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Lu Haifeng: Compact Sustainable City Contributes to Eco-mobility and Healthy Life
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Published time: 2017-01-11
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Lu Haifeng, Secretary General of Global Forum on Human Settlements
According to UN-Habitat, from 2000 to 2030, the world's urban population will be doubled and the built-up area will be increased by 3 times but the urban density will decline rapidly.
According to a statistics released by BAIDU, the city of Beijing is featured with the farthest commuting distance and the longest travel time in Chinese cities, which has an average commuting distance of 19.2 km and an average commuting time of 52 minutes, topping the list of Chinese cities. The office workers driving to their workplaces in Beijing spend twice the commuting time, compared to that in smooth traffic, and pay the additional traffic congestion cost of nearly 1 thousand yuan per person on a monthly basis. The one-third cause of the haze in Beijing is attributable to its motor vehicles.
Why Advocate Slow Trips?
According to a study in California, every 10% increase in road capacity in metropolitan areas, may lead motor vehicle mileage to rise by 9 % in the next four years, which is the induced traffic law. As one American engineer put it: "Attempting to cope with the traffic congestion by increasing road capacity is like trying to treat obesity by relaxing a waist belt".
According to a research by World Bank, accessibility is a key indicator to measure the traffic level of a city: 1. Accessibility of motor vehicle road (such as good road network); 2. Accessibility of public transport (such as high coverage traffic system); 3. Accessibility of non-motorized traffic (such as safe and convenient walking and bicycling facilities). Cities tend to focus only on roads and public transport infrastructure, while neglecting non-motorized traffic, especially pedestrian accessibility. Pedestrian accessibility is the key to the success of the public transit system. When a city achieves a safe, reliable and convenient pedestrian accessibility, the urban residents in the downtowns will prefer public transport means to private cars.
The "people-oriented" urban development concept takes the place of the "cars-based" urban development concept, which reduces the compulsory traffic and facilitates residents to travel on foot, by bike and by other means of personal transport. The comprehensive model of non-motorized +public transport is preferred to enhance the accessibility and livability of a slow city, which is a best reflection of the "people-oriented" concept and is also an important strategy to promote the return of a city to humanity and boost the achievement of the urban sustainable development.
Slow Trip Advantages:
Urban Residents: decrease various diseases caused from obesity and sedentariness, save time, reduce expenses, relieve anxiety, and become healthier, thus improving the quality of life and happiness index;
Government: Reduce infrastructure investment, mitigate government debt crisis and enhance the livability and attractiveness of a city;
Society: Shape a harmonious neighborhood, promote social interactions, reduce social isolation, and enhance urban inclusiveness;
Environment: reduce exhaust emissions, lower haze, cut energy consumption and environmental damage, reduce land use, and protect arable land and more natural assets to make the urban environment more pleasant;
Economy: lead to prosperous streets and gathered popularity, and improve the density and productivity of unit land;
Transportation: more people prefer to take a bus, thus reducing traffic congestion, parking difficulty, increasing traffic accidents and so on.
Slow Model City
Slow trip is also a worldwide reflection on the contemporary unsustainable urbanization, represented by the "Slow Food Movement" flourishing in Italy in the 1980s, marked by a snail, and the resulting "Slow City Movement." So far more than 180 cities around the world have been awarded the title of slow city.
After 50 years of efforts, Copenhagen has achieved the shift from a car-dominated city to the world's greenest slow city. As of 2012, the bicycle accounts for 36% of the means of the transportation used by Copenhagen commuters, and the public transport 33%, walking 6%, and the car 25%.
The Bogotá Bike Path project has a 40-year history. During the 64-day holidays each year, the 107 km-long urban roads are closed to cars but are open to bicycles or pedestrians. There are as many as 1.4 million green travelers each day. This project was highly commended at the Ninth Global Forum on Human Settlements in 2014.
Paris France plans to spend 30 million Euros by 2020, so that all the roads other than the main roads in the city can achieve the speed limit of 30 km/h. It’s estimated that the cycling routes in Paris will expand from the current 700 km to 1,400 km by 2020, thus becoming a bicycle city and livable city.
Strategies and Methods to Improve Slow Accessibility
Opinions by the CPC Central Committee and State Council on Further Strengthening the Urban Planning and Construction Management was issued February 21 of this year, of which the overall goal is: to achieve the orderly construction, moderate development and efficient operation of the city, and strive to build harmonious, livable, dynamic and modern cities with their own characteristics, thus creating a better life for all. Opinions also proposed to promote the neighborhood system for new residential areas, and in principle there will be no closed residential areas; the completed residential areas and the unit compounds will be gradually opened to make their internal roads public. This means that China's urban development will shift the focus from quantitative-based to quality-oriented sustainable cities, and the accessibility of slow trips will be gradually increased.
The "Green Transport and Linkage" is included in the Twelve Principles of "IGMC Initiative", co-sponsored by GFHS and the United Nations Environment Programme, which requires that the proportion of urban green travel (walking + cycling + public transport) shall not be less than 80%, and the average commuting time shall be less than 30 minutes.
