Better Living Quality with Carfree Urban Areas?
Year: 2015
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Traditionally, the focus of urban planning has been on accommodatingincreased car traffic. In the recent decades however, a shift has occurred within the urbanplanning field towards a focus on the quality of the streetscape as experienced by pedestrians.This move has various motives, the principal ones being a policy shift that places greater valueon sustainability, quality of life and public health measures through a more active use of publicoutdoor spaces. One sustainable urban mobility proposal that combines both urban planningand transport policy is to implement car-reduced or carfree districts. These districts combinestrict restrictions on car use within the area with improvements in mobility and accessibility byother means than by private car. The referenced sources from the literature review that hasbeen made describe that carfree areas can result in 20% lower rents, that public participation inthe planning process is of utmost importance and that the unbundling of parking costs fromthe apartment rent or cost is a critical factor. Several interviews have been made with residentsof existing carfree areas in Europe. Common denominators between the majority of therespondents were the positive factor of having access to child-friendly outdoor areas, closenessto nature and greenery, the importance of proximity to services and stores and finally thatcommunity involvement (i.e. public participation) was a key success factor. Finally, interviewswere also conducted with urban municipal planners and representatives of housingconstruction and development companies in Sweden. A key result from these interviews wasthat minimum parking requirement norms for new buildings are a serious obstacle towards thefeasibility of car-reduced housing projects. Instead new forms of agreements were proposedwhere developers did not need to build as many parking lots and in return give a bindingcommitment to fund more sustainable transport options, such as bicycle and public transport.
Author: Höjemo, Thomas
Language: English
Subfield: Transportation
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7008194431