Monday, August 9, 2010 NEWCASTLE HERALD 9
OPINION&ANALYSIS
Varsity valuesandcobblestonecapers
PhillipO’Neill
FULL ENGLISH PACKAGE: Oxford’s planners have made car driving
painful.
Professor Phillip O’Neill is directorof the Urban Research
Centre,University of Western Sydney.
I’VE been in Oxford, England’s olduniversity city, for nearly
two weeks.I don’t have a car, but I don’t needone. I walk
everywhere.
Our apartment is close to Oxford’sshambolic mishmash of
HarryPotter colleges, mediaeval walls andchurches, gardens, playing
fields,riverside meadows, pubs, shops andeateries – accessible
easily by amaze of cobbled streets, alleys andpathways.
This morning my journey to theSchool of Geography and
theEnvironment, where I am a researchvisitor for a short time,
started witha brisk walk from St Clements acrossthe Magdalen bridge
over the RiverCherwell, and along the high street,competing with
earnest walkers,swift cyclists and filled buses, butfew cars. My
pace then slowed as Igave in to the temptation to explorea
different route, and the chance tolook up at the morning sunlight
onspires, domes and vaults, walking attimes through darkened,
damppassages, confined by close stonewalls, and then bursting back
intothe sun as I stepped my way onto agrand forecourt announcing
yetanother historic cathedral, museum,gallery or stately home. You
get thefull English package here.
Deliberately, Oxford’s plannershave made car driving painful.
Thefew inner routes that are accessibleto private vehicles are slow
andcongested. Parking right across thiscity of 150,000 people is
restricted topermit holders. There’s no basicright for a household
to operate two,three or four cars. Visitors and long-distance
commuters dutifully leavetheir cars and join buses at thenumerous
park-and-ride facilitiesaround the Oxford ring road. Or theyarrive
in town by rail, deliveredconveniently right into the heart ofthe
city (duh!).
The city’s buses are numerous,and they are clean and quiet.
Manyare hybrid-electric powered. Theycreep slowly through
pedestrianmalls, before darting briskly alongreserved bus lanes to
destinationsnear and far. Customers at bus stopsglance at their
wait times from
electronic notice boards, and areinvariably pleased.
Less than 40 per cent of Oxford’sworkers use cars to get to
work, andnot all work at the colleges anduniversities, or in the
city centre.The famous Cowley factory stillmakes the Mini, and
there areindustrial and office parks scatteredthroughout the
metropolitan area.Yet nearly 20 per cent of workers aredaily
walkers. Similar proportionscommute to work on bicycles, orcatch
the bus.
And these stats don’t includeOxford’s 20,000 students, who
almostall walk or cycle as they go abouttheir business, which
sometimesincludes attending class.
The contrast with NSW isastonishing. Figures from ourTransport
Data Centre reveal thatbarely 7 per cent of commuters inNewcastle,
Sydney and Wollongongwalk to work, while 67 per cent
arecar-dependent. In the Lower Hunter,though, less than 4 per cent
walk towork.
Moreover, NSW is also witnessinga major decline in the once
normal
practice of walking to school.Astonishingly, 50 per cent of
schoolchildren in Newcastle, Sydney andWollongong arrive at school
by car.Only 16 per cent walk, down from22 per cent 10 years
ago.
About 1.5 million years ago, ourHomo sapien ancestors learned
towalk.
Children today start walking atabout 11 months. It’s astonishing
towatch them become accomplishedwalkers so quickly, isn’t it?
The rewards for their sterlingefforts are obvious. They free
uptheir little hands to point and push,to grab and hold, to feel
and hug.Walking turns their eyes upwardsand forwards, to watch, to
wonder, tolearn. Soon they will talk. Butwalking comes first.
When you walk, you explore, yousee things that car drivers miss,
yousee faces and flowers, you feel theair on your face, you have
time tothink. And experts tell us thatwalkers are healthier and
livelonger.
Oxford is an unusual city, its mainactivities are packed into a
tight
six square kilometres. Of course,then, walking, cycling and
bussingare easier. Newcastle, Sydney orWollongong can never be an
Oxford.
Yet Oxford’s experience doesteach a powerful lesson. This is
thatthe quality of a city is formed over avery long time period. We
know thatthe best cities have concentrationsof diverse activities
in their centres;and that they are filled at all hoursby people
from near and far. Thesethings don’t just happen. Theyrequire
careful choices andnurturing, and obstinatedetermination. Patience
isimportant too, for the stakes arehigh. As this city shows,
everythingfrom grand buildings and publicspaces to humble
footpaths, eachwith their own purpose and charm,should serve a city
for centuries.Expediency should never be anoption.
