempilas-free-parking-plan-to-cost-perth-ratepayers-hundreds-of-thousands-20201103-p56b3q.html">free parking in the CBD</a> during the holidays is expected to cost A$700,000. </p>
<p>In Victoria, the state hit hardest by the pandemic, the City of Geelong has announced <a href="https://www.geelongaustralia.com.au/covid19/article/item/8d7d0f8fc065b64.aspx">a range of free CBD parking policies</a> estimated to cost several million dollars. Melbourne City Council has endorsed <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/lost-opportunity-melbourne-considers-slashing-cost-of-parking-as-part-of-car-led-recovery-20201116-p56exx.html">free on-street parking</a> via a voucher system estimated to cost $1.6 million in lost revenue. It’s also seeking to reduce the state-based congestion levy on off-street parking by 25%. </p>
<p>The move to increase car traffic into the central city is perhaps most surprising in the case of Melbourne. Planners have called it a “<a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/a-1960s-solution-planners-slam-city-council-s-push-for-free-parking-20201123-p56h49.html">1960s solution</a>” and a “<a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/lost-opportunity-melbourne-considers-slashing-cost-of-parking-as-part-of-car-led-recovery-20201116-p56exx.html">lost opportunity</a>”. Free parking and other incentives for car travel <a href="https://twitter.com/BrentToderian/status/1296926489045172224">are at odds</a> with the city’s recent <a href="https://participate.melbourne.vic.gov.au/transportstrategy">Transport Strategy 2030</a>, which seeks to prioritise walking, cycling and public transport.</p>
<h2>Parking incentives don’t work</h2>
<p>These car-led approaches to a hoped-for economic recovery were <a href="https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/about-council/committees-meetings/meeting-archive/MeetingAgendaItemAttachments/924/16397/NOV20%20CCL%20AGENDA%20ITEM%206.8.pdf">rushed out ahead of new evidence and modelling</a>. This approach also goes against <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-elephant-in-the-planning-scheme-how-cities-still-work-around-the-dominance-of-parking-space-87098">decades</a> of <a href="https://theconversation.com/empty-car-parks-everywhere-but-nowhere-to-park-how-cities-can-do-better-99031">available</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-can-our-cities-do-about-sprawl-congestion-and-pollution-tip-scrap-car-parking-118393">evidence</a> on the detrimental impacts of conventional urban parking policies in Australia and internationally. </p>
<p>Free parking – pursued and mandated in many cities since the mid-20th century – has a nasty habit of building in unnecessary car use through narrowly targeted subsidies to car users, which directly undermine other transport modes. Parking researcher Liz Taylor <a href="https://www.foreground.com.au/planning-policy/street-fight-car-parks-covid-19-and-the-future-of-urban-retail-part-1/">recently</a> <a href="https://www.foreground.com.au/planning-policy/petrol-powered-planning/">explained</a> the historical myths and troubled relationships between retail and parking we risk perpetuating. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-elephant-in-the-planning-scheme-how-cities-still-work-around-the-dominance-of-parking-space-87098">The elephant in the planning scheme: how cities still work around the dominance of parking space</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>COVID has changed cities, and we must adjust</h2>
<p>Cheap parking has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-07/warrnambool-free-parking-plan-attracts-overstayers/12426236">poor prospects</a> for attracting enough visitors to offset the changes the pandemic has brought to Australian CBDs. CBDs rely heavily on daily office workers – who are now largely working from home – and on large residential populations, including international students and tourists to whom borders are now closed. </p>
<p>In Melbourne, daily journeys into the city are <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/far-from-normal-cbd-businesses-cling-to-customers-as-office-workers-stay-away-20201112-p56dw2.html">down 90%. Only 8% of office towers are occupied</a>. </p>
<p>Even so, car traffic is now at <a href="https://www-theage-com-au.eu1.proxy.openathens.net/politics/victoria/as-busy-as-bourke-street-push-for-cbd-recovery-gathers-pace-20201112-p56dwa.html">roughly 90%</a> of its pre-COVID levels. Cars are already back, but that does not translate to people in CBDs – and road capacity means the city <a href="https://www.openforum.com.au/melbournes-covid-car-crunch/">can’t manage many more cars</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372440/original/file-20201202-15-1dvr3lp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart showing use of cars, public transport and walking in Melbourne from January to the end of November" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372440/original/file-20201202-15-1dvr3lp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372440/original/file-20201202-15-1dvr3lp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372440/original/file-20201202-15-1dvr3lp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372440/original/file-20201202-15-1dvr3lp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372440/original/file-20201202-15-1dvr3lp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372440/original/file-20201202-15-1dvr3lp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372440/original/file-20201202-15-1dvr3lp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Apple mobility data for Melbourne show car travel is back to almost pre-pandemic levels.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://covid19.apple.com/mobility">Apple Mobility Trends</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Similarly, Australian CBD retail landscapes have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-covid-all-but-killed-the-australian-cbd-147848">drastically altered</a>. Experts <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-suburbs-are-the-future-of-post-covid-retail-148802">predict many lasting changes</a>, including retail “localism” in the suburbs. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-suburbs-are-the-future-of-post-covid-retail-148802">The suburbs are the future of post-COVID retail</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Parking hasn’t played any role in these changes. Instead, major economic shifts and political decisions have forced and enabled changes in work and lifestyle. </p>
<p>Many CBD workers simply <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-18/coronavirus-working-from-home-impact-on-australian-cities/12435248">won’t have to come back</a>. CBDs previously didn’t need to be pleasant to be full of people – many were forced to be there. That has changed, and so the city must change too – from a destination of default to a destination of choice.</p>
<h2>The adjustment can create better cities</h2>
<p>Encouraging cars back into the hearts of cities isn’t just a bad recovery strategy. It could be a huge missed opportunity to create more attractive, high-amenity cities. </p>
<p>Around the world, many cities are welcoming the chance to use parking and streets differently, <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-has-proved-working-from-home-is-the-best-policy-to-beat-congestion-148926">farewelling the daily car commute</a> to embrace something better.</p>
<p>In Paris, Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2020/10/20/paris-mayor-anne-hidalgo-to-make-good-on-pledge-to-remove-half-of-citys-car-parking-spaces/?sh=49932fa916ec">visionary “15-minute city” plan</a> aims to replace 60,000 surface parking spaces with green pedestrianised streets, safe dedicated cycling networks and “children streets” near schools. The plan actively turns away from car dominance. </p>
<p>Barcelona’s mayor has announced <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-11/barcelona-s-new-car-free-superblock-will-be-big">a massive green revamp</a> of the central city. Its already successful Superblock model, based on large-scale pedestrianisation, will be super-sized. Intersections and parking are being turned into parks and plazas. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/superblocks-are-transforming-barcelona-they-might-work-in-australian-cities-too-123354">Superblocks are transforming Barcelona. They might work in Australian cities too</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>London is creating <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-28/how-london-s-low-traffic-streets-keep-cars-at-bay">hundreds of low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs)</a>, as is <a href="https://citymonitor.ai/transport/in-one-of-europes-most-car-dependent-cities-lockdown-offers-a-chance-to-rethink-the-road">car-dependent Brussels</a>. LTNs are based on transforming streets with quality cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, closing some streets to car traffic and otherwise instituting low speeds. <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/oslo-pedestrianisation">Oslo’s “Vision Zero” strategy</a> demonstrates the power of these measures to transform cities.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1330986824727224323"}"></div></p>
<p>As these cities are finding, street reclamation projects can succeed quickly, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/16/i-got-it-wrong-since-the-changes-its-become-more-vibrant-life-in-an-ltn">local businesses</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/16/claim-low-traffic-schemes-only-benefit-better-off-debunked-in-new-study">neighbourhoods of all income levels</a> benefit. However, leaders need to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/16/the-guardian-view-on-low-traffic-neighbourhoods-streets-ahead">“hold their nerve”</a> through the complex period of change.</p>
<h2>New ways of seeing cities</h2>
<p>Australian cities are changing with COVID too. Melbourne in particular has been forced to radically rethink streets as public space at a metropolitan scale. Through innovative co-operation between retailers and local councils, <a href="https://melbourneparklets.ushahidi.io/views/map">hundreds of parklets</a> have emerged across the city.</p>
<p>These spaces offer sensible, creative and exciting ways for people to re-embrace dining out after lockdown. The <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/gertrude-street-locals-don-t-want-council-to-call-time-on-garden-party-20201117-p56fb3.html">enthusiastic reception</a> is already causing many retailers to forget about parking and call for permanent changes. </p>
<p>The City of Melbourne has issued 1,300 outdoor dining permits and transformed 200 on-street parking spaces. This raises the the question of whether free parking is the best use of its precious public space and funds. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Diners sit within a green parklet on Lygon Street in Melbourne, having fun on reclaimed street space." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371045/original/file-20201124-17-km8fmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371045/original/file-20201124-17-km8fmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371045/original/file-20201124-17-km8fmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371045/original/file-20201124-17-km8fmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371045/original/file-20201124-17-km8fmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371045/original/file-20201124-17-km8fmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371045/original/file-20201124-17-km8fmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A parklet on reclaimed street space on Lygon Street, Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Liz Taylor (own photo)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While systematic study of parking is often scarce, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837718309797">far</a> <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-value-of-cycling-rapid-evidence-review-of-the-economic-benefits-of-cycling">stronger</a> <a href="https://vtpi.org/walkability.pdf">evidence</a> supports the economic value of space for active transport, green space and outdoor dining. Our future cities can be places where people “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/02/dining/outdoor-dining-nyc.html">will see the street belongs to them</a>”. </p>
<p>Street space can feel like the exclusive (and hostile) realm of cars, but it is simply public land that is currently (mis)allocated to cars. Perceptions are beginning to change, allowing city residents to reimagine what streets might offer beyond moving and storing cars.</p>
<p>The race is on to invite people back to our cities. But a return to streets full of cars, narrow sidewalks crowded with pedestrians, and parking problems that never go away simply isn’t much of an invitation. </p>
<p>When urbanist Brent Toderian asked people to post <a href="https://twitter.com/BrentToderian/status/1168055558068301824">photos showing #TheBeautyofCities</a>, the hundreds of submissions featured green streets full of people walking, cycling and having fun, not car parking and traffic.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150380/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Clements receives funding from the Henry Halloran Trust, and has previously received an Australian Postgraduate Award from the Australian Government. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Taylor receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, the Henry Halloran Trust, iMove and ITS Australia, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the City of Melbourne. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thami receives funding from the European Commission and the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Instead of free parking, our post-COVID CBDs need a big vision to become attractive destinations that aren’t car-friendly at the expense of being people-friendly.Rebecca Clements, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of SydneyElizabeth Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning & Design, Monash UniversityThami Croeser, Research Officer, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1183932019-07-23T20:02:28Z2019-07-23T20:02:28ZWhat can our cities do about sprawl, congestion and pollution? Tip: scrap car parking<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285260/original/file-20190723-91827-3rovln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Car parking occupies a large proportion of urban areas, and cities cannot keep sacrificing so much space to meet demand.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Neil Sipe</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>While car parking was a non-negotiable amenity for baby boomers, it is an eyesore to millennials and the up-and-coming iGen. Newer generations want more city and <a href="https://usa.streetsblog.org/2018/11/13/millennials-unhappily-stuck-in-their-parents-transportation-system/">fewer cars</a>. Globally, scrapping car parking is the latest trend in urban planning. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/freeing-up-the-huge-areas-set-aside-for-parking-can-transform-our-cities-85331">Freeing up the huge areas set aside for parking can transform our cities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Between 2010 and 2015, Philadelphia <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/sep/27/cities-eliminating-car-parks-parking">removed 3,000 off-street parking spaces</a> from its city centre. Copenhagen is <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2011/07/110713-cutting-down-on-city-parking/">following the same path</a>. Zurich has implemented a <a href="https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/S2044-994120140000005017">city-wide cap to llimit parking spaces</a> to 1990s levels. </p>
