Towards Carfree Cities V - Programme Details
- Budapest 2005 - Programme - Presentations - Press - Photos
Monday 18 July
"Car-free Guidebook for Developing Cities: Official Release"
Speaker: Manfred Breithaupt, GTZ, Germany
"Project Updates from Latin American Cities"
Speaker: Oscar Edmundo Diaz, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, Columbia
"Boosting Bicycle Transport in Africa"
Powerful international organizations are pushing the car agenda on Africa, the continent least capable of supporting it. Village Bicycle Project is actively nurturing a nascent bike culture at the grassroots level in Ghana. We supply bicycles to the market, train people in the care and maintenance of their bikes, and empower mechanics to make more competent repairs by providing them subsidized tools, all in a context that keeps development objectives of sustainability and local control in mind. With more support to the grassroots, and interventions at the policy level, bicycles could become a serious part of a sustainble African future.
Speaker: David Peckham, Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute, USA
"Pedestrian and Cycling Projects in Bangkok"
Though the car culture in Bangkok is known worldwide, it has recently started to develop some people-centered projects in terms of pedestrian areas and cycling facilities. This presentation will address issues related to the existing car-free area (Khao San Road), the second floor "Skywalk" developed to link shopping malls and a rail system, and the proposal to develop 65.3 km of cycleways with a budget of 38,475,000 Thai Baht (approx 10 million dollars). A general conclusion is that, though there is an intent to develop sustainable transport infrastructure, little attention has been paid to the political, technical and structural issues of these interventions. The three examples will be analyzed as attempts to solve congestion problems that could be improved, and the activities the GTZ SUTP project has undergone to improve these conditions for the city, while working with its administration.
Speaker. Manfred Breithaupt, GTZ, Germany
"Saving the Cycle Rickshaws of Bangladesh"
Speaker: Debra Efroymson, WBB Trust, Dhaka, Bangladesh
"The Ingredients of Successful Carfree Areas"
Instead of focusing on the familiar pedestrianised shopping street, here we explore some possible configurations for residential and mixed-use carfree streets/areas, looking at examples from Prague and elsewhere. Here we find various physical and psychological devices that can be utilised to create an inviting atmosphere to enter on foot - so that the motorist perceives not an obstruction to his movement, but a point where he unquestioningly leaves his car behind. We also discuss methods of filling excess street width with new destinations, including the unconventional and the non-commercial. The goal: to create new carfree areas that will be politically accepted and popular.
Speaker: Randall Ghent, World Carfree Network, Prague, Czech Rep.
"Carfree Living in Switzerland"
In Switzerland about 1 Million people live without a car of their own. As one would expect, the decision to buy or not to buy a car, is decisive for the ensuing mobility behaviour. Compared with car-owning households, the yearly number of kilometers driven by people living in carfree households is on average five times smaller. Surprisingly, the agencies responsible for traffic policy have never so far recognized this fact. All they are interested in is how to influence the modal split and motivate people to travel by public transport rather than by car. Last December we have founded a new organization named "Club der Autofreien der Schweiz" (CAS). Its intention is to give the carfree segment of the population an identity and a voice, to advertise the carfree lifestyle, and to negotiate with city governments, transport and tourist organizations, insurance companies etc. for possible discounts.