Vote for thebenefitsof reducingpovertyHow much is too much
tospend on the world’s poor,asks Colin Haggar.
Major Colin Haggar is thecommunications officer for theNewcastle
& Central NSW Divisionof The Salvation Army. This article
issubmitted by the Churches MediaAssociation –
cmahunter.com.au.
AS we approach the federal electionand go through the process
ofconsidering which political party isgoing to give us the better
deal, willwe cast our vote purely on the basisof self-interest?
Ten years ago, the nations of theworld agreed that it was not
onlypossible but eminently achievableto do something significant
aboutreducing extreme poverty in ourworld. From this were birthed
theeight millennium developmentgoals (un.org/millenniumgoals).
Toachievethegoalofhalvingextremepovertyby2015,developednationswereaskedtocommit0.7
percentoftheirgrossnationalincomeintargetedforeignaid.
The benefits of such positiveaction include a reduction in
boththe threat of terrorism and illegalcross-border people
movements, thelatter a matter of intense attentionin the lead-up to
the election.
Australia, along with the rest ofthe developed world, signed
anagreement in September 2000stating that we would “spare noeffort”
to achieve the millenniumdevelopment goals.
Two thirds of the way to 2015, eventhough there have been
successes(reductions in infant and maternalmortality rates) there
is still someway to go.
Our foreign aid stands at 0.33 percent of our gross national
income.This means that for every $100 weearn as a nation, we give
the poor ofthe world 33¢.
This record makes me feelashamed and embarrassed. As anaverage
Australian I not only tread
more heavily upon this planet, butmy government by its inaction
onthis promise made in 2000, isundermining our
internationalintegrity. All for the sake of 37¢ inevery $100.
The Micah Challenge is amovement emanating from thechurches of
Australia calling uponour federal government to practisewhat it
preached in September 2000.See micahchallenge.org.au/mdg.
Both the federal government andopposition have committed
tospending 0.5 per cent of Australia’sgross national income on
foreign aidby 2015. But when you consider thatAustralia survived
the globalfinancial crisis in far better shapeand with far lower
national debtthan any other developed economy,we look more than
just lame – wemake Scrooge look like Santa Claus.
There may be those who will saythat we should look after our
own
first; that charity begins at home. Allthe evidence suggests
that we haveindeed looked after ourselves first,last and every
point in between.
We may say we care, but ourinaction as international
citizenssays something else.
Perhaps as we consider how tovote this federal election we
shouldbe looking for leaders who willcommit to extending
compassionbeyond our borders – to treatingrefugees more kindly –
not becausewe will get any benefit from it(which we will) but
because it is theright thing to do.
Topics today
Today’s fact
Most house dust particles aredead skin.
Today’s word
Bonhomie: geniality, good-natured friendliness.
It happened today
From our files – 1967: A detailedreport into the the services
atNewcastle Post Office will beprepared after complaints
aboutdelays in mail delivery andtrunk-line calls.
Today in history
480 BC: After three days’resistance, King Leonidas ofSparta and
1000 Greeks arefinally beaten by the Persians atthe battle of
Thermopylae.378: Visigoths annihilate a Romanarmy and kill the
emperor atAdrianople, marking thebeginning of serious
barbarianinroads on Roman territory.1529: Writs are issued for
aparliament in England.1942: Britain arrests MahatmaGandhi and 50
others in Bombay.Gandhi is interned until 1944;HMAS Canberra sinks
during theBattle of Savo Island.1945: US plane drops secondatomic
bomb, destroying morethan half of the Japanese cityNagasaki.1969:
Actress Sharon Tate andfour other people are foundmurdered in
Tate’s Los Angeleshome; cult leader CharlesManson and his disciples
arelater convicted of the crime.2008: Russia and Georgia
headtowards a wider war as Russiantanks rumble into the
contestedprovince of South Ossetia andRussian aircraft bomb
aGeorgian town.
Born today
John Dryden, English poet-dramatist (1631-1700);P. L.
Travers,Australianauthor andactress(1899-1996); RodLaver,
pictured,tennis star(1938-); KenNorton, USboxer (1945-);Melanie
Griffith,US actress (1957-); WhitneyHouston, US singer (1963-);
EricBana, actor (1968-);
Odd spot
South Korea’s military isplanning a new campaign:against the use
of foul languageby young soldiers.
Today’s text
For I am persuaded that neitherdeath nor life, nor angels,
norany power, in fact nothing willever be able to separate us
fromthe love of God, which is oursthrough Jesus Christ our
Lord.Romans 8:38-39