<p>Amsterdam has announced it will remove parking spaces at a rate of 1,500 a year. The city’s 2025 goal is to eliminate <a href="https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/03/amsterdam-cars-parking-spaces-bike-lanes-trees-green-left/586108/">more than 11,000 parking spaces</a> from its streets to make space for cycling. </p>
<p>San Francisco and New York have adopted the <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2011/07/110713-cutting-down-on-city-parking/">concept of “parklets”</a>. These are mini parks or outdoor café seating areas that temporarily replace a few parking spots during low-demand periods. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-day-for-turning-parking-spaces-into-pop-up-parks-65164">A day for turning parking spaces into pop-up parks</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The theory is that as the amount of parking decreases, the appeal of driving gives way to more environmentally friendly transport modes such as walking, cycling, ride-hailing, car pooling and public transport. </p>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856408000657">evidence</a> suggests reducing or capping parking pays off. In cities that have implemented these measures, driving has declined and public transport use has increased. </p>
<h2>What’s happening in Australia?</h2>
<p>Among the largest Australian cities, Brisbane seems to be going backwards. The Courier Mail recently published a <a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.couriermail.com.au%2Fquestnews%2Fsoutheast%2Fparked-out-suburban-streets-become-oneway-thoroughfares%2Fnews-story%2Fb83f4255072633bb67e57805abbaf9ad%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3wsfXqhstnSA1rG0tceAFCcM2F-Ggn6XO8KUaHEpmG8wGrzwP0d1u7dsc&h=AT0dQKoaMy4zmmWh8oipmADa_mZcUKwQFAu948C-diA36GnT1oH9BGP6v3EqIwSXYgz6QkmIojmp-bIsqdbZ7NWPA5BOehuRCVg_NWUmulMg9fXHs9k-3Af5-kqs9iRGeFJPggJ9LZBI-TfZZyMb-fjTCv-CFV-SVoZ-_ZKhVHoUc5xBIeuhi2kiQPCYYxXk9LY8Vg1wPDAzwHMltpJCfgVxq4ZYyqrVaS0-5Lccw-3iec8nK9plYhw84O87BBdq2gz2sKY0hEkl_xp-U4yuX5MW516YTEavIpiGEDcy_sTZSfCkpTwG5I5UbTYegNSjOx1dm4dwx6PRNWy4biy_M5iyqD1TtyyDAi77A_oaVhr4Kixhoaf1ENp4V-ievUGwXgfmev9xbBsWG0F0SM0ZjkA9jvX50VHiQLh0UoSVz-BlJnjRaM1aox2GOHcxufDSaiOOmwTUmksyp0fXdtuRUO9QqUoSbw2-jvEBOkzSeMJsVHqCw7GIJjHszjaOMJH-ITgVHSdxo4iG_Ixk6i_ysbJwmFvUuubR3Pz406YIX6zGpIJSn7tGhH2q9INg6Jh0B06UY1TNqRlE2Pgs1U9q3Mi1Zj2vje9utYldmc58fyYdfKXB2TEw2u_iYcYm6XvzePm20_BWIg">story</a> stating that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Suburban streets in two Brisbane suburbs have become all-day car parks as the new residents of apartments are forced to resort to on-street parking.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285252/original/file-20190723-91864-fu73f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285252/original/file-20190723-91864-fu73f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285252/original/file-20190723-91864-fu73f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285252/original/file-20190723-91864-fu73f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285252/original/file-20190723-91864-fu73f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285252/original/file-20190723-91864-fu73f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285252/original/file-20190723-91864-fu73f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some on-street parking in Brisbane suburbs is occupied much of the day.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Neil Sipe</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In response to such sentiments, <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/a-car-park-for-every-bedroom-council-proposes-new-apartment-plan-20190604-p51ucx.html">Brisbane City Council proposes</a> to increase the number of parking spaces required for future apartment buildings across the middle and outer suburbs. Parking increases have been framed as adding to the quality of life and safety of Brisbane suburbs. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, Brisbane does not track the existing supply of residential parking. This lack of clarity has created an imbalance of parking supply and provides opportunities for a sharing economy of parking. Operators such as <a href="https://www.parkhound.com.au/">Parkhound</a> and <a href="https://kerb.works/australia/brisbane">KERB</a> enable residents to lease their unused parking while their neighbours exhaust the public supply of on-street parking.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Sydney has officially <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/city-of-sydney-officially-declares-climate-emergency-20190625-p520zd.html">declared a “climate emergency”</a>, following the lead of global cities including <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/05/nyregion/climate-emergency-nyc.html">New York</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/dec/11/london-mayor-sadiq-khan-city-climate-emergency">London</a> (and then <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk-becomes-first-country-to-declare-a-climate-emergency-116428">all of the UK</a>), <a href="https://www.thefifthestate.com.au/urbanism/climate-change-news/auckland-latest-council-to-declare-climate-emergency/">Auckland</a> and <a href="https://vancouver.ca/green-vancouver/climate-emergency-response.aspx">Vancouver</a> (followed by <a href="https://theconversation.com/cognitive-dissonance-canada-declares-a-national-climate-emergency-and-approves-a-pipeline-119151">Canada</a>). While applauded by environmentalists, this declaration does not come with a firm commitment to reduce driving or parking. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk-becomes-first-country-to-declare-a-climate-emergency-116428">UK becomes first country to declare a ‘climate emergency’</a></em></p>
<p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/cognitive-dissonance-canada-declares-a-national-climate-emergency-and-approves-a-pipeline-119151">Cognitive dissonance: Canada declares a national climate emergency and approves a pipeline</a></em></p>
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<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285052/original/file-20190722-116562-83xpwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285052/original/file-20190722-116562-83xpwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285052/original/file-20190722-116562-83xpwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285052/original/file-20190722-116562-83xpwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285052/original/file-20190722-116562-83xpwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285052/original/file-20190722-116562-83xpwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285052/original/file-20190722-116562-83xpwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285052/original/file-20190722-116562-83xpwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many city residents believe they have a right to street parking outside their homes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/north-melbourne-vicaustraliadec-21st-2018-family-1263505273?src=c8Yv8d-CiY1V9m2qJKw17g-1-18&studio=1">Shuang Li/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Similarly, in Melbourne, outside the CBD – where there are <a href="https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/news-and-media/Pages/Ten-year-transport-plan-to-create-more-space-for-people.aspx">plans to reduce parking</a> – there is plenty of free, and largely unmanaged, on-street parking. Residents typically <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14649357.2014.929727">believe they are entitled</a> to this parking space. </p>
<p>Clearly, Australian cities are stuck in the old-fashioned “predict and provide” model of parking supply. This <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856499000075">model</a> relies on the idea that there will always be enough parking if every site provides spaces for all residents, staff, customers and visitors during peak demand periods. </p>
<p>While this approach might have been suitable in the postwar period, it is unworkable for today’s growing, congested and warming cities. The challenge for planners is how to accommodate increasing numbers of urban residents within a reasonable distance from work and amenities. Cities are running out of space for cars – be they moving or parked. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/move-away-from-a-car-dominated-city-looks-radical-but-its-a-sensible-plan-for-a-liveable-future-116518">Move away from a car-dominated city looks radical but it's a sensible plan for a liveable future</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<h2>Is there a better way?</h2>
<p>Certainly. Some cities have begun to set <a href="https://qz.com/1037799/mexico-city-got-rid-of-minimum-parking-requirements-and-other-cities-should-too/">maximum parking standards</a>. In other words, the cities put an upper limit on how many car parks can be provided for a given project. Sometimes these complement minimum parking requirements; in other cases the <a href="https://www.ptcconsultants.co/minimum-parking-requirements-rio/">latter are eliminated</a>.</p>
<p>Selling parking spaces separately from housing units, referred to as “<a href="http://www.thegreatermarin.org/blog/2015/8/8/unbundling-parking-isnt-simple-but-its-worth-it">unbundling</a>”, is another policy that’s becoming popular. It ensures the true cost of car storage is transparent rather than hidden. And it means car-free or one-car households don’t have to pay for parking they don’t need. </p>
<p>Some developers are providing <a href="https://www.afr.com/real-estate/residential/how-the-rise-of-car-sharing-could-slash-property-prices-20190524-p51qog">car-sharing spaces</a> in new construction, instead of individual car parks. </p>
<p>Some employers offer a parking “<a href="https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2017/08/07/cashout-parking-great-little-election-policy/">cash out” option</a> – employees receive a payment in lieu of a parking space. Those employers that continue to offer parking charge fees daily rather than monthly to avoid the “<a href="https://www.behavioraleconomics.com/resources/mini-encyclopedia-of-be/sunk-cost-fallacy/">sunk cost fallacy</a>” – having paid for parking, employees want to get their money’s worth. </p>
<p>Other useful (but hardly new) planning concepts include the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-30-minute-city-how-do-we-put-the-political-rhetoric-into-practice-56136">30-minute city</a>” and “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2543000918300039">transit-oriented development</a>”. These approaches help reduce the need for driving and parking by concentrating people and land uses around public transport stops and corridors.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-30-minute-city-how-do-we-put-the-political-rhetoric-into-practice-56136">'The 30-minute city': how do we put the political rhetoric into practice?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Will reducing spaces lead to parking shortages?</h2>
<p>People are often concerned that if parking is reduced or capped, this will create a parking shortage. This can be avoided if parking is treated as a key component of the urban transport system and managed in coordination with other elements. </p>
<p>Australian cities need to prepare comprehensive parking strategies at the metropolitan level. These strategies must be integrated with general transport and land use plans. Unfortunately, this is often difficult to achieve because state governments are typically responsible for planning and building the transport system while local governments are responsible for parking. </p>
<p>The impacts of parking reductions on urban citizens need to be offset by providing a higher quality and quantity of public and active transport. This requires substantial investments in public and active transport. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cycling-and-walking-are-short-changed-when-it-comes-to-transport-funding-in-australia-92574">Cycling and walking are short-changed when it comes to transport funding in Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Finally, no parking should be free. Revenues from parking fees should be returned to local communities in the form of improved public amenities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118393/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil Sipe receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Myer Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Kimpton receives funding from from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dorina Pojani receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>The global trend is to free up valuable city space by reducing parking and promoting other forms of transport that don’t clog roads and pollute the air. Australian cities are still putting cars first.Neil G Sipe, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, The University of QueenslandAnthony Kimpton, Postdoctoral research fellow, The University of QueenslandDorina Pojani, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1165142019-05-12T20:11:55Z2019-05-12T20:11:55ZCrowded trains? Planning focus on cars misses new apartment impacts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273446/original/file-20190509-183109-10rwvn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When most inner-city apartment residents don't use cars to get around, you can expect public transport to feel the impacts of new developments.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crowded_train_(38690236841).jpg">Eric FIscher/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Wondering why you can’t get a seat on the train? Perhaps it’s because we don’t actually know how many extra people will use public transport when new building developments are planned. As a result, you’re probably in for a bit of a crush.</p>