Speakers. Dieter Steiner CAS, Switzerland; Beat von Scarpatetti, CAS, Switzerland
"Turkish Carfree Settlements: Princess Islands in Istanbul"
Speaker: Kevser Ustundag, Turkish Traffic Safety Associations, Turkey
"The City Repair Project: Converting Streets Into Public Squares in Portland, Oregon"
The public square (tér, námesti, piazza, plaza, place, Platz) is the heart of the community - but what happens when the public square is dominated by cars, or doesn't exist at all? The City Repair Project, an NGO in Portland, Oregon, USA, fights for public space by helping regular city residents create their own neighborhood public squares out of space normally designated for cars. We'll look at the City Repair model of connecting citizens with artists, architects and government to permanently reclaim public space, and discuss your ideas about how it might be applied in other cities and countries. Speaker: Daniel Lerch, The City Repair Project, USA
"Approaching Lenders and Investors: Making the Economic/Financial Case for Carfree Development"
The greatest obstacle to carfree development in the United States is convincing investors and lenders to put large sums of money into a project that appears untested and risky. CarFree City, USA has prepared a presentation that demonstrates the multiple economic benefits of carfree development. We also explore mechanisms to "internalize" these cost savings and revenue streams to partially fund the project and decrease the risk for investors picking up the rest of the costs. The presentation considers the financial aspects from the perspectives of the resident, the developer/investor, and the local government. Finally, we will report on preliminary responses to our arguments from development professionals.
Speaker: Gus Yates, CarFree City, USA
"Safe Routes to Schools"
Amics de la Bici (The Bicycle's Friends) has created this presentation to show our main goal, which is to promote cycling as a respected means of transport and thus achieve better cities to live by means of traffic calming and progressive car abuse reduction. This presentation introduces people to one of our work areas: creating safe routes to schools not only on foot, which is something that is being already done in many countries but also by bicycle. Both means of transport are complementary and are some of the best mobility alternatives for children and teenagers. Young people need to be conscious of sustainability by experiencing themselves the use of non-polluting transport. Promoting walking and cycling will also help them lead a healthier lifestyle. It will also prevent them from suffering from later illnesses like obesity, which is rapidly increasing in our Western societies. The IES Marianao high school, where I work as a teacher, has and is still carrying out a project on safe routes to schools mainly by bicycle. Some of the steps that have already been taken will be shown in the presentation. Further reference to our general project of cycling to schools are to be found on this website: www.amicsdelabici.org/camiescolar.org
Speakers: Marta Pombo, Amics de la Bici, Barcelona, Spain
"Safe Routes to Schools programmes"
A growing number of communities in countries around the world have begun programs loosely grouped under the title of Safe Routes to Schools. School officials, parents, and local and national organisations are starting to work together to get more kids walking and cycling for daily short distance trips. Safe Routes to Schools projects create safer conditions for children walking and cycling to school, which benefits not only the children s health by the physical activity itself, but also from reductions in congestion and pollution. Road traffic injuries are a major cause of death and disability globally, with a disproportionate number occurring in developing countries. Road traffic injuries are currently ranked ninth globally among the leading causes of disability adjusted life years lost, and the ranking is projected to rise to third by 2020. In 1998, developing countries accounted for more than 85% of all deaths due to road traffic crashes globally and for 96% of all children killed.There are many different components involved in the creation of a Safe Routes to School program, but generally they can be grouped under these four broad approaches: The Traffic Calming Model; The Funding Model; The Encouragement Model; The Enforcement Model.
