Reclaiming city streets for people Chaos or quality of life? EUROPEAN COMMISSION Directorate-General for the Environment FOREWORD The quality of the environment in urban areas is of vital importance. I hope that cities and their citizens will consider this approach as part of the It is one of the main factors that determine whether a city is a healthy solution to the growing levels of road traffic. This complements our earlier S place to live, whether we enjoy living there, and whether we want publications, Cycling: the way ahead for towns and cities and Kids on the our children to grow up there. move, which give examples of other case studies. I am convinced that traffic management is the key to making our cities more attractive places to live in One of the key issues affecting the quality of the environment and the and to improving the quality of our urban environment. quality of life in our towns and cities is road traffic. Heavy motor traffic means poor air quality, unacceptable levels of noise and a weakened sense of neighbourhood and local community. Traffic also gives rise to high costs for the economy through delays caused by congestion. Every year more than 3 million cars are added to the car fleet in Europe. Total road traffic kilometres in urban areas will grow by 40 % between 1995 and 2030. Local authorities and citizens need to decide how to respond to these pressures and decide what sort of place they want their town or city to be in the future. One option is to try to eliminate congestion by building more roads, but the costs — financial, social and environmental — can be high and the relief short-lived. More and more cities are opting for a different approach where they work together with their citizens to ensure that they have access to the goods and services they need without having to depend on road traffic. There are many traffic management techniques and approaches and any given city will probably need to develop a package of measures to manage traffic effectively. This new handbook sets out some case studies where road space has been reallocated for other uses. New, attractive and popular public areas can be created on sites that were once blocked by regular traffic jams. Margot WALLSTRÖM If these are properly planned, they need not result in road traffic chaos, Member of the European Commission contrary to what might be expected. responsible for Environment CONTENTS e PRESENTING THE CASE STUDIES • Kajaani, Finland • Wolverhampton, England f d • Vauxhall Cross, London, England, • Nuremberg, Germany • Strasbourg, France PROVIDING FINDING • Gent, Belgium • Cambridge, England GUIDELINES SOLUTIONS • Oxford, England his chapter presents the c he traditional response to the edistributing road space in favour experiences of a small selection of problem of traffic congestion has T Rof non-car modes can represent a T European cities where urban been to increase the road space technically challenging and politically planners, with the political support of IDENTIFYING available for cars. In this chapter, the sensitive planning option in urban local leaders, have had the vision and theory of ‘traffic evaporation’ is areas where road congestion is THE ISSUES the courage (often in the face of explored as a concept which already a problem.This chapter considerable opposition) to take challenges the logic of this approach. brings together best practice from a away congested road space from he quality of life in many This theory supports the proposition wide range of expertise and private cars. In each case study, after TEuropean cities is affected by the that reducing road capacity for cars experience in dealing with these an initial settling-in period, the negative impacts of increasing traffic in congested city centres can issues, in particular that drawn from predicted traffic chaos did not levels. This chapter looks at ways in represent a sustainable, efficient the schemes described in this materialise and some of the traffic which a dominance of car traffic planning solution. In addition, once document. The objective is to assist ‘evaporated’. affects our lives in urban areas, and freed from domination by car traffic, politicians and planners working to suggests that there is a growing reclaimed urban spaces can become develop more sustainable transport consensus, from the global to the accessible, vibrant ‘living’ places. strategies for Europe’s towns and local level, that the situation is cities. unsustainable. Page 10 Page 14 Page 20 Page 50 8 Traffic evaporation in urban areas Introduction TRAFFIC EVAPORATION IN URBAN AREAS b 9 he challenge facing urban planners and politicians in many European In the attractive car-free spaces created in these cities, pedestrians and cyclists towns and cities is that of balancing the demand for increasing personal now enjoy a cleaner, quieter and safer environment. These cases illustrate the T mobility and economic growth, with the need to respect the environment potential for more effective uses of urban road space, as ‘exchange space’ rather and provide an