Strategies and Methods to Improve Slow Accessibility:
1. Define urban boundaries and improve land use efficiency
2. Make integrated and mixed-function planning
3. Adopt TOD development model
4. Construct the slow road network and pleasant streets
5. Make inclusive neighborhood development
According to a statistics released by BAIDU, the city of Beijing is featured with the farthest commuting distance and the longest travel time in Chinese cities, which has an average commuting distance of 19.2 km and an average commuting time of 52 minutes, topping the list of Chinese cities. The office workers driving to their workplaces in Beijing spend twice the commuting time, compared to that in smooth traffic, and pay the additional traffic congestion cost of nearly 1 thousand yuan per person on a monthly basis. The one-third cause of the haze in Beijing is attributable to its motor vehicles.
Why Advocate Slow Trips?
According to a study in California, every 10% increase in road capacity in metropolitan areas, may lead motor vehicle mileage to rise by 9 % in the next four years, which is the induced traffic law. As one American engineer put it: "Attempting to cope with the traffic congestion by increasing road capacity is like trying to treat obesity by relaxing a waist belt".
According to a research by World Bank, accessibility is a key indicator to measure the traffic level of a city: 1. Accessibility of motor vehicle road (such as good road network); 2. Accessibility of public transport (such as high coverage traffic system); 3. Accessibility of non-motorized traffic (such as safe and convenient walking and bicycling facilities). Cities tend to focus only on roads and public transport infrastructure, while neglecting non-motorized traffic, especially pedestrian accessibility. Pedestrian accessibility is the key to the success of the public transit system. When a city achieves a safe, reliable and convenient pedestrian accessibility, the urban residents in the downtowns will prefer public transport means to private cars.
The "people-oriented" urban development concept takes the place of the "cars-based" urban development concept, which reduces the compulsory traffic and facilitates residents to travel on foot, by bike and by other means of personal transport. The comprehensive model of non-motorized +public transport is preferred to enhance the accessibility and livability of a slow city, which is a best reflection of the "people-oriented" concept and is also an important strategy to promote the return of a city to humanity and boost the achievement of the urban sustainable development.
Slow Trip Advantages:
Urban Residents: decrease various diseases caused from obesity and sedentariness, save time, reduce expenses, relieve anxiety, and become healthier, thus improving the quality of life and happiness index;
Government: Reduce infrastructure investment, mitigate government debt crisis and enhance the livability and attractiveness of a city;
Society: Shape a harmonious neighborhood, promote social interactions, reduce social isolation, and enhance urban inclusiveness;
Environment: reduce exhaust emissions, lower haze, cut energy consumption and environmental damage, reduce land use, and protect arable land and more natural assets to make the urban environment more pleasant;
Economy: lead to prosperous streets and gathered popularity, and improve the density and productivity of unit land;
Transportation: more people prefer to take a bus, thus reducing traffic congestion, parking difficulty, increasing traffic accidents and so on.
Slow Model City
Slow trip is also a worldwide reflection on the contemporary unsustainable urbanization, represented by the "Slow Food Movement" flourishing in Italy in the 1980s, marked by a snail, and the resulting "Slow City Movement." So far more than 180 cities around the world have been awarded the title of slow city.
After 50 years of efforts, Copenhagen has achieved the shift from a car-dominated city to the world's greenest slow city. As of 2012, the bicycle accounts for 36% of the means of the transportation used by Copenhagen commuters, and the public transport 33%, walking 6%, and the car 25%.
The Bogotá Bike Path project has a 40-year history. During the 64-day holidays each year, the 107 km-long urban roads are closed to cars but are open to bicycles or pedestrians. There are as many as 1.4 million green travelers each day. This project was highly commended at the Ninth Global Forum on Human Settlements in 2014.
Paris France plans to spend 30 million Euros by 2020, so that all the roads other than the main roads in the city can achieve the speed limit of 30 km/h. It’s estimated that the cycling routes in Paris will expand from the current 700 km to 1,400 km by 2020, thus becoming a bicycle city and livable city.
Strategies and Methods to Improve Slow Accessibility
Opinions by the CPC Central Committee and State Council on Further Strengthening the Urban Planning and Construction Management was issued February 21 of this year, of which the overall goal is: to achieve the orderly construction, moderate development and efficient operation of the city, and strive to build harmonious, livable, dynamic and modern cities with their own characteristics, thus creating a better life for all. Opinions also proposed to promote the neighborhood system for new residential areas, and in principle there will be no closed residential areas; the completed residential areas and the unit compounds will be gradually opened to make their internal roads public. This means that China's urban development will shift the focus from quantitative-based to quality-oriented sustainable cities, and the accessibility of slow trips will be gradually increased.
The "Green Transport and Linkage" is included in the Twelve Principles of "IGMC Initiative", co-sponsored by GFHS and the United Nations Environment Programme, which requires that the proportion of urban green travel (walking + cycling + public transport) shall not be less than 80%, and the average commuting time shall be less than 30 minutes.
Strategies and Methods to Improve Slow Accessibility:
1. Define urban boundaries and improve land use efficiency
2. Make integrated and mixed-function planning
3. Adopt TOD development model
4. Construct the slow road network and pleasant streets
5. Make inclusive neighborhood development
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