Giselle Xavier, UDESC & VIACICLO, Florianópolis, Brazil
"Passenger transport in European city centres: the success story of the electrically assisted Velotaxis from Berlin - and the many legal hurdles yet to overcome"
Speaker: Bettina Eichmanns, KFPN Project Network, Germany
"Greenways in Hungary"
Speaker: Krisztina Budai, Environmental Partnership, Hungary
"The Influence of the Automobile on Housing Design in the UK: 1905-2005"
This paper looks at some examples of how housing layout design in the UK has changed over 100 years or so. Over time the author has collected measurements of land use data, such as plot area and frontage, road area, open space and density on a number of real housing schemes in the United Kingdom. They represent a progression starting with a layout of streets built in the nineteenth century before cars existed, through Garden City examples, layouts designed purely for the car, to later layouts which try to control or minimise the effects of the car. The land use data are compared for different kinds of layout. The paper is illustrated with photographs. An analysis of density can reveal some surprises. The paper concludes that housing policy and design practice need to be informed by research, or else they are working in the dark. Speaker: Conall O' Cathain, School of Architecture, Queens University, Belfast, Ireland
"The Physical and Mental Effects on Individuals of Auto-Centric vs. 'Human-Powered' Urban Lifestyles"
Throughout the world the prioritisation of the automobile has had a huge negative impact on the form of towns and cities, and hence the quality of life of the inhabitants. The authors maintain that this predominance of cars causes both physical and mental fractures in our urban society. Presented as an alternative, 'human powered' urban mobility offers a wide range of benefits; from personal physical and mental well-being through to less tangible, but none-the-less crucial benefits, such as to our sense of community and to our relationship with the natural world. Speakers: Michael Herrmann, The Leeds School of Architecture, Landscape and Design, UK; and Richard Brett, Dept of Design, Goldsmiths University College, University of London, UK
"Mobility Management Best Practice for Small Cities and Rural Communities: A North American Perspective"
Mobility Management (MM) provides programmatic solutions, instead of capital or policy changes, to challenging transportation environments. Carfree mobility is relatively straightforward in large cities because of the density and resulting ease of public transportation; whereas, smaller cities and rural populations have transportation needs that are more difficult to meet. MM programs attempt to address these issues, typically engaging local business, and include social marketing to discourage driving alone. Programs include: rideshare matching, promoting public transportation, shuttle service, financial and social incentives, carsharing, and other strategies. This research describes effective and efficient programs from the Americas and distills their lessons applicable elsewhere.
Speaker: Lilia Scott, San Francisco Bay Area's regional ridesharing program, USA
"Parking Strategy Developments to Support Sustainable Transport Planning in Australia"
Speaker: Peter Johnstone, ARRB Consulting, Perth, Australia
Tuesday 19 July
"How Can Carfree Urban Development Be Achieved in Europe?"
Speaker: Hermann Knoflacher, Vienna University of Technology, Austria
"Bogota: Becoming the World's First Modern Carfree City"
Speaker: Oscar Edmundo Diaz, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy; former coordinator of the Bogota sustainable transport project, USA
"Integrating non-motorized travel with mass transit"
Speaker: Walter Hook, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, USA
"The External Costs of Transport in Central and Eastern Europe"
Speaker: Dr. Max Herry of Herry Consult GmbH, Austria
"Direct and Indirect Transport Subsidies: The Pitfalls of Transport Policy in Hungary"
Since 1991 the experts of the Clean Air Action Group have been making calculations concerning the state revenues expenditures relating to transport. In 2004 a new research was undertaken by CAAG, financed by the European Commission's PHARE ACCESS Program and the Hungarian Ministry of Environment and Water. This resulted in the most comprehensive study ever on this issue in Hungary. In 2004 the state revenues from taxes and charges on cars and trucks amounted to HUF 560 billion. On the other hand, state expenditures or uncollected revenues relating to road motor vehicle transport added up to about HUF 4700 billion. This meant a deficit of more than HUF 4100 billion. This can be considered as the amount of subsidies for road transport, which in turn equals to 20% of the GDP in 2004. From this, state revenues relating to cars amounted to HUF 480 billion, and the expenditures exceeded HUF 2000 billion, which means that the amount of subsidies was more than HUF 1500 billion. State revenues related to road freight transport were HUF 80 billion, whereas expenditures amounted to HUF 2600 billion. Thus the amount of subsidies was more than HUF 2500 billion. Beyond that, damages caused by heavy goods vehicles are estimated to at HUF 1000 billion, however, most of these are paid by all the participants of transport, primarily by the owners of private cars. (Thus, as regards transport as a whole this is not an external cost but an enormous cross-financing within the sector that cannot be supported by rational arguments.) These are mean values; the overall range of uncertainty is about -30% and +50%. Speaker: András Lukács, Clean Air Action Group, Hungary
"Least Cost Transportation Planning - Enabling Municipalities to Identify the Real Costs of Transport"
NGO's and the general public are often confronted with the situation that the city transport department needs all its money to upgrade road infrastructure in order to solve the traffic problems. The inclusion of the needs of cyclists and pedestrians is often seen as too expensive. In the opposite car users often feel that the city subsidises too much public transport and not enough individual motorised transport. LCTP provides a tool to identify the real cost of transport by taking into account also the hidden expenditures of the municipality and those of the transport companies and the users. Often this delivers unexpected results. With LCTP municipalities could save money by finding the most efficient solutions and avoiding wrong decisions. It provides transparency for decision-making and makes walking and cycling to fully-fletched and reasonable alternatives.
