Car free cities bmdc meeting 9th september 2016 haneen
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Transcript of Car free cities bmdc meeting 9th september 2016 haneen
CAR FREE CITIES AND PUBLIC HEALTHHaneen Khreis, Institute for Transport Studies, LeedsMark Nieuwenhuijsen, ISGlobabl-CREAL, Barcelona
THE CAR• The car is an important part of the transport system
-- brought increased mobility, convenience, employment, technological advances and economic prosperity
• To a large extent, the car defined the past century and is hard to imagine a world without cars
THE CAR
THE CAR
THE CAR
THE CAR
A NEW MOVE• Many cities are
beginning to shift their mobility solutions away from the private car and towards more environmentally friendly and citizen-focused mobility
A NEW MOVE
A NEW MOVE
A NEW MOVE• Hamburg, Helsinki, Madrid and Oslo (2019) have
recently announced their plans to become (partly) private car free cities
• Other cities like Bogota, Brussels, Chengdu, Copenhagen, Dublin, Hyderabad, Masdar, Milan, New York and Paris have different measures that aim at reducing traffic including implementing
• car free days • investing in cycling infrastructure and
pedestrianization• restricting parking space • considerable increases in public transport provision
WHY?• Plans and measures are particularly implemented
with the declared aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions
• Reductions in road traffic is also likely to benefit public health, both in the short and long-term
• We aimed to scope and review the expected health benefits
CAR FREE CITIES: PATHWAYS TO HEALTHY URBAN LIVING?
WHAT WE FOUND – AIR POLLUTION
• Car traffic contributes to a considerable proportion of air pollution in cities
• The extent varies depending on factors such as the car fleet make up, car density, layout
• The range of the traffic contribution to urban PM concentrations in Europe is from 9-53% for PM10 and 9-66% for PM2.5 with an average of 39% and 43% at traffic sites and a higher range for NO2 of over 80%
WHAT WE FOUND – AIR POLLUTION AND NOISE
• Paris nitrogen dioxide dropped by up to 40% in parts of the city on Sunday 27 September 2015, when cars were banned
• When the Tour de France cycling event came to Leeds, on the day of the Grand Départ, when cars were banned from the centre of Leeds and cyclists took over, NO2 levels dropped by 20%
• Brussels Environment (2015) found a greater than 10 dB reduction in noise levels on car free Sundays
AIR POLLUTION AND PREMATURE MORTALITY
7% increased risk for premature mortality per 5 ug/m3 PM2.5, Beelen et al 2014
NOISE AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE
Relative risk of 1.08 (95% confidence interval: 1.04,1.13) per increase of the weighted day‑night noise level LDN of 10 dB (A)
8% increased risk of cardiovascular disease for a 10 dB (a) increase in noise, Babisch 2014
WHAT WE FOUND – MOTOR VEHICLE CRASHES
WHAT WE FOUND – MOTOR VEHICLE CRASHES
WHAT WE FOUND – PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Woodcock et al 2010
WHAT WE FOUND – GREEN SPACE
WHAT WE FOUND – GREEN SPACE
WHAT WE FOUND – GREEN SPACE
4% reduction in cardiovascular mortality between highest and lowest green space areas
SOME CONCERNS
SOME CONCERNS
SOME CONCERNS
Physical activity (95% CI: 858,1577)
Air pollution (95% CI: 386, 834)
Noise (95% CI: 0, 1009)
Heat (95% CI: 324,442)
Green spaces (95% CI: 0, 236)
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1154
659599
376
116
Total number of premature deaths =2904 (1568, 4098), 20% of total deathsLife expectancy= 360 (219, 493) days, Total cost 9.3 (4.9, 13.2) billion euros
SOME CONCERNS
SOME CONCERNS• A concern for reducing car traffic in cities is the
reduction in retail sales• Lawlor (2014) reviewed the effect of the reduction of
cars on impact on existing business performance (footfall and retail); urban regeneration (new business, rental income, employment, social exclusion etc.); improved consumer and business perceptions, and business diversity
• They found that case study evidence suggests that well-planned improvements to these public spaces can boost footfall and trading by up to 40%
SOME CONCERNS• In Barcelona for example
average speeds for trips by
• Car is 23.5 km/hr
• Bike 14 km/hr• Bus / tram 11.2
km/hr • Metro / train 25
km/hr
CURRENT PARADIGM
Economic GrowthTravel Time SavingsCost Effectiveness
Land-use Accessibility
Noise Reductions
EqualityProviding for CarsEfficiency
Safety Policy IntegrationConnectivity
Economic GrowthTravel Time SavingsCost Effectiveness
Land-use Accessibility
Carbon Reductions
Noise Reductions
EqualityProviding for CarsEfficiency
Safety Policy Integration Connectivity
BETTER PARADIGM
Economic GrowthTravel Time SavingsCost Effectiveness
Land-use Accessibility
Noise Reductions
EqualityProviding for CarsEfficiency
Safety Policy IntegrationConnectivity
Public HealthTravel Time SavingsCost Effectiveness
Land-use Accessibility
Carbon Reductions
Noise Reductions
EqualityProviding for CarsEfficiency
Safety Policy Integration Connectivity
URGENT NEED FOR SYSTEMIC APPROACHES
URGENT NEED FOR SYSTEMIC APPROACHES
URGENT NEED FOR SYSTMIC APPROACHES
• Car free cities can have considerable health benefits
• Our cities are too car dominated • Transport planning and policy too much for the
vehicle and too little for the public and active transport modes
• Decades of planning and investments in car infrastructure attracted cars to cities --it will take decades to overturn this
• Large infrastructures for cars are in place and are underway with relatively small parts of the budget allocated to and little work done for cyclists and pedestrians across most regions
• There is an urgent need to rebalance and provide better, safer infrastructures and policy support for active/ public transport
• New paradigms needed -- car free cities?