TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITÄT MÜNCHEN Landschaftsarchitektur regionaler Freiräume Reshaping metropolitan transportation cultures. A comparative study of bicycle friendly cities in Europe and the case of the Metro- politan City of Milano Ario de Marco Vollständiger Abdruck der von der Fakultät für Architektur der Technischen Universität München zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Doktor-Ingenieurs genehmigten Dissertation. Vorsitzende: Prof. Regine Keller Prüfer der Dissertation: 1. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sören Schöbel-Rutschmann 2. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gebhard Wulfhorst Die Dissertation wurde am 22.11.2018 bei der Technischen Universität Mün- chen eingereicht und durch die Fakultät für Architektur am 13.06.2019 ange- nommen. 1 2 Reshaping metropolitan transportation cultures. A comparative study of bicycle friendly cities in Europe and the case of the Metropolitan City of Milano “Il y a un lien secret entre la lenteur et la mémoire, entre la vitesse et l’oubli » Milan Kundera (La Lenteur) Ario de Marco 3 Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………………....5 Zusammenfassung……………………………………………………………………………………….6 1. Preface …………………………………………………………………………………………….....7 2. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………11 2.1 Aims and methodologies………………………………………………………………………...12 2.2 Urban planning, decision processes, and community resources……………................16 2.2.1 Historical background of urban planning………………………………….............................17 2.2.2 The impact of theory on reality………………………………………………………………….20 2.2.3 Top-down and bottom-up approaches: conjugating planning and democracy...................24 2.3 City form and Mobility.…………………………………………………………………………...32 2.3.1 Features that control city growth………………….…………………………………………….34 2.3.2 Models of city growth……………………………………………………………………............42 2.3.3 Cost of sprawling and remediation opportunities.…………………………………………….45 2.3.4 The symbolic in urban space……………………………………………………………………51 2.3.5 Emotional value of urban landscapes………...………………………………………………..59 2.3.6 Towards sustainable cities…………………..………………………………………….............60 2.3.7 Co-benefits of active transport…………..………………………………………………….......66 2.3.8 Public space allocation, active transport, and intermodality…………………………………71 2.3.9 Sociological aspects of active mobility: utilitarian cycling, cycler awareness, bike hip- sters…………...……………………………………………………………………………………...74 2.3.10 Environmental parameters affected by transport infrastructures…………..………………77 2.4 Urban Waterfronts and Cycling spaces……………………………………………………….78 2.4.1 Technical characteristics of cycling space……………………………………………………..79 2.4.2 Waterfronts - The recovery of water surfaces as an enriching element inside the urban landscape…………………………………………………………………………….......................82 2.5 Remarks…………………………………………………………………………………………….83 3. Development. Case studie - Strategies for cities in the 21th century.…………………….87 3.1 The European network…………………………………………………………………..............88 3.2 Copenhagen……………………………………………...…………………………..…………….95 3.2.1 Long-term aims, flexible praxis………………………………………………………………….96 3.2.2 Firing to a mobile target: reacting to ever new challenges……………………..................101 3.2.3 Cycling for a fit economy……………………………………………………………...............103 3.2.4 Cycler profile(s), social behavior, and sense of community………………………………..105 3.3 Amsterdam and the Dutch model………………………….……………………..…………..107 3.3.1 The national framework………………………………………………………………………..108 4 3.3.2 Political versus personal reasons for choosing bicycle as the transport means………110 3.3.3 Compact cities and use of the limited space………………………………………………111 3.3.4 Clear priorities for infrastructures…………………………………………………………...113 3.3.5 Specific problems, opportunities, and perspectives………………………………………114 3.4 London………………………………………………………………………………………….117 3.5 Paris…………………………………………….…………………….……………..…………..124 3.5.1 The rediscovery of the Seine………………………………………………………………..126 3.6 Orlando (FL)……………………………………….………………………………..………….128 3.6.1 The Europe complex…………………………………………………………………………129 3.6.2 Push your agenda ahead…………………………………………………………………….130 3.6.3 Along the river: the perfect joy of cycling close to water surfaces………………………132 3.7 Hints from the world…..…………………………...……………………………..…………..132 3.7.1 Vienna, the policy attentive to the social factor….………………………………………..133 3.7.2 The Australian way…………………………………………………………………………...134 3.7.3 Freiburg the pioneer of the filtered permeability…….…………………………………….135 3.7.4 Oulu – Infrastructures stronger than the climate………………………………………….138 3.8 Urban sustainable growth: a global issue………………………………………………..139 3.8.1 Cities of Africa…………………………………………………………………….................141 3.8.2 Global South suburbs……………………………………………………………………......145 3.9 Comprehensive evaluation of the case studies: common and specific features…150 3.10 Conclusions regarding the characteristics of sustainable mobility polici- es…………………………………………………………………………………………………160 4. Milano………………………..