Question: what do the following statistics have in common?
Answer: the vehicles on our streets, primarily the not-so-humble passenger car.
In contrast, nearly 90% of the highest-income households own at least one car.
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Reducing car use in cities
Half a century ago, the Danish capital was dominated by cars.
Prioritizing cars as a means of transport also favors suburban sprawl.
City suburbs typically possess larger homes that generate higher levels of consumption and energy use.
Electric vehicles are necessary, but theyre not a panacea.
COVID-19: a missed opportunity?
Our study assesses urban mobility innovations and experiments introduced before the pandemic was declared.
In response to COVID-19, travel habits (to begin with, at least) changed dramatically.
For such behavior to stick, however, also requires changes in the physical infrastructure of cities.
Those who work remotelythree or more days per weektravelless overall than their peers.
Essentially, such measures pay polluters while imposing the social costs on wider society.
So here are the 12 best ways to reduce city car use:
1.
Importantly, 80% of the revenues raised are used for public transport investments.
The violation fines are used to finance Romes public transport system.
Workplace parking charges
Another effective means of reducing the number of car commuters is to introduce workplace parking charges.
Mobility services for universities
The Sicilian city ofCataniaused a carrot-only approach for its students.
Both schemes also provided car sharing for employees and ran awareness-raising campaigns.
Apps for sustainable mobility
Mobile phone technology has a growing role in strategies to reduce car use.
Cities need to re-imagine themselves
Reducing car dependency is not just a nice idea.
Yet until the pandemic struck, transport emissions in Europe were steadily increasing.
Indeed, current policies are predicted to deliver transport emissions in 2040 that are almost unchanged from50 years earlier.
Radically reducing cars will make cities better places to live and it can be done.
Cities need to re-imagine themselves by remaking what is possible to match what is necessary.
Kimberly Nicholas, Associate Professor of Sustainability Science,Lund University,republished fromThe Conversationunder a Creative Commons license.
