By 2050, if even just 7% more trips were made by bike and foot, we could avoid around 5 gigatons of carbon emissions. It’s simple but effective, according to Eillie Anzilotti on FastCompany. Many cities worldwide focus on lowering speed limits across the city, creating pedestrian zones, bicycle lanes and redesigning dangerous intersections to promote safety.
Barcelona’s mayor, Ada Colau, for instance, has pledged to double the city cycling network in 2019, and reduce all vehicle traffic by 21%. While the regulations target the most polluting vehicles first, there’s acknowledgment that streets need to be freed up for people, and Barcelona’s strategy of creating superblocks and fully pedestrianized areas out of its current network is one that should inspire cities elsewhere.
Zero-impact city logistics
The impact of these developments on city logistics is evident. Future city logistics will be in no traffic or limited traffic zones. The focus should be on clean but especially also less transport: less – and a more flexible – use of public spaces for loading and unloading, more road safety, smaller vehicles, a better traffic flow (with ITS), less noise, no damage to building and infrastructure, privileges as a reward for effective city logistics, the smart provisioning of (new) residential areas and bottom-line no nuisance.
Read the full article by Eillie Anzilotti on FastCompany here.