•
That air quality continues to be a transport-related problem for most citizens, jointly
with traffic congestion, noise and accidents.
•
That the problems with road infrastructures can have serious economic repercus-
sions particularly in urban areas that contribute around 85% of European GDP.
•
That traffic congestion in European roads is mostly around the cities and costs
nearly 100 billion euros a year.
•
That Europe is the world’s most urbanized continent and that nearly 70% of its
population lives in cities.
•
That the use of conventional automobile fuel continues to increase and that there
are more and more households that own two, three or more vehicles.
•
That increased car traffic in urban streets means greater demand for parking infras-
tructures at the expense of public space.
•
That cars remained parked most of the time (the average time that a car is parked
at home is approximately 80% of the time and about 16% parked in another place
and in movement only 4% of the time).
Did you know?
our cities would e healthier and more plea-
sant places for us to live and work.
Urban trends, sustainable mobility:
some solutions
The traditional solutions for greater automo-
bile traffic has been to increase road spa-
ce, increasing the offer to satisfy demand,
increasing the number of traffic lanes, car
park spaces, opening new roads, etc. at
the expense of public spaces, homes and
communities. Nevertheless, experience has
shown that creating additional capacity for
cars is not as effective as it seemed and it
contributes to heavier traffic by the process
known as “induction to traffic”.
After creating more road space, because of
there is less heavy traffic, people drive more
to save time. In the long run, however, addi-
tional lanes are absorbed by new drivers and
by those who have interiorised the message
that traffic will be more fluid, thereby creating
congestion levels similar or greater than the
previous ones.
In many European cities, there is no more
space left for expanding roads and people
are becoming increasingly aware of the pro-
blems caused by the layout and design of
cities to accommodate traffic and, therefore,
they are searching for and promoting solu-
tions that are more creative and that balance
out the use of roads and streets.
Some of the measures that are being im-
plemented are aimed at reducing the cost
of public transport and, at the same time,
improving the quality of services; improving
infrastructures for bicycles and pedestrians;
restricting access to certain types of vehi-
cles, and providing carpooling incentives or
car-sharing, all of which are making a great
difference in European mobility.
“Living streets”
An example of a city that is revolutionising
its mobility system is Ghent, a member of
the Living Streets Initiative. Two streets in
Ghent accepted the challenge of becoming
“living streets” with three major objectives:
try out sustainable mobility, create a different
approach for public spaces, and encoura-
ge social interaction among residents. The
sponsors of the initiative donated money to
buy benches and decorations. Electric and
chargeable bicycles and vehicles were given
away, and travel by public transport or ta-
xis was subsidised. During a few days, the
streets became a social space and not me-
rely the means used by people to go to their
homes, work, or shopping. The city’s Envi-
ronment and Mobility Departments collabo-
rated in organising meetings with the police
force, in managing the provision of services
such as waste collection, and in securing
permits for closing the two streets involved.
This initiative will be repeated over time and
the goal is to gradually transform the city’s
lifestyle.