<p>A traffic impact assessment is usually required when planning a major building development in Australia. This is supposed to assess the impacts of the development on the movement of people and goods. But, in practice, these <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0361198119833967">assessments mainly focus on the movement of cars</a>.</p>
<p>However, car trips are often in the minority when developments have good access to walking, cycling and public transport networks. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3141/2537-14">Trip generation surveys</a> at apartment buildings in inner Melbourne show cars account for only 30-40% of all trips.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nightingales-sustainability-song-falls-on-deaf-ears-as-car-centric-planning-rules-hold-sway-50187">Nightingale's sustainability song falls on deaf ears as car-centric planning rules hold sway</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Despite this shift away from cars, <a href="https://www.atrf.info/papers/2016/files/ATRF2016_Full_papers_resubmission_155.pdf">current planning guidelines in Australia fall short</a> when it comes to planning for other modes of transport associated with new development. Little or no quantitative assessment of trips by walking, cycling and public transport is required.</p>
<h2>Planning focus is still on cars</h2>
<p>Planning for new development in Australia does very little to adequately support public transport, walking and cycling. Investment is geared towards roads at the expense of more sustainable forms of transport.</p>
<p>There is a lack of data on walking, cycling and public transport trips generated by land use developments. Unfortunately, greater resources are required to collect this data as we need to ask people about their travel, rather than simply count cars.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0361198119833967">review</a> of more than 150 trip generation studies conducted worldwide since 1982 found nearly all of these counted car trips from land use developments. Much fewer measured public transport, walking or bicycle trips. Fortunately, though, this situation has been changing over the last 10 years.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272967/original/file-20190507-103085-t7hsck.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272967/original/file-20190507-103085-t7hsck.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272967/original/file-20190507-103085-t7hsck.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272967/original/file-20190507-103085-t7hsck.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272967/original/file-20190507-103085-t7hsck.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272967/original/file-20190507-103085-t7hsck.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272967/original/file-20190507-103085-t7hsck.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272967/original/file-20190507-103085-t7hsck.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Measurement of travel by transport mode at building developments.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">De Gruyter (2019)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cycling-and-walking-are-short-changed-when-it-comes-to-transport-funding-in-australia-92574">Cycling and walking are short-changed when it comes to transport funding in Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Good practice properly considers all transport</h2>
<p>So why is so much focus on the car in traffic impact assessments for such developments? Good practice has long recognised the importance of considering all forms of transport.</p>
<p>Good practice shifts the emphasis from assessing <em>traffic</em> impacts to assessing <em>transport</em> impacts. It recognises that most land use developments generate demand for <em>all</em> forms of transport.</p>
<p>In the UK, <a href="http://bailey.persona-pi.com/Public-Inquiries/Barking%20Riverside/B-Core%20Documents/Category%20D%20National,%20London%20and%20Local%20Policy%20and%20Guidanc%20Documents/D28%20-Guidance%20on%20Transport%20Assessment%20April%202010.pdf">recommended practice</a> is to quantify the number of trips a proposed development is expected to generate for <em>each</em> transport mode, not just the car. These numbers can then be compared against the actual capacity of public transport, walking, cycling and road networks. A <a href="http://www.trics.org/">comprehensive database</a>, with trip data from more than 2,000 developments, supports this process.</p>
<p>Once we know how many public transport, walking, cycling and vehicle trips a development is likely to generate, we can then actively plan for these modes of travel.</p>
<p>For example, will the public transport network have enough capacity to cope with the extra demand? Will new services be required? Will footpaths need to be upgraded? What infrastructure is available for cycling and is this sufficient? Will the extra demand for car trips need to be managed?</p>
<p>Without quantifying the expected number of trips by each transport mode, it’s not possible to answer such questions. We can’t properly manage what we can’t measure.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rethinking-traffic-congestion-to-make-our-cities-more-like-the-places-we-want-them-to-be-111614">Rethinking traffic congestion to make our cities more like the places we want them to be</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>So how can we do better?</h2>
<p>Practice in Australian traffic impact assessments needs to shift towards a multimodal transport focus. Being able to quantify the expected number of trips from a development, by <em>each</em> transport mode, will go a long way to giving more sustainable forms of transport the attention they need.</p>
<p>Sure, collecting data on walking, cycling and public transport trips is more resource-intensive and costs more. But without this data the long-term cost to society is greater.</p>
<p>Recent efforts have integrated the <a href="http://www.tdbonline.org/">UK and Australasian trip databases</a>, but this needs more data on non-car modes for Australia.</p>
<p>Australian state and national guidelines on traffic impact assessments also need to change. This will far better support practitioners in assessing the <em>real</em> transport impacts of proposed building developments.</p>
<p>Above all, we need to picture what type of future we want for our cities. Do we want a future dominated by the car? Or do we want to prioritise liveability in cities where walking, cycling and public transport are real options?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/this-is-what-our-cities-need-to-do-to-be-truly-liveable-for-all-83967">This is what our cities need to do to be truly liveable for all</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Once built, developments typically remain in place for a very long time. It’s therefore important that traffic impact assessments can influence the development of our transport systems in the right manner.</p>
<p>Properly considering all modes of transport will allow us to plan more effectively for walking, cycling and public transport. This will help to reduce our reliance on the car and enhance the liveability of our cities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116514/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris De Gruyter works for RMIT University.
He is a member of the Australian Institute of Traffic Planning and Management (AITPM) and the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE).</span></em></p>Traffic impact assessments required of major building developments mainly focus on the movement of cars, but these account for only 30-40% of trips by inner-city apartment dwellers.Chris De Gruyter, Vice-Chancellor's Research Fellow, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/925742018-03-19T18:38:07Z2018-03-19T18:38:07ZCycling and walking are short-changed when it comes to transport funding in Australia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210711/original/file-20180316-104639-u33fzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The 'Bicycle Snake' in Copenhagen separates pedestrians and cyclists, allowing both to navigate the city more safely.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.cycling-embassy.dk/2016/03/15/city-of-bikes-copenhagen-the-philosophy-of-becoming-the-worlds-best-cycling-city/cykelslangen-dissingweitling/">Cycling Embassy of Denmark/DISSING+WEITLING</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>To understand why Australian cities are <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-cities-are-far-from-being-meccas-for-walking-and-cycling-87331">far from being meccas for walking and cycling</a>, follow the money. Our research has collated data for all the states and territories and our three biggest cities. We found that cycling and walking receive a tiny fraction of overall transport infrastructure funding. To improve cycling and walking infrastructure in our cities, funding will have to increase significantly.</p>
<p>The United Nations <a href="https://europa.eu/capacity4dev/unep/document/global-outlook-walking-and-cycling-policies-realities-around-world">has recommended</a> that governments dedicate 20% of transport funding to non-motorised or active transport. To see how Australia compares against this target, we looked at budgets for three capital cities and all the states and territories. Commonwealth funding was not included because the federal government only funds active travel as part of larger infrastructure projects.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-cities-are-far-from-being-meccas-for-walking-and-cycling-87331">Australian cities are far from being meccas for walking and cycling</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Hidden data</h2>
<p>Compared to the widely available expenditures for roads and public transport, it’s hard to pin down spending for cycling and walking. The data are spread across a myriad of documents, and entities report them differently. For example, walking infrastructure figures might be reported separately or bundled with cycling or road projects.</p>
<p>Unclear reporting, in itself, indicates active travel’s low status in the transport funding hierarchy. </p>
<p>To gather the expenditures reported here, we had to draw on a variety of sources. Our data are not perfect or perfectly comparable across time and place, but do indicate relative spending levels. </p>
<h2>Municipal spending</h2>
<p>This research considers Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. For a number of years, the <a href="https://www.bicyclenetwork.com.au/">Bicycle Network</a> produced the Bicycle Expenditure Index (BiXE), which examined local government spending for bicycle infrastructure. Unfortunately, 2012 was the last year that BiXE was produced. Our analysis is based on the annual budgets for the three cities instead of BiXE. </p>
<p>Brisbane and Sydney have been allocating a very small portion of their transport budgets (6-9%) to cycling and walking. Brisbane has the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-cities-are-far-from-being-meccas-for-walking-and-cycling-87331">lowest active travel rates</a> of the three cities. Despite this, its budget for walking and cycling has slightly decreased in the current cycle. </p>
<p>By contrast, major change is under way in Sydney. In the 2019-2020 cycle, the council has set aside nearly a quarter of its transport budget to active transport. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210480/original/file-20180315-104650-1jjoqjc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210480/original/file-20180315-104650-1jjoqjc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210480/original/file-20180315-104650-1jjoqjc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=241&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210480/original/file-20180315-104650-1jjoqjc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=241&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210480/original/file-20180315-104650-1jjoqjc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=241&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210480/original/file-20180315-104650-1jjoqjc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210480/original/file-20180315-104650-1jjoqjc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210480/original/file-20180315-104650-1jjoqjc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Funding for cycling and walking infrastructure is highlighted in red. (Click on table to enlarge.)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As for Melbourne, the city is devoting more than half of its transport budget to footpaths and cycleway projects in the current budget period. But here too the allocated budget is projected to decrease in coming years to about 28% in 2020-2021. </p>
<p>Most of the Melbourne City funding appears to have been dedicated to <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/victorias-bike-budget-lags-behind-most-other-states-report-finds-20170515-gw56rz.html">footpaths rather than cycleways</a>. This approach will not help increase cycling rates in the inner city, which have stagnated at <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-cities-are-far-from-being-meccas-for-walking-and-cycling-87331">about 5% in recent years</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/slow-cycling-isnt-just-for-fun-its-essential-for-many-city-workers-92505">Slow cycling isn't just for fun – it's essential for many city workers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>State and territory spending</h2>
<p>The 2015-2016 state and territory budgets are disappointing in that they continue the trend of <a href="https://www.onlinepublications.austroads.com.au/items/AP-C93-17">underfunding active transport infrastructure</a>. The difference between active transport and <a href="https://bitre.gov.au/publications/2017/yearbook_2017.aspx">road funding</a> is staggering: most states devote less than 2% of funding to cycling. </p>