Speaker: Birgit Georgi, Federal Environmental Agency, Germany
Wednesday 20 July
"Groningen: policy and practice in Europe's greatest cycling city"
Speaker: Cor van der Klaauw, Town Planning and Economic Affairs of the Municipality of Groningen
"The Principles and Practices of Eco-Design"
An introduction to 'design as nature does it': the fantastic possibilities represented by a design process that models itself on natural systems and processes. In nature all materials move in cycles: there is no such thing as 'waste'. Diversity and variation are celebrated and rewarded, as is the use of local knowledge and materials.
Speakers: Michael Herrmann, The Leeds School of Architecture, Landscape and Design, UK; and Richard Brett, Dept of Design, Goldsmiths University College, University of London, UK
"The Development of Transport Policy in Berlin Since the Fall of the Wall"
After the reunification of Berlin the urban railway, subway and tram networks needed to be repaired, extended and linked, and the two halves of the city that had been divided for decades to be connected again. Furthermore the Senate wanted to change the modal split in the inner city from the current ratio of 60:40 for individual motorized transport to a ratio of 80:20 for local public transport. And they wanted to banish through-traffic from the inner city. But these plans are still waiting for realization because of wrong decisions in transport policies. The starting position for these changes is still good in Berlin - with a decentral urban struc-ture, favourable for cycling, the "Berlin mixture" of work, leisure and dwellings, 500 kilometres of urban railway and subway lines, 180 kilometres of tram lines and nearly every other household has no car. All Berlin needs to do is to make use of the structural elements which have proved positive in other cities and to cast them into practical policies.
Speaker: Michael Cramer, MEP to European Parliament, Germany/Belgium
"Debrecen: Carfree Developments and Trams in a Medium-Sized Hungarian Town"
Speakers: Attila Nagy, Debrecen Public Transport Company; and Varga László, Town Planning and Economic Affairs of the Municipality of Debrecen
"Copenhagen: Before and after 40 years of public space creation (and where to go next)"
During the last 40 years the inner city of Copenhagen has changed character slowly, step-by-step, from a car-dominated to a pedestrian oriented environment. The public spaces that used to be full of cars have gradually been turned into nice and well functioning public łliving rooms˛ were people stay - longer and longer. The number of parking lots have been reduced 2-3% pr. year in average to give space for the flourishing public life that has increased 3-4 times since the late 1960s. Data on pedestrians has played an important role in this planning- and decision making process by documenting the growing need for more public spaces of high quality for people on foot.
Most cities have data on vehicular traffic, which always make the problems of traffic very visible in the planning process, but Copenhagen has also data on people, which makes the need for more space for people visible.
Researchers from the School of Architecture has supplied the city, the general public and politicians with detailed data on the volume and character of the life that has taken place in the public spaces of the inner city since the 1960s. A new major study of public space - public life is being carried out at the moment in Copenhagen by the Centre for Public Space
Research - Realdania Research.
Speaker: Lars Gemzre, School of Architecture, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Denmark
"The Right to Mobility for All" - Panel discussion on the inclusion of children, the elderly and people with disabilities in sustainable transport.
Invited panel members: Bodrog Ildikó, TAVASZ (Hungarian association of mothers), Hungary; Debra Efroymson, WBB Trust, Bangladesh; Arie Farnam, World Carfree Network, Czech Republic; Tamás Fleischer, transport expert, Hungary; Altaira Hatten, Disabled People International, United States; Dr. Lelik Ferenc, Common Power Association, Hungary; Dr. Béla Nagy, urban planner, Hungary.
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