Cities have changed with transportation. But, according to this piece, it's time to go back to when we had horse drawn carriages. 'Keep it close and keep it emissions free' should be the motto of the new urban revolution.
Excerpt:
The automobile brought a second urban revolution that has permitted
the almost-unlimited growth of our cities. The new, auto-based city
is characterized by very low density, single-use neighbourhoods
(housing here, stores there, offices someplace else).
Today,
these cities are becoming increasingly dysfunctional. The promise of
mobility turns into congestion and gridlock. Pollution, greenhouse gas
emissions, consumption of farm land and natural habitat, road-based
deaths and injuries: these and other problems mount as urban regions
grow larger and larger.
We need a
third revolution in how we build our cities and in how we travel in
them. This means accelerating the conversion of cars from fossil fuels
to electricity. and using information technology to make road and
transit systems more efficient.
But
these technological improvements will not solve the fundamental
challenge of how to maintain and improve quality of life, economic
productivity, and environmental sustainability as our urban areas
continue to grow.
Rather than
primarily technological, the 21st-century revolution requires a
cultural and political shift in how we view our cities and a
fundamental re-think of how we design and build them. We need to
design cities for people rather than cars. We need to think
holistically about streets and their myriad of functions – they are
more than mere conduits for motorized vehicles.
Read the entire article
here.
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