Don’t plan to solve traffic congestion
Cities and towns have a certain amount of space, and we make choices as to who gets to use that space. Wider pavements means more space for pedestrians, street cafes/vendors. Buses want bus lanes, cyclists want cycle lanes, and people want to be able to drive their car from beside their bed to their destination (paraphrasing M. Garrido). Traffic congestion is a symptom of this competition for space, and trying to solve traffic is a one way ticket to nowhere-surburbs, designed by road engineers. So priorities have to be set for that ‘space’ between buildings (the ‘ways’ and ‘interways’ as Cerda called them). Its not something that can be solved by segregating or bypassing the town, because that deprives users other than the cars of the new ‘urban ways’. Rather, expand the network of streets, and reduce the blockages (L. Krier) so that everyone can benefit from the investment, and good streets can be created.
No comments:
Post a Comment