<p>All Australian states and territories are far below the United Nations target of 20%. The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), at 14%, is the only place that has made a real effort to meet the UN target.</p>
<iframe id="datawrapper-chart-GOou8" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/GOou8/4/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important;" height="453" width="100%"></iframe>
<p>Also, per capita dollar amounts devoted to active transport are low everywhere (under A$20 a year). As a benchmark, Copenhagen – regarded as the <a href="http://copenhagenizeindex.eu/01_copenhagen.html">world’s best city for cycling</a> – has spent A$30 per capita a year for the past decade. </p>
<p>In Australia, the ACT is an exception at A$79 per capita in 2016. In fact, the ACT has some of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-cities-are-far-from-being-meccas-for-walking-and-cycling-87331">highest cycling rates</a> at metropolitan level (though this is only about 3%). Also, the Northern Territory had more than doubled its spending by 2016, rising to A$36 per capita from only A$15 in 2011. </p>
<iframe id="datawrapper-chart-AqdMV" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/AqdMV/3/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important;" height="468" width="100%"></iframe>
<p>The amounts spent “per helmet” are much larger. But, in most cases, this is only because cyclists make up a small fraction of the population. </p>
<iframe id="datawrapper-chart-8nIPk" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/8nIPk/2/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important;" height="400" width="100%"></iframe>
<p>Another way to look at <a href="https://bitre.gov.au/publications/2017/yearbook_2017.aspx">road</a> and <a href="https://www.onlinepublications.austroads.com.au/items/AP-C93-17">cycling</a> funding is “cents on the dollar” – that is, how many cents go to cycling for each dollar spent on roads. The typical amount is less than two cents – although Victoria has almost reached three cents in some years. The ACT’s spending is not shown on the graph because it is high and would distort the scale for the other states and territories. </p>
<iframe id="datawrapper-chart-4nMFB" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/4nMFB/3/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important;" height="543" width="100%"></iframe>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sidelining-citizens-when-deciding-on-transport-projects-is-asking-for-trouble-92840">Sidelining citizens when deciding on transport projects is asking for trouble</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The future of cycling in Australian cities</h2>
<p>Australian cities are ideal for cycling and walking for <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692314001951">most of the year</a>. But cyclists and pedestrians are being short-changed while infrastructure spending continues to <a href="https://theconversation.com/cutting-cycling-funding-is-economic-non-sense-7547">favour cars</a>.</p>
<p>This situation reflects the blinkered vision that Australia <em>cannot</em> and <em>need not</em> be a world leader in active travel. Our cities, which have some of the widest roads in the world, are supposedly too difficult to retrofit for walking and cycling. Many older cities overseas have redesigned much narrower streets for active transport.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209276/original/file-20180307-146655-1e0q0ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209276/original/file-20180307-146655-1e0q0ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209276/original/file-20180307-146655-1e0q0ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=184&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209276/original/file-20180307-146655-1e0q0ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=184&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209276/original/file-20180307-146655-1e0q0ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=184&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209276/original/file-20180307-146655-1e0q0ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=231&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209276/original/file-20180307-146655-1e0q0ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=231&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209276/original/file-20180307-146655-1e0q0ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=231&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Low-grade shared cycling lanes in Toronto, Canada (left) and high-quality, segregated cycling paths in Bogotá, Colombia (right).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dylanpassmore/">Dylan Passmore / Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Australia any such retrofit requires long public consultation processes. Australians must accept incremental increases in active transport funding while road funding continues to dominate transport budgets. </p>
<p>Not only is this vision shortsighted, it is <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-cities-are-crying-out-for-better-planning-but-the-research-funding-is-missing-91651">sexist</a>, ageist and classist. Cars cost their owners more than <a href="https://www.aaa.asn.au/storage/aaa-affordability-index-q3-2017.pdf">A$300 per week</a> on average. This limits travel options for youth, low-income people and <a href="https://theconversation.com/mansplaining-australian-cities-we-can-do-something-about-that-83436">women</a>. These groups are already vulnerable to <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/relationship-between-transport-and-disadvantage-austr">transport disadvantage</a>, and failing to fund cycling and walking projects can make their situation worse. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.worldofbooks.com.au/crap-cycle-lanes-by-warrington-cycle-campaign-gor001211417.html">Mediocre active travel infrastructure</a> is unacceptable in a wealthy OECD country. We need and can have world class active travel infrastructure. This type of investment makes <a href="https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/for-professionals/built-environment">economic, health and environmental sense</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92574/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dorina Pojani receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Kimpton receives funding from from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Corcoran receives funding from from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil Sipe receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Myer Family Foundation. </span></em></p>New analysis reveals just how little is spent on cycling and walking projects around Australia. No state’s spending on cycling is more than 1.5% of its road funding.Dorina Pojani, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, The University of QueenslandAnthony Kimpton, Casual Lecturer in Urban Sociology and Geography, The University of QueenslandJonathan Corcoran, Professor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of QueenslandNeil G Sipe, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/873312018-02-04T18:06:58Z2018-02-04T18:06:58ZAustralian cities are far from being meccas for walking and cycling<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204189/original/file-20180131-38226-7kmhy4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Only in a few active travel strongholds, typically in the inner city, do Australian cycling and walking rates get close to those in Europe.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewrobinson10/5248034371/in/photolist-74zgNZ-87UgNM-74zojM-vgFRW-5rxN3C-74Df7w-7QVEiT-5rxGiW-74CVYj-5rtyHg-5LbHRp-5rtPYK-8ioPoP-Zp1r5s-2aR4uH-3RDLx-7uyEGz-5rtA2R-5ry8WL-5rtpDF-TQSjBi-5ry349-8ZKxMe-5rxHo1-YvehY2-YgQBca-VrbAuJ-r1SmLj-8ZNCJo-8ZM9A9-8REFqN-8pFdX5-74DgiY-74Daqu-74zfst-74D9Q5-74zcwH-74z9L2-74z8YK-74z7ui-74CZMG-74z3fe-74z2LV-62yS3x-5rtVwr-5ryaAW-5rtJHR-5rxZch-5rxS6G-K4Rq5">Andrew Robinson/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australian city planners are seeking ways to make cities better for walking and cycling.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.walkscore.com/">Walkability</a> and <a href="http://www.pct.bike/">cyclability</a> are attractive and “green” urban amenities. They reduce pollution and improve health. They are also economic assets. </p>
<p>In developing countries, active transport is key to improving accessibility for the urban poor. In developed countries, the walkable and cyclable city can be a magnet for attracting and retaining the “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/12/americas-most-walkable-cities/67988/">creative class</a>”. </p>
<p>In Australia, plans and projects are being developed to extend pedestrian malls and cycling paths, restrict car traffic, <a href="https://theconversation.com/freeing-up-the-huge-areas-set-aside-for-parking-can-transform-our-cities-85331">remove street parking</a> and install more lighting. </p>
<h2>Have these efforts paid off?</h2>
<p>Yes and no. Recently released <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyReleaseDate/7DD5DC715B608612CA2581BF001F8404?OpenDocument">2016 Census data</a> reveal some disappointing commuting patterns in Australian cities. </p>
<p>Across metropolitan areas, typically plagued by sprawl and segregated land uses, cars still dominate. Car-based commuting rates have decreased by only 1-2%. </p>
<p>Public transport use remains relatively low. Even in Sydney, it captures only about one-quarter of commute trips. </p>
<p>Since 2011, Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin have made modest gains (2-4%) in public transport use. Brisbane has had an incremental decline. Public transport use is stagnant in Perth, Adelaide, Hobart and Canberra.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203650/original/file-20180128-100893-12cw2vf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203650/original/file-20180128-100893-12cw2vf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203650/original/file-20180128-100893-12cw2vf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=204&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203650/original/file-20180128-100893-12cw2vf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=204&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203650/original/file-20180128-100893-12cw2vf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=204&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203650/original/file-20180128-100893-12cw2vf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=256&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203650/original/file-20180128-100893-12cw2vf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=256&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203650/original/file-20180128-100893-12cw2vf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=256&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Meanwhile, rates of walking and cycling remain constant and low – even in smaller centres such as Hobart, Darwin and Canberra. Even in the most “cycling-oriented” places (Darwin and Canberra), only about 3% of commuters cycle. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203651/original/file-20180128-100929-e5r516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203651/original/file-20180128-100929-e5r516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203651/original/file-20180128-100929-e5r516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=204&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203651/original/file-20180128-100929-e5r516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=204&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203651/original/file-20180128-100929-e5r516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=204&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203651/original/file-20180128-100929-e5r516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=256&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203651/original/file-20180128-100929-e5r516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=256&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203651/original/file-20180128-100929-e5r516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=256&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>City-level data tell a different story. Here, walking is more popular than at the wider metro level. This reflects the mono-centric nature of Australian cities, where most jobs are located in the CBD. </p>
<p>In larger cities, between a quarter and a third of the population walks to work. Similar proportions of commuters use public transport. Brisbane is an exception, with less walking, lower public transport use and much more driving than Sydney, Melbourne or Perth. Hobart and Darwin have low walking rates and are very car-dependent, which is surprising considering their small size. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203733/original/file-20180129-100899-4wj80w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203733/original/file-20180129-100899-4wj80w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203733/original/file-20180129-100899-4wj80w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=226&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203733/original/file-20180129-100899-4wj80w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=226&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203733/original/file-20180129-100899-4wj80w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=226&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203733/original/file-20180129-100899-4wj80w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203733/original/file-20180129-100899-4wj80w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203733/original/file-20180129-100899-4wj80w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Average cycling rates are low everywhere – only 2-5%. This is true in both large and small cities, tropical (Queensland and Northern Territory) and oceanic (southeastern Australia) climates, flat and hilly topographies.</p>