…………………………………………………..……………….167 4.1 Historic urban development………………………………………………………..……….167 4.2 Recent planning policy………………………………………………………………………168 4.3 Milano as a (former) aquatic city……………………………………………………….....177 5. Discussion……………………………………………………………………………………….189 5.1 Methodological considerations….…………...……………………………….....…………189 5.2 Social and cultural issues related to bicycle mobility………………………………….191 5.3 Challenges………………………………………………………………...……………………194 5.4 Take-home message and a proposal for Milano…………………..………….….……...195 6. Afterword: final personal remarks…….………………………………….…..…..................211 6.1 The city of the future …………………..……………………………………...……………...213 6.2 The rediscovery of the slowness…………………………..……………………………….215 7. Literature………………………………………………………………………………………….218 5 Figure Index Figure 1, Scheme of different planning approaches…………………………………………… page 25 Figure 2, Bike&Ride must be supported by suitable facilities…………………………………page 73 Figure 3, Bicycle-friendly solutions at street stops……………………………………………...page 79 Figure 4, Theoretical issues related to urban planning and their grouping…………………page 84 Figure 5, Bicycle-based mobility as the core element for sustainable cities: shifting from bicy- cles in the city to a bicycle city…………………………………………………………………….page 162 Figure 6, Poor design, worse construction: the Binasco underpass connecting two portions of the bicycle rout flanking the Naviglio Pavese…………………………………………………...page 171 Figure 7, Naviglio Grande…………………………………………………………………………...page 179 Figure 8, Dockings of villages alongside Naviglio Grande……………………………………page 180 Figure 9, Naviglio Pavese……………………………………………………………………………page 180 Figure 10, Naviglio di Bereguardo and Navigliaccio………………………………………….. page 181 Figure 11, Villas alongside the Naviglio Grande………………………………………………..page 182 Figure 12, The Darsena, former Milano port and the place where Navigli merge…………page 183 Figure 13, Ancient factories and navigation manufactories along Navigli…………………page 184 Figures 14, 15 Navigli in Milano: the motorized traffic isolates this resource from social life. Peripheral environment (14) and Central areas (15)……………………………………………page 185 Figure 16, Darsena rehabilitation: state of work progress at 1.11.2014…………………….page 187 Figure 17, Raggi Verdi theoretical development ……………………………………………….page 201 Figure 18, Poor design and insufficient technical concepts for the building of bicycle path……………………………………………………………………………………………………...page 204 Figure 19, Identification of the circular collector pathways (external and inner rings)….page 205 Figure 20, Schematic representation of the active mobility for Milano commuters……...page 206 Figure 21, Missed in transition: Lack of connection between the bicycle paths flanking the Navigli in the countryside and the inner city street network ………………………………...page 209 6 Abstract The urban fabric determines the city social and economic organization. Western city form has been shaped by a long century of car symbolism that imposed the choice of building infrastructures for a life style based on the exclusive automo- tive option. In the case of Milano, it meant the amputation of its historical devel- opment as an aquatic city by transforming the channel network of Navigli in a grid of roads. Then, the city knew the common fate of sprawling communities plagued by social segregation, long commuting time, pollution due to excessive traffic, loss of identity in dispersed and constantly growing peripheries. Active transport modes have been considered episodically to mitigate the Milano traffic draw- backs but no attempt has been dared to use the transport policy to re-shape the city and make it sustainable, attractive, efficient, and fit for the future challenges. Now, the knowledge that the transport policy deals not solely with the traffic issue but influences aspects as different as integration, access to job market, recrea- tion and educational opportunities, safety, local economy and cohesion, health costs has been exploited by several other municipalities to revolutionize the structure of their cities starting from the reconversion of the infrastructures. Active modes, and cycling in particular, became the lever to invert the car-based devel- opment trend and to transform the lame metropolis populated by isolated individ- uals into a dynamic entity with brilliant community life. Milano could profit as well from a similar vision of alternative transport policy. A network of effective bicycle routes would not only alleviate vehicular traffic and pollution, but would offer physical connectivity to the dispersed