A Brief Respite Inspires
COVID-19 brought with it the closure of city streets. Air cleared. Birds sang. Wildlife made a brief appearance. Natural sounds, refreshing scents, less light pollution, and much less noise became a welcome attraction.
Is this something we could capture for future pandemics and better living? It is entirely possible. Plus, by adding more green space and vertical, as well as layered and horizontal gardens, natural carbon sinks could be added.
Broad, breathable lanes
For a brief time, when people did wander outside, they found broad roads where distancing at six feet was not so challenging. Take cars, or at least several cars, off the roads, and you have wide and ample room for pedestrians and bike lanes. The first benefit then, is more space.
Appealing places and spaces
Getting people downtown again means making town attractive. With belching cars, traffic, annoyed drivers, roaring motors, and no time to take in the beauty of a city, we steer people away from our dying urban centers. But with eight billion people arriving soon, and tending to seek lives and work in cities, we must find ways to keep them appealing.
Health and safety
In New York City, during lock down, the streets went for two full months without a single traffic fatality. It is estimated in Los Angeles, that traffic collisions wrecked more than 6,000 fewer lives. Add to that, less pollution, less aggravation, less hostility, less time getting agitated in search of parking, and less road rage. Add to that, exercise just through walking, bike lanes, jogging paths, in-line skates, fresher air, and a more fit populace.
Mental Health benefits
As an ecopsychologist, I am very biased against pollution, unnatural concrete, less biodiversity, and harsh noise. Greening our cities, with median center public gardens and green space is a win/win. It helps soothe our minds and relax our bodies. Human beings need green, and for mental health, physical well-being, and exercise, we need a green city farming revolution. It is also been shown that community interaction with public markets also improves mental health, even as it diminishes food deserts.
The benefit of returning wildlife and natural sound with biodiversity is pleasant for humans, but it is also downright necessary for the long term viability of civilization.
Practicality and utility
Creating practical spaces where people can access work space, café space, entertainment spaces and more allows natural flow of foot traffic. Unlike car traffic, which keeps people snarled in stop and go waiting, foot traffic allows people to move at their own pace.
This could be augmented with walk on/ walk off moving sidewalks, for an even more leisurely, and pleasant experience for tourists or shoppers. Self-driving cars with charging stations, and access to bikes and bike lanes would also help.
At present, the reason why bikes have not caught on in some cities is because there are too many cars to make bike riding safe and practical. Lose the cars, and save the lives.
Driving innovation
As new cities come into being, new innovations will be driven simply by necessity coming into contact with creativity. A whole new space, such as a modern green city offers space and time for creative minds to engineer all sorts of new possibilities. Flying cars? Vertical gardens? Biodiverse elevators in and outside of tall buildings? Whatever the human mind can envision can be conceived of, created, tested, and finally realized if people have attractive and mentally supportive, distraction free space.
Freeing up Real Estate
As more people are allowed to work from home, some city planners are concerned about real estate spaces in cities becoming obsolete. But, on the other hand, people want affordable housing in the city. They may want to set up business closer to where they live.
Imagine fewer, drab ugly parking lots. Imagine fewer parking garages, fewer change gobbling parking meters, fewer citations, fewer cars just sitting around creating heat and blocking space overall.
Converting garage parks and ugly lots to freed up green space, pocket parks for pollinators, and every kind of business — from public market, to craft fair, to eatery, or shoe store — the possibilities are endless.
Walkable cities attract tourism
Think of Venice, before she began to sink beneath the rising waters of climate crisis. Or think of New Orleans, or any major city that craves being a tourist destination. International travel is uncertain for the near future, but making local cities attractive to tourists, has huge advantages.
With fewer cars and an infrastructure that accommodates effective and safe public transit, people who arrive without private cars are going to flock to places that invite pedestrian, or biking, accessibility.
More space for water features
With more tourists, more water features are desirable. People in large crowds, such as those we see at Seattle’s Center Fountain, love to congregate around water features. With a greener, carbon sink saving, and bio-diverse infrastructure that conserves, filters and protects water, this is entirely possible.
Less carbon emissions added together with more water preservation and protection, makes a much more attractive, clean, and safe place for people and wildlife to enjoy ponds, lakes, fountains, waterfalls, and more.
Bridges, tunnels, overpasses, and connections
Getting in and out of city space has always been challenging in cars. But multiple avenues of connection that are largely traffic free offer far more accessibility. Traffic lanes designed especially for buses, or trams, can run on some lines and not others. Subways, pedestrian bridges, walk ways of every width and length can add more access points.
Bridges that allow pedestrians and bikes while keeping dangerous cars off limits can ensure that such accessibility is kept safe and secure.
These are just ten of some envisioned benefits. There are likely to be others. The sense of a shared space, for example, community pride and the ability to navigate without traffic distractions can be imagined to add even more advantage.
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Previously published on medium
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Photo credit: Sanjeev Kugan