Across Europe, Irking Drivers Is Urban Policy

[phillyaggie]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/27/sc...pagewanted=all

Is the new Zoning Code in Philly going to change things like minimum parking space requirements for new developments?-- especially for projects on or close to significant public transit (all of Center City, for example). The 1200 Walnut St (Fergie Tower) project comes to mind about how messed up such a requirement is. Forget Europe, even in the U.S., some cities like Portland have instituted lower parking space ratios in their zoning codes.


Some nuggets from the article:

Globally, emissions from transportation continue a relentless rise, with half of them coming from personal cars. Yet an important impulse behind Europe’s traffic reforms will be familiar to mayors in Los Angeles and Vienna alike: to make cities more inviting, with cleaner air and less traffic.

Michael Kodransky, global research manager at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy in New York, which works with cities to reduce transport emissions, said that Europe was previously “on the same trajectory as the United States, with more people wanting to own more cars.” But in the past decade, there had been “a conscious shift in thinking, and firm policy,” he said. And it is having an effect.

“We would never synchronize green lights for cars with our philosophy,” said Pio Marzolini, a city official. “When I’m in other cities, I feel like I’m always waiting to cross a street. I can’t get used to the idea that I am worth less than a car.”

[Mr Morley]

I read that article a couple weeks ago. I love how the Times telegraphs its pro-car bias in the headline. It's like something from a Murdoch paper or the Daily Mail.

[gren]

I lived in Europe for a year and have family there and find that headline interesting. If you consider a driver someone who drives into the city every day then maybe they are irked. If you consider a driver someone who has a car or uses a car I don't think most are particularly irked. Most people I knew who had cars used them when needed but not on a daily basis. They paid for a place to park the car and kept it stored there for when they needed it. They didn't expect free land from the city to park their cars indefinitely for $35/year. Those who worked in the city tended to either live in the city and take transit around while those on the outskirts would drive to park and rides in they needed to be in the city. It seemed like a pretty sensible system and I found that the driving was much slower but I didn't notice as many traffic jams (I'm sure that differs on the Paris Periphique). I'm sure some people were annoyed but most people I talked to had no major problems with it and if you ever asked them if they preferred the American city style of life....

[CityMaps]

Were you in Northern Europe or Southern Europe? There is a slight difference in how the car is handled/tolerated/catered-to.

[Mr Morley]

I can't imagine what a disaster the city center of Rome was when it was open to cars. And the number of streets in Vienna which are completely closed to traffic are quite few.

On the other hand, I can't imagine Paris without cars, but it benefits from being completely rebuilt by Housemann in the 19th century.

[gren]

Were you in Northern Europe or Southern Europe? There is a slight difference in how the car is handled/tolerated/catered-to.

France and England but I traveled around a lot. Obviously I don't have a representative sample or anything.

I can't imagine what a disaster the city center of Rome was when it was open to cars. And the number of streets in Vienna which are completely closed to traffic are quite few.

On the other hand, I can't imagine Paris without cars, but it benefits from being completely rebuilt by Housemann in the 19th century.

There are differences in access to certain areas of the center but most of the major ones similarly limit cars around the whole city. Most of the parking must be paid for at higher rates--even for residents. Parking is often out of sight (I was amazed to see parking and a gas station under the lawn at Les Invalides). I drove all around France in the cities and never found it too bad--the primary difference I felt was that I had to pay for parking.