Car free cities bmdc meeting 9th september 2016 haneen

CAR FREE CITIES AND PUBLIC HEALTHHaneen Khreis, Institute for Transport Studies, LeedsMark Nieuwenhuijsen, ISGlobabl-CREAL, Barcelona

THE CAR• The car is an important part of the transport system

-- brought increased mobility, convenience, employment, technological advances and economic prosperity

• To a large extent, the car defined the past century and is hard to imagine a world without cars

THE CAR

THE CAR

THE CAR

THE CAR

A NEW MOVE• Many cities are

beginning to shift their mobility solutions away from the private car and towards more environmentally friendly and citizen-focused mobility

A NEW MOVE

A NEW MOVE

A NEW MOVE• Hamburg, Helsinki, Madrid and Oslo (2019) have

recently announced their plans to become (partly) private car free cities

• Other cities like Bogota, Brussels, Chengdu, Copenhagen, Dublin, Hyderabad, Masdar, Milan, New York and Paris have different measures that aim at reducing traffic including implementing

• car free days • investing in cycling infrastructure and

pedestrianization• restricting parking space • considerable increases in public transport provision

WHY?• Plans and measures are particularly implemented

with the declared aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions

• Reductions in road traffic is also likely to benefit public health, both in the short and long-term

• We aimed to scope and review the expected health benefits

CAR FREE CITIES: PATHWAYS TO HEALTHY URBAN LIVING?

WHAT WE FOUND – AIR POLLUTION

• Car traffic contributes to a considerable proportion of air pollution in cities

• The extent varies depending on factors such as the car fleet make up, car density, layout

• The range of the traffic contribution to urban PM concentrations in Europe is from 9-53% for PM10 and 9-66% for PM2.5 with an average of 39% and 43% at traffic sites and a higher range for NO2 of over 80%

WHAT WE FOUND – AIR POLLUTION AND NOISE

• Paris nitrogen dioxide dropped by up to 40% in parts of the city on Sunday 27 September 2015, when cars were banned

• When the Tour de France cycling event came to Leeds, on the day of the Grand Départ, when cars were banned from the centre of Leeds and cyclists took over, NO2 levels dropped by 20%

• Brussels Environment (2015) found a greater than 10 dB reduction in noise levels on car free Sundays

AIR POLLUTION AND PREMATURE MORTALITY

7% increased risk for premature mortality per 5 ug/m3 PM2.5, Beelen et al 2014

NOISE AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

Relative risk of 1.08 (95% confidence interval: 1.04,1.13) per increase of the weighted day‑night noise level LDN of 10 dB (A)

8% increased risk of cardiovascular disease for a 10 dB (a) increase in noise, Babisch 2014

WHAT WE FOUND – MOTOR VEHICLE CRASHES

WHAT WE FOUND – MOTOR VEHICLE CRASHES

WHAT WE FOUND – PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Woodcock et al 2010

WHAT WE FOUND – GREEN SPACE



4% reduction in cardiovascular mortality between highest and lowest green space areas

SOME CONCERNS

SOME CONCERNS

SOME CONCERNS

Physical activity (95% CI: 858,1577)

Air pollution (95% CI: 386, 834)

Noise (95% CI: 0, 1009)

Heat (95% CI: 324,442)

Green spaces (95% CI: 0, 236)

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1154

659599

376

116

Total number of premature deaths =2904 (1568, 4098), 20% of total deathsLife expectancy= 360 (219, 493) days, Total cost 9.3 (4.9, 13.2) billion euros

SOME CONCERNS

SOME CONCERNS• A concern for reducing car traffic in cities is the

reduction in retail sales• Lawlor (2014) reviewed the effect of the reduction of

cars on impact on existing business performance (footfall and retail); urban regeneration (new business, rental income, employment, social exclusion etc.); improved consumer and business perceptions, and business diversity

• They found that case study evidence suggests that well-planned improvements to these public spaces can boost footfall and trading by up to 40%

SOME CONCERNS• In Barcelona for example

average speeds for trips by

• Car is 23.5 km/hr

• Bike 14 km/hr• Bus / tram 11.2

km/hr • Metro / train 25

km/hr

CURRENT PARADIGM

Economic GrowthTravel Time SavingsCost Effectiveness

Land-use Accessibility

Noise Reductions

EqualityProviding for CarsEfficiency

Safety Policy IntegrationConnectivity



Carbon Reductions

Noise Reductions


Safety Policy Integration Connectivity

BETTER PARADIGM



Noise Reductions


Safety Policy IntegrationConnectivity

Public HealthTravel Time SavingsCost Effectiveness


Carbon Reductions

Noise Reductions


Safety Policy Integration Connectivity

URGENT NEED FOR SYSTEMIC APPROACHES

URGENT NEED FOR SYSTEMIC APPROACHES

URGENT NEED FOR SYSTMIC APPROACHES

• Car free cities can have considerable health benefits

• Our cities are too car dominated • Transport planning and policy too much for the

vehicle and too little for the public and active transport modes

• Decades of planning and investments in car infrastructure attracted cars to cities --it will take decades to overturn this

• Large infrastructures for cars are in place and are underway with relatively small parts of the budget allocated to and little work done for cyclists and pedestrians across most regions

• There is an urgent need to rebalance and provide better, safer infrastructures and policy support for active/ public transport

• New paradigms needed -- car free cities?