21 February 2017
Cars don’t add much to city centre life. Apart from the pollution and carbon that causes early deaths and climate change, cars dominate the street-level cityscape. In most cities, it’s impossible to walk more than a few steps without parked cars and traffic shaping where we walk, when we walk and the air quality while we do it. Cities and cars seem so intertwined that suggestions to take cars out of cities are countered by fears that without cars trade will drop and businesses will fail. But is that true?
Pedestrianisation gives people more reason and opportunity to linger near shops and attractions. So they do, and they spend more while they do it. In most cases, spending actually increases.
Bath has already experimented with pedestrianisation: Southgate, Union Street and (sometimes) Stall Street are closed to traffic, and are some of the most vibrant, bustling streets in the city. But although the idea has been raised a few times over the years, pedestrian areas were not extended. Traffic and parking still determines how much of Bath functions on a daily basis, with air quality frequently breaking legal limits.
Where cities have been braver, they can reap the benefits. Copenhagen created its first pedestrianised zone in 1962, and has been steadily increasing and developing its car-free areas ever since. It now has one of the lowest rates of car ownership in Europe and aims to be carbon-neutral by 2025. The city frequently tops quality of life charts, and its residents are among the happiest and healthiest in the world. Pedestrianisation is not the only cause, but creating a healthier, cleaner, happier city must put people before cars.
Tim Stoneman
B&NES Green Party
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