'We have the opportunity to see what would our cities look like when we are designing for people, not cars.'
– Samu Balogh
'It is with this in mind that Milan announced its plan to make changes in the wake of the pandemic that support alternatives to driving. “In order to prevent an excessive use of private cars, with the consequent increase in air pollution, the city of Milan will encourage the use of bicycles,” its announcement states. As travel restrictions are lifted, the government will begin construction on the cycle lanes – all of which take space away from cars – alongside implementing reduced speed limits and widened pavements.
This is far from a ban on cars, but it does suggest a shift towards more sustainable forms of transport in the long term, catalysed by the pandemic. So could other cities follow suit?
Janette Sadik-Khan, a former transportation commissioner for New York City and principal with Bloomberg Associates, is working with Milan and other cities on their “transport recovery” programmes. “The pandemic challenges us, but it also offers a once-in-a-lifetime chance to change course and repair the damage from a century of car-focused streets,” she says. “Cities that seize this moment to reallocate space on their streets to make it easier for people to walk, bike and take public transport will prosper after this pandemic and not simply recover from it.”
In the Colombian city of Bogotá, mayor Claudia López closed 117km (72.7 miles) of streets to cars in order to make cycling and walking easier during the coronavirus lockdown. Though these streets are typically closed every Sunday – in the long-running, pro-cycling initiative Ciclovía – Lopez has extended the closure throughout weekdays too, as well as added 80km (49.7 miles) of cycle lanes to the city’s existing network of 550km (341.7 miles).'
- BBC,
How cities are clamping down on cars, April 30, 2020
Context'Most countries don’t take it seriously enough and aren’t doing enough given the scale of the harm that air pollution is doing to all of our health.'