Extreme weather events are becoming more prevalent and more intense. The year opened with intense wildfires in California, on the back of last year’s flooding in Valencia that claimed 230 lives and summer fires that destroyed over 370,000 hectares of forest. Clearly, we need to turn things around, and quickly.
There has been some movement in the right direction, for example, the Government announcement investing £22bn in carbon capture and storage. And of course, we’re all well aware of the UK’s net zero targets by now.
Mark Gill
But the new administration in the United States has made it clear the environment is not a priority, to put it mildly.
Nevertheless, we can and should do more, particularly when it comes to transport. The sector is the biggest contributor to carbon emissions, so we need nothing short of a paradigm shift to see emissions come down quickly enough. So what do we do?
The way we move around our cities is changing, but the way we design our cities has stayed the same. In recent times we’ve seen a rise in micromobility (the category of lightweight and small-sized transport), it’s hard to walk down the street without seeing an e-scooter or ten.
And yet the car, the so-called vehicle of convenience and independence, remains the default for city planning. In the normal process of street design, 70-80% of the available space is dedicated to private cars.
It’s a mentality that has been dubbed ‘motonormativity’ – essentially, the car is king. But how can we expect people to adopt more sustainable modes of transport when infrastructure is still built almost entirely around car use?
The answer to date has been to look towards greener ways to power our cars. Of course, clean fuels and electric vehicles (EVs) help reduce our carbon output, but these alternatives come with problems of their own. EVs for example, are only as sustainable as the energy grid that powers them. Though an increasing number of clean energy generation projects are joining the national grid, this isn’t a quick endeavour.
It certainly can’t happen fast enough to meet targets and support the number of EVs needed to maintain the current level of individual car use. And of course, a town or city full of electric vehicles is still one choked by traffic.
Instead, we need to drive down car use by offering better alternatives, so we can redesign our cities without them at the centre. Think back to the future - a return to wide streets for safe walking and cycling, encouraging neighbours to interact and local shops to thrive. We’ve lived without total dependency on the car before, and we can do it again.
Other cities have already reduced their reliance on cars by improving the options available. Copenhagen continues to be the model of what can be achieved when overhauling the transport system is put at the forefront of city planning. Copenhagen is 75% of the way to its target of becoming carbon neutral and could well become the first carbon-neutral capital. The city operates an integrated transport strategy that integrates cycle lanes with public transport.
The network is reliable and has excellent connections between the various modes of transport making it a popular way of getting round the city.
Catarroja, Valencia, Spain, 31 October 2024
The priority is to make sustainable, affordable and enjoyable travel options accessible to everyone so that people can choose how they travel, rather than having to rely on the car because it’s all that’s available.
When building new homes, planners ensure they have a strong connection to a walking and cycling network to reduce the need to own a car. It is this resolute commitment by the government and developers decades ago that enabled Copenhagen to move towards a greener future. Policy changes and investment from the government have been integral to its success and this is what we need to see in the UK.
But given that the government benefits from premiums and taxes on car purchases, it’s difficult see where the incentive is to encourage people out of their cars.
Reducing the number of vehicle lanes and putting micromobility lanes in their place is one way we could increase the practicality of using greener modes of transport such as e-bikes, cargo bikes and roller skates. Micromobility lanes could then connect with bus stops and train stations, to integrate the different methods of transport as we see in Copenhagen.
A reduction in cars would also enable the repurposing of car parks that dominate so many centres, to become mobility hubs where hire vehicles can be picked up and dropped off instead. Reducing the number of cars suddenly creates much more space that can then be far better used to make cities better spaces for people.
Transforming them into green spaces can improve mental health, active travel becomes safer, and lower pollution levels reduces health risks.
Many cities around the world including Paris, Barcelona, Lisbon and New York have already reached a tipping point where car gridlock is negatively impacting their residents and businesses. In response, they are putting in a host of measures to help drive down non-essential car usage.
If this shift continues to be seen elsewhere, we will quickly be able to repurpose our towns and cities to make them happier, healthier spaces for us all.
Mark Gill is an associate transport planner at Buro Happold.