<p>However, averages are deceptive. In Melbourne’s “top cycling suburbs” (Fitzroy North and Carlton North/Princes Hill) cycling rates are as high as 15%. Similarly, in Brisbane’s “top cycling suburbs” (West End and Highgate Hill), about 8% of people cycle to work. Sydney’s cycling rates are only 5% even in its “top cycling suburbs” (Erskineville/Alexandria and Newtown/Camperdown/Darlington). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203734/original/file-20180129-100905-1433pkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203734/original/file-20180129-100905-1433pkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203734/original/file-20180129-100905-1433pkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=216&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203734/original/file-20180129-100905-1433pkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=216&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203734/original/file-20180129-100905-1433pkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=216&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203734/original/file-20180129-100905-1433pkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203734/original/file-20180129-100905-1433pkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203734/original/file-20180129-100905-1433pkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>To <a href="http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/167476.aspx">compare</a>, cities in Northern and Western Europe have average active transport rates at least twice as high as those in Australia. Over half of Copenhagen’s commute trips are via cycling or walking. </p>
<p>However, while Australian cities as a whole fall much behind international best practice, some suburbs are comparable. In Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, the “top active-travel suburbs” – the CBDs and their immediate surroundings – have walking and cycling rates in the 40-50% range. </p>
<p>Overall, improvements in walking and cycling rates have been minimal since the 2011 Census. For most cities, this undermines <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/what-is-a-new-world-city-anyway-20150509-ggxti9.html">urban prestige</a> and competitiveness – not to mention the health and environmental implications. Conversely, Melbourne’s higher active travel rates might provide part of the explanation for it topping “<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-16/melbourne-named-worlds-most-liveable-city-for-seventh-year/8812196">most liveable city” lists</a>. </p>
<h2>Why isn’t Australia an active travel mecca?</h2>
<p>In theory, Australian cities are ideal for walking and cycling. They have mild climates, stable and wealthy governments, as well as sporty, outdoorsy and increasingly health-conscious residents. Despite this, the data show that overall active travel (especially cycling) is still marginal. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203617/original/file-20180127-100929-8c2duh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203617/original/file-20180127-100929-8c2duh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203617/original/file-20180127-100929-8c2duh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203617/original/file-20180127-100929-8c2duh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203617/original/file-20180127-100929-8c2duh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203617/original/file-20180127-100929-8c2duh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=775&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203617/original/file-20180127-100929-8c2duh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=775&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203617/original/file-20180127-100929-8c2duh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=775&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Barriers to active travel, grouped into ‘ideas’, ‘interests’ and ‘institutions’ – a popular theoretical framework in public policy studies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1068/a130169p">Pojani & Stead, 2014</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.pedbikeinfo.org/data/library/details.cfm?id=4414">Academic research has unequivocally demonstrated</a> that substantive changes can occur only through a combination of high-quality infrastructure, pricing policies and education programs. In Australia, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/14/britain-cycle-lanes-cities">as elsewhere</a>, myriad barriers conspire against such an integrated approach. </p>
<h2>What needs to be done?</h2>
<p>Three main areas require intervention. </p>
<p><strong>1. Ideas</strong>: Active travel must become normalised as an integral part of transport planning. Footpaths, crosswalks and bicycle lanes must be standard elements of street templates and guidelines, just like telephone lines and fire hydrants.</p>
<p><strong>2. Interest</strong>: Councils must secure strong political support for walking and cycling, as well as unity and collaboration within the active travel community. Solid evidence is needed on the <a href="https://www.itdp.org/publication/the-benefits-of-shifting-to-cycling/">benefits</a> of high-quality walking and <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-what-bike-sharing-programs-need-to-succeed-85969">cycling environments</a> and on the impacts on businesses and households of removing traffic and parking lanes to accommodate footpaths, bike paths and <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13574809.2017.1369875?journalCode=cjud20">pedestrian malls</a>. </p>
<p>Persistence and consistency in messages to the public, and a non-antagonistic stance, are also important. To <a href="https://www.psychology.org.au/public-interest/environment/motivation">embrace active travel</a>, people must feel positive about creating a more just, fun, safe and healthy world through their informed travel choices. </p>
<p><strong>3. Institutions</strong>: More government funding for active transport – independent of political cycles – must be provided, while at the same time allowing more local planning autonomy. The most recent <a href="https://europa.eu/capacity4dev/unep/document/global-outlook-walking-and-cycling-policies-realities-around-world">United Nations’ recommendation</a> is that 20% of transport funding go to non-motorised modes. </p>
<p>Australia falls short of this target, but finding out exactly how far off is a challenge. The Australian government makes no mention of active travel in its <a href="http://budget.gov.au/2017-18/content/glossies/jobs-growth/html/jobs-growth-01.htm">2017-2018 infrastructure budget</a> allocation. Each local and state government reports on it differently. </p>
<p>In 2016, the combined <a href="https://www.onlinepublications.austroads.com.au/items/AP-C93-17">state and territory investments in cycling infrastructure</a> totalled only A$121.8 million. That’s a small fraction of <a href="https://www.onlinepublications.austroads.com.au/items/AP-R526-16">road funding</a> (A$20.2 billion in 2011-12). Data on walking infrastructure spending are unavailable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87331/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dorina Pojani works for the University of Queensland. She receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Corcoran works for The University of Queensland. He receives funding from The Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil Sipe receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Myer Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Butterworth and Jim Cooper do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A comparison of Australian cities reveals cyclists and walkers are still very much a minority of commuters, despite the economic, health and environmental costs. Action on three fronts is needed.Dorina Pojani, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, The University of QueenslandElizabeth Butterworth, The University of QueenslandJim Cooper, Senior Research Fellow, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of QueenslandJonathan Corcoran, Professor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of QueenslandNeil G Sipe, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/870942017-12-10T19:12:56Z2017-12-10T19:12:56ZRiding in cars with dogs: millions of trips a week tell us transport policy needs to change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194761/original/file-20171115-19829-b52asq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Having a pet dog turns out to be a highly car-dependent affair.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dog owners depend very heavily on their cars to transport and care for their pets. Our recently published <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856417302161">study</a> estimates that dog owners make about 2.4 million dog-related trips a week in Sydney. We also found pet owners overwhelmingly want to be able to travel on public transport with their pets. So why are they still excluded?</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-a-better-understanding-of-how-we-manage-dogs-to-help-them-become-better-urban-citizens-64749">We need a better understanding of how we manage dogs to help them become better urban citizens</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>Our study, involving more than 1,250 Sydney dog owners, looked at popular activities owners do with their dogs and how often these require a trip by car. Typical activities include:</p>
<ul>
<li>walking</li>
<li>visiting the park or other recreational areas</li>
<li>dog training</li>
<li>going to cafés, bars or shops</li>
<li>visiting family, friends or the vet. </li>
</ul>
<p>On average, we found people walk their dog twice or more a week. While this confirms <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091743507003775">existing research</a>, we found that one in four dog walks actually began with a drive in a car. Of the more than 75% of dog owners who go to a recreational area twice or more a week, 45% get there by car. And of the two-thirds of people who go to the dog park three times a week, more than half travel by car.</p>
<p>This demonstrates a surprisingly high reliance on private cars for dog ownership. The table below clearly shows this. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194753/original/file-20171115-19841-1c1ibfb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194753/original/file-20171115-19841-1c1ibfb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194753/original/file-20171115-19841-1c1ibfb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194753/original/file-20171115-19841-1c1ibfb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194753/original/file-20171115-19841-1c1ibfb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194753/original/file-20171115-19841-1c1ibfb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194753/original/file-20171115-19841-1c1ibfb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Activities undertaken by dog owners and the number of dog-related car trips each week.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The survey also found that, on average, people visit a vet three times a year. They use a car for 86% of those trips. </p>
<p>However, 14% said lack of transport had prevented them from taking their dog to a vet. People who did not own a car were more likely to fall into this category.</p>
<h2>So, why does this matter?</h2>
<p>Our results indicate that enjoying and caring for a dog in Australian cities – which has <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-pets-strengthen-neighbourhood-ties-79755">proven health and social benefits</a> – is a relatively car-dependent affair. And car dependency is something urban <a href="https://theconversation.com/stuck-in-traffic-we-need-a-smarter-approach-to-congestion-than-building-more-roads-84774">planners want us to leave behind</a> for many reasons, including sustainability, health and <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/healthy-liveable-cities-44685%20in%20our%20cities">liveability</a>.</p>
<p>If we are trying to reduce car use, understanding activities that lead to car dependence is important. We are particularly interested in the unintentional, often negative, consequences for individuals who, by choice or circumstance, do not have access to a car. A compromised ability to enjoy and care for a dog is one such consequence.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197467/original/file-20171203-5392-1lre7jv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197467/original/file-20171203-5392-1lre7jv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197467/original/file-20171203-5392-1lre7jv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197467/original/file-20171203-5392-1lre7jv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197467/original/file-20171203-5392-1lre7jv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197467/original/file-20171203-5392-1lre7jv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197467/original/file-20171203-5392-1lre7jv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197467/original/file-20171203-5392-1lre7jv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">All European cities allow dogs on public transport but most cities in the US and Australia do not.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chihuahua-arms-travels-public-transport-615671681?irgwc=1&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=TinEye&utm_source=77643&utm_term=">TIF Fotos/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A policy solution would be to allow dogs on public transport in Australian cities. Unsurprisingly, our survey of dog owners found an overwhelming 95% support this. </p>
<p>More than half indicated they would do more activities with their hound if this were allowed. And 20% said they would even consider getting by without one of their cars if they could take their dog on public transport.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-there-a-place-for-dogs-in-public-space-or-must-they-make-do-with-dog-parks-56147">Is there a place for dogs in public space, or must they make do with ‘dog parks’?</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>What are the rules in other countries?</h2>
<p>With these findings in mind, we investigated public transport policies on pets in 30 cities across Europe, the United States and Australia. We found all European cities allowed dogs on public transport. Most cities in the US and <a href="https://transportnsw.info/travel-info/using-public-transport/travelling-with-animals-pets">Australia</a> did not.</p>
<p>The policies allowing dogs vary. Some apply limits on where on the train, tram or bus a dog may travel, on travel during peak hours, and on the size of dog. In cities such as Paris, dogs must pass a “basket test” for riding in a carrier or small bag. </p>