acceptable quality of life for all citizens. than just ‘movement space’, recognising the social importance of streets and squares. While it is clear that provision for car-based mobility will continue to be an important part of traffic management planning, finding ways to encourage more Favouring more sustainable transport modes is an approach which promotes use of alternative modes of transport (public transport, cycling and walking) is social inclusion and accessibility for the nearly 30 % of European households the goal of any sustainable urban policy. Where road space is restricted, which have no access to a private car. Such strategies are also more equitable, providing adequate space for these alternative modes may require a reallocation for they reduce those negative impacts of urban traffic and congestion which are of highway capacity. When the roads under consideration are already highly experienced by everyone, regardless of whether they are able to enjoy the congested, it is typically assumed that reducing the capacity available for cars will benefits of car use. result in increased traffic congestion in the surrounding streets. However, as the The purpose of this handbook is to show that such schemes can be highly evidence in this document demonstrates, this is not necessarily the case. successful; they can represent a very positive sustainable planning option for The experience in a number of European cities is that: cities. The case studies here demonstrate the importance of well planned • traffic problems following the implementation of a scheme are usually far less integrated strategies, combined with effective public consultation and serious than predicted; communication. Above all, however, they show the need for vision and courage • after an initial period of adjustment, some of the traffic that was previously on the part of the implementing local authority. found in the vicinity of the scheme ‘disappears’ or ‘evaporates’, due to drivers changing their travel behaviour; • as a result the urban environment becomes more liveable in many respects. This handbook illustrates the concept of traffic evaporation using case studies from a selection of European cities. Many of these cities have gone ahead with road space reallocation schemes despite predictions that traffic chaos would result. However, in each case any initial problems of traffic congestion were short-lived, and after a ‘settling-in’ period a proportion of the traffic was found to have ‘evaporated’. 10 Identifying the issues Chapter 1 IDENTIFYING THE ISSUES GROWING TRAFFIC PROBLEMS IN EUROPE’S CITIES urope is the most urbanised continent in the world: at present over 80 % of its E population lives in towns and cities. At the same time car use in Europe is growing. • In the EU between 1975 and 1995 the daily distance travelled per person doubled. A further doubling of traffic is predicted by 2025. • Half of all journeys in urban areas are less than 5 km long and a third are less than 3 km (1). The challenges that increasing traffic and congestion pose in terms of environmental, social c and economic costs for urban communities are illustrated in the diagram opposite. (1) Source: http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport 11 THE MAIN PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH INCREASING URBAN TRAFFIC AND CONGESTION Negative impact on urban quality of life EQUITY VISUAL INTRUSION Nearly 30 % of households in Europe have no access to Diminished quality of the urban a car — they pay the price of traffic without enjoying environment caused by parked cars and mobility benefits offered by car ownership. other infrastructure. ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY NOISE AND VIBRATION Traffic congestion, pollution and accidents result in Transport is one of the main sources of significant direct and indirect costs. The total bill urban noise pollution. has been estimated at EUR 502 billion per year across the EU Member States (2). LOSSOFURBAN‘LIVING SPACE’ ENERGY CONSUMPTION INCREASING MOTORISED VEHICLE Motorised transport infrastructure- such as roads and Transport consumes 4 % more energy every car parking — takes up highly valuable city centre land, DOMINANCE AND CONGESTION year which represents a doubling of energy 4 and spoils and threatens existing open spaces. used every 20 years ( ). AIR POLLUTION Multiple effects including global warming, health problems SEVERANCE & building decay. The Department of Health in the United Congested urban roads cause severance of Kingdom estimates the health costs of particulates in urban communities which can have a social cost. areas of Britain to be up to GBP 500 million per year (3). ACCIDENTS COMPETITIVENESS Over 40 000 deaths on Europe’s roads/year, of these Traditional centres face competition from four times more fatalities occur in urban areas (5). less congested out-of-town retail centres. Negative impact on urban quality of life (2) External costs of transport: accident environmental and congestion costs of transport in western Europe, March 2000.