<p>Most cities charge a fare for dogs at a concession or child price. Zurich has gone a step further by offering an <a href="https://www.sbb.ch/en/travelcards-and-tickets/tickets-for-switzerland/dogs.html">annual travel card</a> for dogs.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/johnny-depps-dogs-show-evolving-ideas-of-animal-citizenship-41968">Johnny Depp’s dogs show evolving ideas of animal ‘citizenship’</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>It is interesting that in cultures where private cars are dominant – such as Australia and the US – dogs are restricted from riding on public transport. In Europe, where car ownership and use are less common and public transport use is more the norm, dogs are welcome on trains and buses.</p>
<p>This perhaps says something about how we see public transport in Australia: it is for predictable and “clean” trips, such as the journey to work. </p>
<p>In reality, our lives are made up of messy trips, and to reduce car dependence we need to plan for this mess. This might include measures such as changes to timetables, making the interior of trains and buses more suitable for people carrying groceries, or allowing people to use the train to take their dog on an outing or to the vet. If public transport is for travel for all citizens and dogs are an important part of so many people’s lives, why should dogs be excluded from public transport?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87094/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australian cities generally don’t allow pet dogs on public transport. Instead, owners need their own vehicle to travel with their dogs, and it’s a surprisingly important factor in our car dependency.Jennifer L. Kent, Senior Research Fellow in Urbanism, University of SydneyCorinne Mulley, Professor; Chair in Public Transport, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/832162017-09-04T20:13:09Z2017-09-04T20:13:09ZRetrofitted cities are forcing residents to live with planning failures – we’re due for a rethink<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183946/original/file-20170830-23696-1fxrg92.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">So much for context – authorities are allowing large out-of-place buildings in the higher-density retrofitting push.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Linley Lutton</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia will probably look back on the current period of attempting to retrofit its capital cities as a great demonstration of poor city planning. </p>
<p>Shallow planning ideology rather than common sense is the driver. Justified in the name of sustainability, the results are often substandard living environments showing no relationship to the local context.</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hall_(urbanist)">Sir Peter Hall</a>, one of England’s greatest modern-day planners, had the view that city planning had lost its way and planners lacked an understanding of what makes good cities. This is evident in Australian cities today. </p>
<p>Fifty years earlier, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Jacobs">Jane Jacobs</a>, too, had exposed the continual failure of city planning in the US. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-might-jane-jacobs-say-about-smart-cities-58278">What might Jane Jacobs say about smart cities</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>Modern young cities typically have two broad planning failings: the distribution of single-use land zones, and the promotion of car dependency. This dispersed city form means we have to work, sleep, shop and socialise in different parts of the city. Everyday life depends on ever-expanding roads and freeways. Sociologist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Oldenburg">Ray Oldenburg</a> warned that the time spent travelling within the city shrinks personal and community development time.</p>
<p>Planners now wish to correct past errors by increasing densities, discouraging car dependency, and mixing land uses. In principle, these are sound planning strategies inspired by observing older European cities. </p>
<p>What planners fail to appreciate is the many unique historic, cultural, geographic and climatic variables that gave rise to the compact European city form. High-density living works in European cities where streets are at human scale, buildings are interesting and public meeting places abound. </p>
<p>The Australian approach is very different. In Australia, high-density means small high-rise apartments, jam-packed home units and minimal public open space. </p>
<p>Retrofitting Australian cities to satisfy the planner’s desire for change and the developer’s need for profit has many implementation problems. Lack of suitable land is the main one. The failure to understand the unique qualities of Australian culture and how people choose to live is another significant problem.</p>
<p>While small affordable apartments are suitable at certain times in one’s life, <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/wp%20content/uploads/2014/04/090_cities_report_housing_market.pdf">recent research</a> confirms the great majority of Australians reject apartment living. <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/the-housing-wed-choose/">Recent</a> <a href="https://www.planning.wa.gov.au/dop_pub_pdf/housing_summary_report.pdf">studies</a> also show that most Australians who live in apartments would not choose to repeat the experience.</p>
<h2>Just look at the results</h2>
<p>Inserting high-rise apartments in existing CBDs can make sense. However, randomly subjecting Australia’s existing suburbs to this living environment is seriously questionable. </p>
<p>In Perth, for instance, community concerns are routinely rejected along with the huge <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/city-wellbeing/city-wellbeing-resources/literature-review/">body of evidence</a> of the public health risks associated with poorly located, high-density living. Isolated apartment enclaves, apartments lining highways, crammed unit developments and high-rise developments in low-rise town centres are emerging across the city.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183951/original/file-20170830-10576-1gr8ts8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183951/original/file-20170830-10576-1gr8ts8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183951/original/file-20170830-10576-1gr8ts8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183951/original/file-20170830-10576-1gr8ts8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183951/original/file-20170830-10576-1gr8ts8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183951/original/file-20170830-10576-1gr8ts8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183951/original/file-20170830-10576-1gr8ts8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183951/original/file-20170830-10576-1gr8ts8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Apartment buildings now line highways in Perth. Warnings of the public health risks from noise, heat and pollution are ignored in order to maximise profit from developing the little free land available.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Linley Lutton</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183950/original/file-20170830-23718-1klnji4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183950/original/file-20170830-23718-1klnji4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183950/original/file-20170830-23718-1klnji4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183950/original/file-20170830-23718-1klnji4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183950/original/file-20170830-23718-1klnji4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183950/original/file-20170830-23718-1klnji4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183950/original/file-20170830-23718-1klnji4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183950/original/file-20170830-23718-1klnji4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bulky unattractive high-rise apartments destroy the low-key character of many suburban centres.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Linley Lutton</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183949/original/file-20170830-23702-egfvpu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183949/original/file-20170830-23702-egfvpu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183949/original/file-20170830-23702-egfvpu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183949/original/file-20170830-23702-egfvpu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183949/original/file-20170830-23702-egfvpu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183949/original/file-20170830-23702-egfvpu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183949/original/file-20170830-23702-egfvpu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Medium-density home units lacking private outdoor living space, trees or landscape are crowded onto sites in suburban Perth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Google Earth</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/transport-access-is-good-for-new-housing-but-beware-the-pollution-77790">Transport access is good for new housing, but beware the pollution</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Imported strategies are a poor fit</h2>
<p><a href="https://vpa.vic.gov.au/urban-renewal/metropolitan-activity-centres/">Activity centres</a>, <a href="http://www.soacconference.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Duckworth-Smith-Structure.pdf">activity corridors</a> and <a href="http://www.tod.org/">transit-oriented developments</a> are the main retrofitting strategies. These imported strategies often lack reality in the Australian context.</p>
<p>Activity centres are intended to replicate self-contained towns where people live, work and socialise. Commuting is not required in this utopian existence. </p>
<p>The idea is good when planning cities anew. However, when retrofitting cities it is simply naive, as confirmed by Australian sociologist Bob Birrell. His <a href="http://books.publishing.monash.edu/apps/bookworm/view/Melbourne+2030%3A+Planning+Rhetoric+Versus+Urban+Reality/135/xhtml/chapter05.html">detailed critique</a> of the <a href="https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/policy-and-strategy/planning-for-melbourne/melbourne-2030-a-planning-update-melbourne-@-5-million">Melbourne 2030</a> planning strategy should be compulsory reading for all planners and planning ministers.</p>
<p>Activity corridors are based on the <a href="http://thedabbler.co.uk/2012/02/norbiton-linear-city/">linear city</a> concept proposed by Spanish engineer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Soria_y_Mata">Aturo Soria</a>. </p>
<p>In Western Australia, the utopian images used to sell the concept to the public have universal ingredients. Multilevel apartments line both sides of the street, with an endless run of ground-level shops, offices and cafes. The ubiquitous light rail, cyclists and a few cars complete the image. </p>
<p>The subliminal message is that cars will be largely eradicated. The linear city model only works, however, for the few who live and work along the corridor, so the planners’ belief that cars will largely be eradicated lacks reality.</p>
<p>Transit-oriented development where apartments surround a transport hub, usually a train station, is an excellent planning strategy well used in Europe. But it is only valid if residents use the train. </p>
<p>Australian Bureau of Statistics <a href="http://regional.gov.au/regional/data/Home/Indicator?regionId=0ce6311a-874c-e511-8d47-001dd8b71caf&indicatorId=b8bebf9b-223f-e511-8743-001dd8b71caf">data reveal</a> that, in Perth, <a href="http://profile.id.com.au/subiaco/travel-to-work">10% or less of people</a> living within walking distance of the city’s inner urban stations actually travel to work by train. This inconvenient reality does not stop the government approving grossly overdeveloped outcomes near stations. Uninviting medium-density developments also occur.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183948/original/file-20170830-23675-ou4nj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183948/original/file-20170830-23675-ou4nj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183948/original/file-20170830-23675-ou4nj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183948/original/file-20170830-23675-ou4nj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183948/original/file-20170830-23675-ou4nj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183948/original/file-20170830-23675-ou4nj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183948/original/file-20170830-23675-ou4nj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Barren streets like this one near a suburban Perth train station are the result of a planning policy known as Smart Codes. Rather than inducing walking, these streets are desolate and uninviting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Linley Lutton</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How do we improve our cities?</h2>
<p>The long-term sustainability of Australian capital cities requires some form of higher-density living. Extended equitable public transport systems are also essential. However, higher densities and public transport, of themselves, do not create good cities.</p>
<p>There are three essential requirements of a good city:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>cities must nurture and stimulate healthy human growth and community development;</p></li>
<li><p>local communities must meaningfully participate in city planning in what <a href="http://www.worldwhoswho.com/public/views/entry.html?id=sl2170022">Louis Albrechts</a> calls planned co-production; and</p></li>
<li><p>the unique cultural and physical context of a city must be respected. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>These imperatives are mostly absent in the push to retrofit Australia capitals. The planning ethos must change.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-actually-is-a-good-city-80677">What actually is a good city?</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83216/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linley Lutton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Planners wish to correct past errors by increasing densities, discouraging car dependency and mixing land uses. But imposing imported strategies on Australian cities is producing unhappy results.Linley Lutton, Adjunct Senior Teaching Fellow in Urban Planning and Design, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/810342017-08-16T20:13:00Z2017-08-16T20:13:00ZCars, bicycles and the fatal myth of equal reciprocity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181744/original/file-20170811-1153-ynlijb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The relationship between drivers and cyclists is highly unequal, both physically and culturally.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photographee.eu from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Any public conversation about on-road cycling in Australia seems to have only one metaphor for the relationship between drivers and cyclists: equal reciprocity. </p>
<p>An utterance like “Drivers must respect cyclists’ space on the road” must inevitably be followed by something like “For their part, cyclists must ride responsibly and obey the road rules.”</p>
<p>For instance, the campaign promoting a new road safety law in New South Wales <a href="http://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/campaigns/go-together/index.html">tells us</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Drivers, bicycle riders and pedestrians all need to Go Together safely. We should all respect each other’s space and ensure that everyone stays safe.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Most cyclists hardly need to be reminded to respect the space of a two-tonne vehicle travelling at 80km/h just centimetres from their elbow. Yet the wording, as well as the <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/questnews/south/bike-group-cycle-says-cyclists-have-been-blitzed-more-than-motorists-since-the-1m-rule-was-introduced/story-fni9r1nj-1226976690486">fines imposed</a>, suggests cyclists have as much power to disrespect drivers’ space as vice versa. </p>
<p>The idea that the space someone’s car occupies on the road is personal space, where the car is treated as a proxy body with its own right not to be molested, shows just how far this notion of reciprocity has gone. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-why-the-recent-changes-to-nsw-cycling-laws-may-be-a-good-move-55654">Here’s why the recent changes to NSW cycling laws may be a good move</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Locked into a way of thinking about equality</h2>
<p>Why does the metaphor of equal reciprocity so powerfully organise our thinking about a relationship that is so clearly asymmetrical? One explanation is that these debates go on in a public sphere subject to a simplex version of philosophical liberalism wherein all things must be treated as equal.</p>
<p>As <a href="http://theconversation.com/on-nanny-states-and-race-leyonhjelm-exposes-the-moral-thinness-of-libertarianism-43916?sa=google&sq=nanny+state&sr=10">Patrick Stokes argues</a> for hierarchies of racial difference, attributing an abstract equality to human beings tends to erase real differences in power and privilege. Public conversations about cycling in Australia erase the reality that cyclists’ safety is to a very large extent not in their own hands, but in those of drivers.</p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=lliTBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT120&dq=%22embodied+in+our+image+of+justice+as+a+set+of+scales%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiotvLHmsnVAhXCz1QKHQaaB8oQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=%22embodied%20in%20our%20image%20of%20justice%20as%20a%20set%20of%20scales%22&f=false">David Graeber observes</a> that reciprocity is our default way of thinking about equality. It’s synonymous with:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… the sense of equity, balance, fairness and symmetry, embodied in our image of justice as a set of scales.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=lliTBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT121&dq=%22social+life+is+based+on+the+principle+of+reciprocity%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwibn_WKm8nVAhVCi1QKHZgWBpEQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=%22social%20life%20is%20based%20on%20the%20principle%20of%20reciprocity%22&f=false">Graeber adds</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Almost everyone continues to assume that in its fundamental nature, social life is based on the principle of reciprocity…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If we think of the road in this way, it seems reasonable that all cyclists have to do to “earn the respect” of drivers is to conspicuously obey the road rules and not complain too much when “equal” penalties are applied. Many cyclists feel this way. For me, however, they are suffering the lycra equivalent of <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22447726">Stockholm syndrome</a>.</p>
<p>For what if the road is not democratic and egalitarian? I don’t deny that driver-cyclist interactions are very often co-operative, respectful and convivial. But all too we see other kinds of relations played out, based on hierarchy, marginalisation, othering, domination, <a href="https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjWobDRuMnVAhVFNrwKHULlB_kQFggmMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.couriermail.com.au%2Fnews%2Fqueensland%2Fpolice-will-investigate-series-of-gravel-traps-set-for-cyclists-in-brisbane-suburb%2Fnews-story%2Ff90ae248dfd6f7024210ddace388c2d8&usg=AFQjCNHe_85IbqdjF84rDQ3p9xxOgjzDyA">exclusion, intimidation</a> and violence. </p>
<p>When we try to make sense of this within a reciprocity mindset, we usually say such behaviour is deviant, involving anti-social individuals. It’s a partial explanation, but not a total one.</p>
<h2>Automobility rules the road</h2>
<p>The fact is the Australian road is not a neutral space. It is ordered by what sociologist John Urry calls the system of automobility. </p>
<p>Urry argues that this is the most transformative system the world has ever seen, one that puts the motorised vehicle at its centre. All other forms of travel, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=EAREf25VdX0C&pg=PA59&dq=%22landscape+predominantly+sculpted+by+the+car+system%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjC_Z2jssnVAhWBTrwKHXeXDuEQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=%22landscape%20predominantly%20sculpted%20by%20the%20car%20system%22&f=false">he says</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… have to find their place within a landscape predominantly sculpted by the car system. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>As well as all the economic and political interests invested in this system, both public and private, we need to consider the social and cultural meanings these produce around the automobile. </p>
<p>In Australia, ideas of maturity, freedom and autonomy are powerfully entwined with the mythos of the car. These “cultural preferences” are so strong that they often act to erase cyclists’ legal rights and <a href="https://blogs.crikey.com.au/theurbanist/2013/05/08/are-cyclists-mere-obstacles-to-motorists/">status</a> not only on the road, but also <a href="https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjJqavatMnVAhWFXbwKHcKABjgQFggmMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.couriermail.com.au%2Fnews%2Fqueensland%2Fcement-truck-driver-luke-stevens-found-not-guilty-over-death-of-cyclist-richard-pollett%2Fstory-e6freoof-1226635894242%3Fsv%3D1fc61a8720cda8485f9a3cb4dedd27cc&usg=AFQjCNELv-xXaRu3tvaC-CR1F55FdU-QSg">in the courts</a> and when <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/weekend-australian-magazine/are-cyclists-fair-game-in-australia/news-story/d94e7906d59b6afdb5e2cef7a6d5607b">dealing with police</a>.</p>
<p>When cyclist meets driver on the road, both are notionally equal individuals encountering each other in a democratic, rule-governed and neutral public space. But only if the driver chooses to make it like this. Otherwise, they are in a deeply asymmetrical relation, both physically and culturally. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/contested-spaces-virtuous-drivers-malicious-cyclists-mindset-gets-us-nowhere-73371">Contested spaces: ‘virtuous drivers, malicious cyclists’ mindset gets us nowhere</a></em></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181746/original/file-20170811-1148-f8wbey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181746/original/file-20170811-1148-f8wbey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181746/original/file-20170811-1148-f8wbey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=677&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181746/original/file-20170811-1148-f8wbey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=677&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181746/original/file-20170811-1148-f8wbey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=677&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181746/original/file-20170811-1148-f8wbey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181746/original/file-20170811-1148-f8wbey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181746/original/file-20170811-1148-f8wbey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Cyclists should be civil and rule-abiding on the road, but that won’t guarantee their safety.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dangerous-city-traffic-situation-cyclist-car-525481804?src=k3egm1U_Fq8es4NUU7owpA-1-5">Volodymyr Baleha from www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>At times as a cyclist among the cars I feel like an insurgent in hostile territory. By now some readers might assume I am advocating cyclist rebellion and lawless riding. I’m not. Cyclists should do their best to be civil and rule-abiding on the road, at least where it doesn’t put us in danger.</p>
<p>At the same time, we can’t expect great or immediate results from this offer of reciprocity to the drivers around us. To suggest that the person at the wrong end of a heavily unequal relationship can gain recognition and equality simply by offering to “respect the space” of the dominant subject is wishful thinking.</p>
<p>I despair that mainstream bicycle advocacy has to be limited to something like the “<a href="https://cyclingtips.com/2013/12/a-metre-matters-but-will-it-improve-cyclist-safety/">metre matters</a>” law. For me, this is the political equivalent of pleading “Please don’t kill us!” – and this law has been applied only a <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/cyclists-claim-they-are-worse-off-under-1-metre-passing-law/news-story/97a00fce27c06b52d4133db102add6f0">handful of times</a> to penalise drivers.</p>
<p>Many who support this law concede it is mainly useful as a means of publicity and driver education rather than as a legal tool. Courts having long had other means to punish <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/10/1068329487085.html">at-fault drivers</a> in car-on-bike crashes if they so chose. </p>
<h2>Law should reflect on-road realities</h2>
<p>While at first glance the one-metre rule may seem like a special legal protection for a class of vulnerable road users, it in fact functions as a wishful attempt at <a href="https://blogs.crikey.com.au/theurbanist/2013/12/05/is-the-minimum-one-metre-overtaking-rule-good-policy/">recognising and enacting rights</a> and protections that have long existed in law.</p>
<p>I ride daily in Canberra and know many cyclists. Anecdotally, the new law hasn’t made a jot of difference to how people drive or to how police and courts deal with cyclists who get hit or harassed.</p>
<p>Readers may object that the law can do no more than extend equal rights and protections to all road users. But that’s not true. Strict liability legal regimes go beyond this to offer special rights and protections to vulnerable road users.</p>
<p>Policymakers in <a href="http://www.roadshare.co.uk/why-presumed-liability">all but five European Union nations</a> accept that all road users are not equal. They recognise the failure of a principle of one-to-one reciprocity whereby we’re all safe because we all have the same formal status and follow the same rules. </p>
<p>These jurisdictions prefer a communitarian approach that acknowledges some groups need “special treatment” to create a level playing field.</p>
<p>There’s little doubt a strict liability regime is at present “politically impossible” in car-centric Australia. However, attempts to fix things that assume voluntary reciprocity can work are also destined to fail. </p>
<p>I certainly don’t have the answers, but I do believe we need to think outside the box of mutual reciprocity to make progress.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/cars-overwhelmingly-cause-bike-collisions-and-the-law-should-reflect-that-78922">Cars overwhelmingly cause bike collisions, and the law should reflect that</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81034/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ashley Carruthers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The primacy given to the car has shaped our cities, the roads that serve them and our very thinking about the place of driving in our lives. And it’s a mindset that leaves cyclists highly vulnerable.Ashley Carruthers, Lecturer in Anthropology, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/552072016-02-24T16:02:20Z2016-02-24T16:02:20ZHow driverless vehicles will redefine mobility and change car culture<p>My grandmother, Christine Johanna Hoffman, was born in 1894 and died in 1990. In the course of her lifetime, she witnessed the advent of indoor plumbing and home electrification, the Wright Brothers’ first flight, the debut of the Ford Model T and man landing on the moon, just to name a few.</p>
<p>What changes will my students see in their lifetimes? A freshman in my class today was born around 1998 and will (statistically) die around 2078. How will the world be different? The answer is, of course, impossible to define. The changes they will see are just as incomprehensible today as the past innovations were to my grandmother when she was young. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112411/original/image-20160222-25882-72kmnm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112411/original/image-20160222-25882-72kmnm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112411/original/image-20160222-25882-72kmnm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112411/original/image-20160222-25882-72kmnm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112411/original/image-20160222-25882-72kmnm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112411/original/image-20160222-25882-72kmnm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1119&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112411/original/image-20160222-25882-72kmnm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1119&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112411/original/image-20160222-25882-72kmnm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1119&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The author’s grandparents in 1921. Will young adults today see the same type of technological transformation they did?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of Andrew Hoffman</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>But that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate and imagine what life will be like in 50 years. One area in which I believe they will see spectacular change is that of the personal automobile as it morphs into <a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/a-road-map-to-the-future-for-the-auto-industry">personal mobility</a>. This change will not just be technological; it will also be economic, political and above all, cultural. How we think about <em>mobility</em> will be completely different than how we think about <em>owning and driving</em> a car today.</p>
<h2>Autonomous, electric</h2>
<p>As a first step in this imagination exercise, two assumptions are in order.</p>
<p>First, improvements in <a href="http://www.iea.org/newsroomandevents/news/2014/march/opportunities-and-investment-for-energy-storage-technologies-.html">battery storage technology</a> will make electric cars practical for widespread adoption. This is a view <a href="http://tec.ieee.org/previous-news/the-not-too-distant-future-of-electric-vehicles-2/">shared by many</a> within the automobile sector and appears within reach as the 2017 <a href="http://www.chevrolet.com/bolt-ev-electric-vehicle.html">Chevrolet Bolt</a> and <a href="http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/tesla-model-3-performance-specs-news-rumors/">Tesla Model 3</a> both promise a range of 200 miles at a cost of roughly US$30,000 (after rebates). </p>
<p>Second, the driverless car will be perfected and in widespread use; this is not a hard future to imagine, given the amount of <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2015/1115/What-is-the-future-of-driverless-cars">research and development</a> and the <a href="http://www.npr.org/2016/02/22/467704538/secretary-of-transportation-i-see-the-future-when-im-in-a-self-driving-car">rapid advancements</a> already being seen in this area. With those two assumptions, let’s allow our imagination to run.</p>
<p>A future form of mobility may mean that, rather than relying on a human driver, you will use your phone (or other personal communication device) to summon a driverless car to pick you up and take you where you need to go, whereupon you will release the car to transport someone else to their destination. You will choose your driverless car provider by convenience, and that will depend on how well the provider’s network connectivity algorithms are designed for efficiency and speed.</p>
<p>Just like the airline business model, mobility providers will make more money when their cars spend as little time idle as possible. This means that they need to anticipate demand as best as they can. We may expect to become more impatient and therefore more demanding with mobility providers, expecting wait times to be shorter and shorter.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112415/original/image-20160222-25855-12qarqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112415/original/image-20160222-25855-12qarqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112415/original/image-20160222-25855-12qarqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112415/original/image-20160222-25855-12qarqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112415/original/image-20160222-25855-12qarqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112415/original/image-20160222-25855-12qarqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112415/original/image-20160222-25855-12qarqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112415/original/image-20160222-25855-12qarqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Let the robot drive. A concept car interior designed around autonomy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gmanviz/16467802971/in/faves-41182236@N00/">gmanviz/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p>Presumably, these driverless cars will be <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/12/google-gives-more-detail-on-safety-of-its-autonomous-cars.html">safer</a>, having fewer accidents, fewer drunk drivers and fewer thefts (though it will still happen, fewer people will steal a car that is fully integrated and tracked in a network). This means that highway speed limits may rise as human error is taken out of the equation. This may also mean that anyone who chooses to drive in a driverless era will pay more for insurance, thus creating even more pressure for fewer people to own cars.</p>
<p>Those that continue to own cars will have to find ways to easily access electricity, leading to the need for new social norms and new technologies for buying electrons. For example, we may drive 300 miles to visit a friend, but will that friend still be excited to see us if he or she is asked to pay for the electricity to fill up our vehicle? </p>
<p>Awkward moments aside, there will always be people that prefer to enjoy the pleasure of driving. Certainly, we would not expect driverless motorcycles even as they become electric – see the <a href="http://www.harley-davidson.com/content/h-d/en_US/home/motorcycles/project-livewire.html">Harley-Davidson Livewire</a>.</p>
<p>The fact is that we may eventually see a day when most people will no longer desire to own cars. We can already see signs of this trend in today’s <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/why-dont-young-americans-buy-cars/255001/">young people</a> and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/apr/28/end-of-the-car-age-how-cities-outgrew-the-automobile">urban dwellers</a>, neither of whom wants the hassle of owning, parking, insuring or just worrying about a car. The emergence of companies like <a href="https://www.uber.com/">Uber</a>, <a href="https://www.lyft.com/">Lyft</a> and <a href="http://www.zipcar.com/">Zipcar</a> are all signs that the <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21573104-internet-everything-hire-rise-sharing-economy">sharing economy</a> is displacing car ownership as the rite of passage that it once was. But these services (along with taxi, limo and car rental services) could be the first casualty of the driverless era.</p>
<h2>Computers on wheels</h2>
<p>This leads to the question of how many cars will there be on the road in the future. </p>
<p>Right now, the average car is parked <a href="http://www.reinventingparking.org/2013/02/cars-are-parked-95-of-time-lets-check.html">95 percent of the time</a>. If we move to a full model of “mobility on demand,” there will be fewer cars on the road, since these vehicles will be shared. So, imagine somewhere around 80-90 percent fewer cars on the road in a perfectly efficient mobility system.</p>
<p>Where does that take us? First, the average homeowner will no longer need that garage out back, or even the driveway that accesses it, leading to a growth in conversions to apartments or storage. Contractors will like this development.</p>
<p>We can also expect a growth in <a href="http://www.newurbanism.org/">new urbanism</a>, or walkable cities designed for pedestrians rather than car habitat, since many urban roads and parking garages will no longer be needed.</p>
<p>Where will these remaining cars be housed and fueled? Well, they can go idle wherever they are best positioned for the morning’s demand after finding the nearest connection to an electricity source for refueling. This could spell the end of the neighborhood gas station, a long fixture on the American landscape. For one thing, gasoline will no longer be necessary; for another, corporate mobility providers will build their own charging stations. This could spell <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/12065274/OPEC-faces-a-mortal-threat-from-electric-cars.html">trouble for oil-producing nations</a> as the more than <a href="http://www.nrdc.org/air/transportation/gasprices.asp">50 percent of oil that is used for vehicle travel</a> will no longer be needed.</p>
<p>Who will make these cars and what will the market look like? On this question, environmental scientist, visionary and chairman of the Rocky Mountain Institute <a href="http://www.rmi.org/Amory+B.+Lovins">Amory Lovins</a> offers an interesting provocation. In his <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/past/issues/96apr/oil/wheels.htm">view</a>, the car of the future is not a car with a computer; it is a computer on wheels. </p>
<p>As such, it is not necessarily the incumbent car companies that can make it. It could also be made by electronics and computer companies. This is a trend we are already seeing as <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3043462/tech-forecast/heres-what-automakers-think-about-apple-entering-the-car-market">Apple</a> and <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/brookecrothers/2015/11/12/google-is-leader-in-revolutionary-self-driving-cars-says-ihs/#14e3b93ee3e6">Google</a> enter the car market. One key to their product offerings is the emphasis on new software to add to the hardware we all know. Indeed, we can expect the big nameplate automobile companies to transition to the mobility providers from whom we rent rather than buy. The recent moves by <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/19/10791062/gm-buys-sdecar-ride-sharing-app">GM to invest in Lyft and Sidecar</a> foretell this emerging trend.</p>
<p>This marriage of mobility providers and car manufacturers will lead to a different set of design parameters for the car of the future. While there will still be a demand for status symbol vehicles, people will choose mobility more for interior comfort and efficiency in getting from point A to B than for exterior styling.</p>
<p>So where does that leave those of us who still like that exterior styling? More specifically, where does that leave the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2015/09/02/americas-fading-car-culture/">classic and vintage car market</a>? First, we can expect to see the number of auto aficionados dwindle as young people no longer share their love affair with cars. This could lead to a drop in demand, just as we’ve seen a drop in demand for record albums, and therefore a drop in prices for the classics we love today (though I have seen vintage record albums commanding some pretty high prices as <a href="http://flipsy.com/blog/14/07/The-Spin-On-The-Vinyl-Record-Collection-Market">sales increase</a> by as much as 35 percent). </p>
<p>So, just as there are those who hang on to their old turntables, there will be those who will hang onto their classics. These people will have to make special arrangements to keep their garage and find ways to store a supply of gasoline (which they may buy from a specialty store). These owners will also have to rely increasingly on their own repair skills or a specialized service market as the decline of the neighborhood gas station takes with it the neighborhood car repair shop. This may lead to an increase in <a href="http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=74815">classic car storage clubs</a>, complete with private service facilities.</p>
<h2>Lost jobs</h2>
<p>Might we see some strange or problematic scenarios in the electric, driverless world of the future? Certainly. </p>
<p>For example, imagine a scenario where someone goes to dinner in the city and knows that demand will be high for cars when it is time to leave; might that person choose to “instruct” his personal car, or a hired car, to continuously circle the block until he is ready to leave, thus leading to increased congestion as well as competition for rides? </p>
<p>Or, imagine being able to sleep while commuting to work; might this encourage increased sprawl as people choose to live farther and farther from work? Or, is there a problem waiting to happen with the preprogrammed algorithms that these cars will possess for making decisions in emergency situations? What will happen when a car faces a “choice” between a bad and worse outcome, say between hitting a pedestrian and a motorcycle or school bus (which is also driverless and likely communicating with the car)? The legal ramifications of such a “decision” are not hard to imagine.</p>
<p>Finally, as has been true since the beginning of time, <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21594298-effect-todays-technology-tomorrows-jobs-will-be-immenseand-no-country-ready">technological innovation displaces some jobs</a> while it creates new ones. Already, we might anticipate the demise of the taxi driver, gas station owner or mechanic. But driverless car proponents also look to end the <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2015/05/28/driverless-trucks-armaggeddon-so-truck-drivers-will-just-go-do-something-else/#535c724d60aa">careers of long haul truckers</a>, as this is one of the first targets of the technology.</p>
<p>Of course, all of this is speculation. But, while it is fun to imagine what might be, the future will be what we make it. As the late Physics Nobel Laureate <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1971/gabor-bio.html">Dennis Gabor</a> said, “The future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented.” That is the message I leave with my students after I introduce them to my late grandmother. While we can imagine the world they will see later in their life, the better exercise is to ask them what kind of world they want to see and what role they want to play in bringing it to reality.</p>
<p>And with that, I turn it over to you. I invite you to use the comments section to offer your prognostications of what the world of mobility will look like in 2078 when today’s freshmen reach the end of their lives 60 years from now. Have fun.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55207/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
A thought experiment: how will people view mobility and personal vehicles once we have electric, autonomous vehicles in the future?Andrew J. Hoffman, Holcim (US) Professor at the Ross School of Business and Education Director at the Graham Sustainability Institute, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.